Pat Robertson: if your wife has Alzheimer's, divorce her
By: Cahir O'Doherty | Published Tuesday, November 1, 2011, 7:13 PM | Updated Tuesday, November 1, 2011, 7:13 PM
I've come to anticipate high handed judgements from American evangelical leaders, but even I was surprised by the sheer thoughtlessness of Pat Robertson's directive to the husband of an Alzheimer's patient this week.
The troubled husband wrote to Robertson for advice on the right thing to do?
Divorce your wife, Robertson replied, but make sure she has 'somebody' to look after her, and then move on with your new life partner.
If you ever needed proof that Robertson has never understood love - straight or gay - there it is.
There's some Christian values for you. I'm sure Jesus, who Pat speaks for, would have told you the same (between sending hurricanes and droughts to punish the homosexuals).
If you only do one thing today, make sure it's to watch this short ABC clip, it'll break your heart:
The right love to discard there wives,McCain, Joe walsh,Gingrich and a couple of senators whose names escape meand they call themselves christians.
Suivness10 | Sep 19, 2011, 12:59 PM EDT
@Bonbon1, Boy did you get it right!
hollabackgurl | Sep 19, 2011, 12:54 PM EDT
Robertson's view is as cold and unloving as his contempt for everyone who does not think like himself.
jamieLM | Sep 19, 2011, 09:33 AM EDT
@Angelprecious - All Protestants don't think alike anymore than all Catholics do. Wisconsin or Missouri Synod Lutherans have major doctrinal and social-issue differences from Presbyterians or Methodists, for example. You obviously know next to nothing about mainstream Protestant churches. Alzheimer's is a terrible disease for the person who has it and his/her family. It's agonizing to watch a loved one lose touch with reality and it's aptly described as "the long good-bye." Every person deals with Alzheimer's in their own way. Unless you're dealing with Alzheimer's, it's easy to be judgmental. Each case is unique, depending on the age and emotional stability of the person married to an Alzheimer's victim who may be 50 or 80. The choices people make are their business.
bogsidebunny | Sep 19, 2011, 06:48 AM EDT
He's entitled to his opinion. Of cource the santominious Irish will, as usual, jump all over him.
bonbon1 | Sep 18, 2011, 09:30 PM EDT
Pat Robertson is and always has been about enriching himself financally. He has no loyalty to anything but his wallet. Therefore, what is so surprising about his willingness to throw anyone under the bus or discard them when they no longer serve his purpose. If a person is a jackass and gets ordained a minister what he becomes is a jackass minister.Pat Robertson has less compassion for fellow humans than most animals have for their relatives. I think Pat Robertson should become a monk and and take an oath of silence.
eiriamach | Sep 18, 2011, 01:11 PM EDT
Angelprecious writes, "That is a problem with Protestants." He takes a tiny brush and paints a stripe broad enough to encompass billions of people. Robertson should be an embarrassment to Christians of any denomination, but especially, I would think, to far-right doctrinal fundamentalists like Angelprecious, who are allied with Robertson on social issues. Angelprecious, you consistently distort, exaggerate, and twist other commenters' words so that you can spout anger and bigotry from your fanatic's pulpit. That behavior is transparently dishonest and not likely to win over anyone with an ounce of common decency. But those who already hate Protestants? OK, sure, you can have 'em if they are drawn to your fanatical rhetoric. Teach them your attack mode so that we can spot them at a glance. As for Robertson, he needs a medical check-up with an Alzheimer's test.
seanomelbourne | Sep 18, 2011, 03:49 AM EDT
Kene your idea of christianity is warped
seanomelbourne | Sep 17, 2011, 09:59 PM EDT
Precious!!the problem with your unchristain right is you cannot keep out of other people's bedrooms or doctors surgeries.Abortion is a personal issue and many GOP/DEMs members have used abortion when they deemed it neccassary to do so.Worry about your own soul and leave other people to live by their conscience.In other words mind your own business,Go preach your brain dead chrisianity somewhere else
keneconnor | Sep 17, 2011, 09:33 PM EDT
Looks like Irish Central took a short break from bashing the Catholic church to now spread their atheist hatred towards other Christians.
jamthecat | Sep 17, 2011, 08:30 PM EDT
I'm confused. What else would you expect from this wolf in sheep's clothing? He's the devil's own disciple.
