Recent events and research indicate that evangelicals are becoming more tolerant of divorce among clergy and more accepting of divorce in general.
An article in USA Today noted that when charismatic televangelists Randy and Paula White recently separated, “the most remarkable part of the reaction was that there wasn’t much reaction at all.”
The same seemed to be true for the split between Thomas W. Weeks and televangelist wife Juanita Bynum. A recent poll from the Pew Research Center for People and the Press found the divorce records of GOP presidential candidates Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson and John McCain have not hindered their popularity among white evangelical voters.
After writing a recent Christianity Today cover story, David Instone-Brewer is being criticized for concluding that adultery, physical and emotional neglect, abuse and abandonment are all biblically justified reasons for divorce reports USA Today.
Mark Galli, managing editor of the magazine, said, “I think conservative Christians are becoming more liberalized in … making more room for the acceptance of divorce and remarriage. You'll see a lot of churches that plunge right in and have divorce ministries. … Marriage is a really difficult thing in our culture right now.”
