Are civil marriages valid in God's eyes?

[Andrea22]

What is the Church’s position with regards to civil unions? I know that the Church doesn’t recognize them but why is this important? Is that so that people know that once the Church recognizes them then they are not allowed to divorce? Does that mean that someone that marries outside of the church can marry and remarry?

If we believe that marriage is a covenant and that it is a sacrament, does that mean that someone with a civil marriage is not really married? A non-believer asked me this same question; what should I tell them?

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

If the civil marriage is contracted between two non-Catholics who are not formally bound by Catholic marital law and have no obvious impediments (e.g., previous marriage, close blood relationship), the Church presumes the marriage to be valid. If both parties are baptized, the Church would presume the marriage to be sacramental.

Usually, unless there is some other impediment to the marriage, it is when one of the parties is a Catholic who is bound by Catholic marital law to marry according to the prescriptions of the Church and instead contracts a civil marriage that the Church presumes the wedding to be invalid.