AngelPrecious | Sep 17, 2011, 08:29 PM EDT
seanomelbourne, oh, like the unchristian left that supports abortion and marriage between gays that totally desecrate the sanctity of marriage?? Many on the right are good Christians and they also think this Robertson is in error, a deadly error for him to preach!
seanomelbourne | Sep 17, 2011, 07:42 PM EDT
He is typical if the unchristian right who write the "christian"rule book to suit themselves,So much for the sanctity of marriage you hypocrite.
MegK311 | Sep 17, 2011, 05:17 PM EDT
Don't be too hasty to judge Pat Robertson. Notice he said that the husband sould find good care for his wife. I would think the husband would need to continue to supervise his wife's care even if they were divorced.
There are many cases when a wife has a terminal illness of some sort the husband will divorce her because that is the only way to be eligible for funds to pay for the care needed.
I don't have a big problem with what Pat Robertson said as long as the husband continues to supervise her care. It is easy to criticize but you haven't walked in their shoes.
Rebelforce | Sep 17, 2011, 04:51 PM EDT
Jesus warned us about religious hypocrites. Anybody who has read the Gospels knows that Jesus doesn't even bother to mention homosexuality, but he does very explicitly forbid married people from getting a divorce. And yet here we have a self-righteous, modern day Pharisee condemning gay people as "sinners" at every opportunity and blatantly thumbing his nose at the Biblical teaching on divorce. "Woe unto you Pharisees! Hypocrites!"
BurrRobson | Sep 17, 2011, 04:21 PM EDT
I am conservative. I think Pat Robertson is a LOON, not a representative of conservative thinking. Further I think the author is an ARSEHOLE for distorting the views of one idjit as speaking for the entire conservative world. Oh, and I forgot to call him a liar, too. What's the point of this ugly lying behavior? To stir up more hatred? I can give you plenty of examples of left wingers who say HORRID things, but I don't have an agenda and don't try to push them as speaking for the entire left wing contingent. Shame on you people. Shame on you.
JohnKinMD | Sep 17, 2011, 03:33 PM EDT
If you look again he said if the man was going to see other women then he should get a divorce.
EphraimKibbey | Sep 17, 2011, 03:07 PM EDT
*** Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
*** Matthew 7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
*** Matthew 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
*** This sounds like one more thorn preached by another false prophet.
AngelPrecious | Sep 17, 2011, 03:05 PM EDT
@Mike: That is a problem with Protestants; they become their own teaching authority. They take snippets out of Scripture to support the craziest ideas!
MikeB74 | Sep 17, 2011, 02:27 PM EDT
I am shocked! I am a Catholic and a Knights of Columbus Fourth Degree and for Pat Robertson who
himself is suppost to be a man of God to tell a man to do that to his alling wife is wrong! Our Lord Jesus Christ would of never told any person to divorce and leave there spouse if they have alzheimer's or any other illness. Christ would of said to stay wih your spouse love him or her and help them though there illness no matter what. I don't know where Pat Robertson's mind is at? He is making our Lord look bad and that's wrong! He really just spoke out of turn and that's a shame.
McNamara31 | Sep 17, 2011, 02:07 PM EDT
hollabackgurl... My thoughts exactly as I viewed Robertson's comments. Also I think Robertson has a lot to learn (and most of us have alot to admire) in the last couple on the video, where the husband spends each night with his wife in the nursing home comforting her and singing her t sleep.They broke the mold when they made this wonderful guy!
JBRAFTREE | Sep 17, 2011, 01:43 PM EDT
It's a lose-lose situation, but stay with her or him 'til the end.
