The soullessness of Pat Robertson

The flippant part of me says, "Hey, Christians, how's the shoe feel pinching the other foot," now that the the evangelical leader has pissed off Christians now with his comment that it's OK to divorce a spouse with Alzheimer's.

But, the more serious part of me wants to riff on Pat's "soullessness," per the header. And, I don't mean his hard-heartedness, I mean his soullessness, metaphysically speaking.

Obviously, he undermines every utterance he has made about human life beginning at conception and every utterance he has made opposing euthanasia even when the ailing person wants that. Because Pat Robertson has now said what many a secularist naturally accepts, and something over which liberal Christians wrestle: that human life, the quality of human life, and the humanness of that human life derive from human mental functioning.

His co-host pressed Robertson about whether that violates the marriage vows. Robertson responded that Alzheimer's "is a kind of death" and added, "I certainly wouldn't put a guilt trip on you" for choosing divorce in such a scenario.

Oh, Pat's going to try to put this cat back in the bag, not just for wanting to get past pissing off Christians, but because he knows the barn door that he's opened. And, it's too late.

And, this thing about bending marriage vows goes back 500 years. Martin Luther told a German prince that it was OK to commit bigamy.

Pat's still a hypocrite; that hasn't changed. But, the old "blind hogs and acorns" line rings true here.