So there's a lot of hoopla about the remarks Pat Robertson made on his TV show regarding the man who wanted to divorce his wife because his wife had Alzheimers. If you've not heard of this, you can watch the clip here:
I have to say that I think my jaw hit the floor when I watched this. Not because Pat Robertson was saying something outrageous (that, unfortunately, seems to be common for him), but because he is generally on the outer fringes of conservative. This seemed to be a reach, even for him.
But as I've seen all the outrage over his comments, something occurred to me. What makes this any different from the Church's reaction, as a whole, to divorce in general? I know that there are biblically justified reasons for divorce in some situations, but I'm not talking about those. Most people that I know or know of who have gotten divorced have done so under the umbrella of "irreconcilable differences." Don't we, in effect, say with our attitudes the same thing that Pat said to this frustrated man?
Don't we look the other way when our fellow believers get divorced? I think the reason Pat's comments sparked such heat (other than the fact that he is Pat Robertson) is because he voiced things that the Church is afraid to own up to. We harp on homosexual marriage, while turning a convenient blind eye to divorce within heterosexual marriage.
While ole' Pat may make a nice target for our moral outrage and sarcasm- including mine - I hope that his comment will spark a thoughtful review of how we treat divorce in general.
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