PatriciaMarya | Sep 17, 2011, 12:12 PM EDT
Right on, hollabackgurl - it was my same reaction when I was confronted with this: would he give the same advice to a female? By the way, should the freed hubby get the proceeds of his afflicted wife’s life insurance policy when she passes or does/do the caregiver(s), hopefully her children, receive it? After all, he has moved on, right? Can’t have it both ways now, can we? Pat Robertson is also the man who giggled with his TV co-hort in reacting to the Arizona shooting tragedy of Rep. Giffords - commenting that the Glock is a "sweet little weapon, easy to handle." Again, in seeing the pixs of the 2010 Boxing Day Blizzard here in NYC, he laughingly taunted Climate Change, saying "where is that Warming now?" I close one of my poems with "If I was a dictator, I would pompously, publically, piously practice my religion - that way no one would notice my private deals with the Devil." Says it all about this dude, eh?
colkelley | Sep 17, 2011, 12:01 PM EDT
Aw, crap...again I hate to find myself in one of those RARE occasions in which I find myself in agreement with Cahir. As an atheist I would NEVER follow Robertson's "Christian love" advice in that circumstance.
hollabackgurl | Sep 17, 2011, 11:31 AM EDT
And I'm sorry but I'm going to trust what I have just seen and heard with my own eyes to his supporters trying to tell me I missed something.
hollabackgurl | Sep 17, 2011, 11:25 AM EDT
Robertson's remarks are not taken out of context. They are the opinion of a man who looks at every situation he's ever encountered and asks himself: what's best for the heterosexual man in this equation?
No mention of what a woman should do in the same situation - I bet you he'll tell her to look after her husband.
Porickseantuny | Sep 17, 2011, 11:24 AM EDT
hard to judge a presentation without the whole thing. Sort of like a dangling participle. You don't know the whole sentence.
1IrishMedic | Sep 17, 2011, 11:04 AM EDT
Robertson is out of touch with humanity and always has been, the a**hole.
aobrien1 | Sep 17, 2011, 11:02 AM EDT
I suspect this has been taken out of context. The clip came from People for the American Way, which is a notoriously left-wing group founded by Norman Lear, and which looks for any excuse to make conservatives look bad. Pat Robertson was just starting to talk about marriage vows when the clip ended. On the surface it does sound awful, and I hold entirely with "until death do us part", but I don't think we got the whole story here.
christilcaugh | Sep 17, 2011, 10:49 AM EDT
The pain this man has caused over the years in the name of Jesus is terrible. He cares for no one other than himself.
biggles008 | Sep 17, 2011, 10:42 AM EDT
I'm shocked and dumbfounded.Can't type much more for a while.
31 Comments
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.seanomelbourne | Sep 19, 2011, 07:30 PM EDT
The right love to discard there wives,McCain, Joe walsh,Gingrich and a couple of senators whose names escape meand they call themselves christians.
Suivness10 | Sep 19, 2011, 12:59 PM EDT
@Bonbon1, Boy did you get it right!
hollabackgurl | Sep 19, 2011, 12:54 PM EDT
Robertson's view is as cold and unloving as his contempt for everyone who does not think like himself.
jamieLM | Sep 19, 2011, 09:33 AM EDT
@Angelprecious - All Protestants don't think alike anymore than all Catholics do. Wisconsin or Missouri Synod Lutherans have major doctrinal and social-issue differences from Presbyterians or Methodists, for example. You obviously know next to nothing about mainstream Protestant churches. Alzheimer's is a terrible disease for the person who has it and his/her family. It's agonizing to watch a loved one lose touch with reality and it's aptly described as "the long good-bye." Every person deals with Alzheimer's in their own way. Unless you're dealing with Alzheimer's, it's easy to be judgmental. Each case is unique, depending on the age and emotional stability of the person married to an Alzheimer's victim who may be 50 or 80. The choices people make are their business.
bogsidebunny | Sep 19, 2011, 06:48 AM EDT
He's entitled to his opinion. Of cource the santominious Irish will, as usual, jump all over him.
bonbon1 | Sep 18, 2011, 09:30 PM EDT
Pat Robertson is and always has been about enriching himself financally. He has no loyalty to anything but his wallet. Therefore, what is so surprising about his willingness to throw anyone under the bus or discard them when they no longer serve his purpose. If a person is a jackass and gets ordained a minister what he becomes is a jackass minister.Pat Robertson has less compassion for fellow humans than most animals have for their relatives. I think Pat Robertson should become a monk and and take an oath of silence.
