[RedStateRocker]

"A cheater is easy to deride - they break one of the big promises they made in their lives. That being said, the simple fact that someone was alienated by their spouse and took up with someone else doesn't necessarily mean that the cheated-upon spouse is entirely innocent, or even deserving of undue sympathy."

Not true, imho.

There comes a point where wrong is wrong, regardless of circumstance, reason or justification. There is simply never any excuse for cheating, period.

[HitmanLV]

Excuse - no. Reasons? Yes.

I can think of a lot worse somenone can do than cheat on a dreadful spouse and leave them. A lot worse.

[mcg1969]

Absolutely. When you make a vow of marriage---particularly a Christian vow---you are vowing to honor your spouse even if they sin. So when someone commits adultery, they do not have the excuse that their spouse drove them to do it.

The way I put it to my fiancee (now my wife), I shouldn't marry her unless I felt that I could trust her---AND that I could forgive her if she betrayed that trust. It sounds paradoxical but I think it's critical.

My lovely wife has, thankfully, never betrayed that trust. May I never be tested on that second point.