Pat Robertson says divorce of a spouse with Alzheimer’s is allowable since the partner “is gone.”

A viewer had asked Robertson how she should advise a friend who had begun dating another woman although his wife was still alive — but suffering from dementia brought on by Alzheimer’s.

“That is a terribly hard thing,” Robertson said. “I hate Alzheimer’s. It is one of the most awful things because here is a loved one—this is the woman or man that you have loved for 20, 30, 40 years. And suddenly that person is gone. They’re gone. They are gone. So, what he says basically is correct. But I know it sounds cruel, but if he’s going to do something he should divorce her and start all over again. But to make sure she has custodial care and somebody looking after her.”

The 700 Club’s co-host Terry Meeuwsen gave Robertson an opportunity to reconsider the advice he had just offered, asking: “But isn’t that the vow that we take when we marry someone? That it’s For better or for worse. For richer or poorer?”

Robertson responded that a spouse was obeying the “death till you part” vow because the disease is a “kind of death.”