eiriamach | Sep 18, 2011, 01:11 PM EDT
Angelprecious writes, "That is a problem with Protestants." He takes a tiny brush and paints a stripe broad enough to encompass billions of people. Robertson should be an embarrassment to Christians of any denomination, but especially, I would think, to far-right doctrinal fundamentalists like Angelprecious, who are allied with Robertson on social issues. Angelprecious, you consistently distort, exaggerate, and twist other commenters' words so that you can spout anger and bigotry from your fanatic's pulpit. That behavior is transparently dishonest and not likely to win over anyone with an ounce of common decency. But those who already hate Protestants? OK, sure, you can have 'em if they are drawn to your fanatical rhetoric. Teach them your attack mode so that we can spot them at a glance. As for Robertson, he needs a medical check-up with an Alzheimer's test.
seanomelbourne | Sep 18, 2011, 03:49 AM EDT
Kene your idea of christianity is warped
seanomelbourne | Sep 17, 2011, 09:59 PM EDT
Precious!!the problem with your unchristain right is you cannot keep out of other people's bedrooms or doctors surgeries.Abortion is a personal issue and many GOP/DEMs members have used abortion when they deemed it neccassary to do so.Worry about your own soul and leave other people to live by their conscience.In other words mind your own business,Go preach your brain dead chrisianity somewhere else
keneconnor | Sep 17, 2011, 09:33 PM EDT
Looks like Irish Central took a short break from bashing the Catholic church to now spread their atheist hatred towards other Christians.
jamthecat | Sep 17, 2011, 08:30 PM EDT
I'm confused. What else would you expect from this wolf in sheep's clothing? He's the devil's own disciple.
AngelPrecious | Sep 17, 2011, 08:29 PM EDT
seanomelbourne, oh, like the unchristian left that supports abortion and marriage between gays that totally desecrate the sanctity of marriage?? Many on the right are good Christians and they also think this Robertson is in error, a deadly error for him to preach!
seanomelbourne | Sep 17, 2011, 07:42 PM EDT
He is typical if the unchristian right who write the "christian"rule book to suit themselves,So much for the sanctity of marriage you hypocrite.
MegK311 | Sep 17, 2011, 05:17 PM EDT
Don't be too hasty to judge Pat Robertson. Notice he said that the husband sould find good care for his wife. I would think the husband would need to continue to supervise his wife's care even if they were divorced. There are many cases when a wife has a terminal illness of some sort the husband will divorce her because that is the only way to be eligible for funds to pay for the care needed. I don't have a big problem with what Pat Robertson said as long as the husband continues to supervise her care. It is easy to criticize but you haven't walked in their shoes.
Rebelforce | Sep 17, 2011, 04:51 PM EDT
Jesus warned us about religious hypocrites. Anybody who has read the Gospels knows that Jesus doesn't even bother to mention homosexuality, but he does very explicitly forbid married people from getting a divorce. And yet here we have a self-righteous, modern day Pharisee condemning gay people as "sinners" at every opportunity and blatantly thumbing his nose at the Biblical teaching on divorce. "Woe unto you Pharisees! Hypocrites!"
BurrRobson | Sep 17, 2011, 04:21 PM EDT
I am conservative. I think Pat Robertson is a LOON, not a representative of conservative thinking. Further I think the author is an ARSEHOLE for distorting the views of one idjit as speaking for the entire conservative world. Oh, and I forgot to call him a liar, too. What's the point of this ugly lying behavior? To stir up more hatred? I can give you plenty of examples of left wingers who say HORRID things, but I don't have an agenda and don't try to push them as speaking for the entire left wing contingent. Shame on you people. Shame on you.
JohnKinMD | Sep 17, 2011, 03:33 PM EDT
If you look again he said if the man was going to see other women then he should get a divorce.
