Christ? He accepted divorce from adulterers – Mario Azzopardi
‘Divorce referendum debate degenerating into crusade of usual cliches, sin, God’s voice inside the voting booth and celestial voices of warning.’
Poet, playwright and novelist Mario Azzopardi is calling for a faithful interpretation of evangelical scripture on the matter of divorce, which he says is turning the debate in the run-up to the 28 May referendum into a “crusade of clichés, sin, and celestial voices warning against divorce.”
“The anti-divorcists are only quoting half of what has been said,” Azzopardi, whose had his own marriage annulled by the Church, said.
“It’s not true Christ was against every type of divorce. The Pharisees tried involving him in a legal dispute between the religious school of the House of Hillel – which accepted divorce for various reasons – and the school of Shammai, which held that a man may only divorce his wife for a serious transgression, such as adultery or fornication.”
The House of Hillel also allowed divorce for even trivial offenses, such as burning a meal.
“It is clear that Christ took the Shammai’s position of divorce in the case of adultery, as read in Matthew 5:32 and 19:9. Those who don’t quote the gospel faithfully are misleading the public or buying into their religious ignorance as faithful,” Azzopardi said.
Jesus’ stand on divorce is often quoted in Mark 10:11, where he answers that “anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her.”
But in opposition, it seems, Matthew 19:9 quotes Jesus saying “I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
“It’s clear this famous exception is not being quoted,” Azzopardi told sister newspaper Illum. “It’s an authentic exception, a classic exception that everyone in Malta is keeping under wraps. I know Fr Mark Montebello had first mentioned it, and then he must have been silenced. But even when the anti-divorcists built their campaign on a religious element, with Christ’s face looming from the billboards, the pro divorce lobby was silent on this.”
Agreeing with Azzopardi, Giuseppe Schembri Bonaci, lecturer in art at the University of Malta, jokes about the pro divorce lobby being in the hands of the anti-divorce lobby.
“I agree that a religious tactic is essential, but it must not defeat the civil aspect of the argument, namely less interference in people’s personal lives, not being subject to religious values in a secular state, that the state must care for every citizen, that nobody takes legal action against priests that breach criminal law when using religion for electoral purposes, or the Church’s unconstitutional ban on lawyers practising in their tribunals, the Pauline privilege to accept divorce where the Church sees fit.”