On Divorce

Pat Robertson, an Evangelical loose cannon and soi-disant Scripture scholar, made a stunning and cruel statement about divorce and Alzheimer's disease.

From the Associated Press:

Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson told his "700 Club" viewers that divorcing a spouse with Alzheimer's is justifiable because the disease is "a kind of death."

During the portion of the show where the one-time Republican presidential candidate takes questions from viewers, Robertson was asked what advice a man should give to a friend who began seeing another woman after his wife started suffering from the incurable neurological disorder.

"I know it sounds cruel, but if he's going to do something, he should divorce her and start all over again, but make sure she has custodial care and somebody looking after her," Robertson said. ...

"If you respect that vow, you say 'til death do us part,'" Robertson said during the Tuesday broadcast. "This is a kind of death."

Isn't that the same argument pushed by those advocating euthanasia? "They're practically dead anyway, so..."

Sadly, since most people and Christian denominations are more or less okay with divorce, this probably won't cause as much controversy as some of Robertson's other controversial gaffes that infuriated the left and baffled Catholics. Nonetheless, at a time when marriage is already under heavy assault, it's deeply disappointing that someone who is generally on the right side of the life and family issues would so carelessly shoot from the hip. Chalk it up to yet another case of the flawed fruits of Protestant exegesis, and to rank stupidity.