EphraimKibbey | Sep 17, 2011, 03:07 PM EDT
*** Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. *** Matthew 7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? *** Matthew 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. *** This sounds like one more thorn preached by another false prophet.
AngelPrecious | Sep 17, 2011, 03:05 PM EDT
@Mike: That is a problem with Protestants; they become their own teaching authority. They take snippets out of Scripture to support the craziest ideas!
MikeB74 | Sep 17, 2011, 02:27 PM EDT
I am shocked! I am a Catholic and a Knights of Columbus Fourth Degree and for Pat Robertson who himself is suppost to be a man of God to tell a man to do that to his alling wife is wrong! Our Lord Jesus Christ would of never told any person to divorce and leave there spouse if they have alzheimer's or any other illness. Christ would of said to stay wih your spouse love him or her and help them though there illness no matter what. I don't know where Pat Robertson's mind is at? He is making our Lord look bad and that's wrong! He really just spoke out of turn and that's a shame.
McNamara31 | Sep 17, 2011, 02:07 PM EDT
hollabackgurl... My thoughts exactly as I viewed Robertson's comments. Also I think Robertson has a lot to learn (and most of us have alot to admire) in the last couple on the video, where the husband spends each night with his wife in the nursing home comforting her and singing her t sleep.They broke the mold when they made this wonderful guy!
JBRAFTREE | Sep 17, 2011, 01:43 PM EDT
It's a lose-lose situation, but stay with her or him 'til the end.
PatriciaMarya | Sep 17, 2011, 12:12 PM EDT
Right on, hollabackgurl - it was my same reaction when I was confronted with this: would he give the same advice to a female? By the way, should the freed hubby get the proceeds of his afflicted wife’s life insurance policy when she passes or does/do the caregiver(s), hopefully her children, receive it? After all, he has moved on, right? Can’t have it both ways now, can we? Pat Robertson is also the man who giggled with his TV co-hort in reacting to the Arizona shooting tragedy of Rep. Giffords - commenting that the Glock is a "sweet little weapon, easy to handle." Again, in seeing the pixs of the 2010 Boxing Day Blizzard here in NYC, he laughingly taunted Climate Change, saying "where is that Warming now?" I close one of my poems with "If I was a dictator, I would pompously, publically, piously practice my religion - that way no one would notice my private deals with the Devil." Says it all about this dude, eh?
colkelley | Sep 17, 2011, 12:01 PM EDT
Aw, crap...again I hate to find myself in one of those RARE occasions in which I find myself in agreement with Cahir. As an atheist I would NEVER follow Robertson's "Christian love" advice in that circumstance.
hollabackgurl | Sep 17, 2011, 11:31 AM EDT
And I'm sorry but I'm going to trust what I have just seen and heard with my own eyes to his supporters trying to tell me I missed something.
hollabackgurl | Sep 17, 2011, 11:25 AM EDT
Robertson's remarks are not taken out of context. They are the opinion of a man who looks at every situation he's ever encountered and asks himself: what's best for the heterosexual man in this equation? No mention of what a woman should do in the same situation - I bet you he'll tell her to look after her husband.
Porickseantuny | Sep 17, 2011, 11:24 AM EDT
hard to judge a presentation without the whole thing. Sort of like a dangling participle. You don't know the whole sentence.
1IrishMedic | Sep 17, 2011, 11:04 AM EDT
Robertson is out of touch with humanity and always has been, the a**hole.
aobrien1 | Sep 17, 2011, 11:02 AM EDT
I suspect this has been taken out of context. The clip came from People for the American Way, which is a notoriously left-wing group founded by Norman Lear, and which looks for any excuse to make conservatives look bad. Pat Robertson was just starting to talk about marriage vows when the clip ended. On the surface it does sound awful, and I hold entirely with "until death do us part", but I don't think we got the whole story here.
christilcaugh | Sep 17, 2011, 10:49 AM EDT
The pain this man has caused over the years in the name of Jesus is terrible. He cares for no one other than himself.
biggles008 | Sep 17, 2011, 10:42 AM EDT
I'm shocked and dumbfounded.Can't type much more for a while.