# How do christians justify divorce? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 27, 2001, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-christians-justify-divorce/95493 "2001-11-27T13:41:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2001, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-christians-justify-divorce/95493/21 "2001-12-02T02:45:21Z")
Frankly, justinh, it has been my observation that Christians can justify whatever they damn well please so long as it benefits them and/or is something they really want. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2001, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-christians-justify-divorce/95493/22 "2001-12-02T12:00:19Z")
I am Catholic, for the record, and I understand in my own feeble way what my Church teaches regarding divorce/remarriage. The scriptural support as I understand it seems not to offer much leeway, and the RCC at least seems to be logically sound in its teachings (refer to the passage dqa provided). So I thought this would be the OP’s specific question when I read the subject: What theological and scriptural basis do non-Catholic Christians use as support for their church allowing divorce and remarriage? How do they reconcile this with the passage below? I am genuinely interested (and I’m NOT a religious scholar), so I hope this does not at all come across as condescending or hostile. Can anyone shed any light on this? ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2001, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-christians-justify-divorce/95493/23 "2001-12-02T12:01:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bob Cos \* > How do they reconcile this with the passage **below?** Um, that would be, “…the passage **above**.” ---
**Author:** ![DAVEW0071](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e19b73/32.png) [@DAVEW0071](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DAVEW0071)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2001, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-christians-justify-divorce/95493/24 "2001-12-02T13:23:52Z")
I’m Baptist, and I’ve heard my pastor say that divorce is not sanctioned by the church unless abuse or infidelity are involved. Otherwise, they suggest a lot of counseling and doing everything possible to make it work. That being said, I’d like to address something in the OP: > [@](#): > > It seems to me that the Catholic church just said it was a law that was so frequency broke that they should just forget it. (We even have a support group at our church.) That doesn’t seem right to me. If something is wrong then it is wrong no matter how many do it. The fact is, that no matter how much people try to save their marriages, divorces do occur, even with people who are regular church-goers. Thus, the church has an obligation to minister to these people. Having a support group is not a way of _celebrating_ divorce, it’s a way of _coping_ with it. The church does a disservice to its adherents if it doesn’t recognize that divorce (and drug abuse and runaway children, etc.) exists and occurs and then offer counseling and healing in their wake. That would be like a doctor saying, “Well, you should have eaten right and exercised more. Now that you’ve had your heart attack, I don’t wanna see you anymore. I only deal with healthy people who take my advice.” ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-christians-justify-divorce/95493/25 "2001-12-03T06:40:05Z")
dqa quoted Matthew 5:31-32 : > [@](#): > > “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” Well, hey now! It looks like ol’ Jesus H. Christ has left the Biblical Literalists an “out” if they want to get divorced. Just have your wife go out and do an Unchastity or two – say, forgetting to cover her head and say “unclean! unclean!” during her period – and **boom** , your divorce is granted! ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-christians-justify-divorce/95493/26 "2001-12-03T06:42:05Z")
… of course, you’ll have to stone her to death afterward, but that’s a small price to pay to rid yourself of the old battle-axe, right? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-christians-justify-divorce/95493.md?page=1)