Marrying a virgin is not now a biblical requirement for office in either church or state, though I'm certainly aware of the Levitical rules regarding marriage of priests.
Also, to my knowledge nobody has questioned the sincerity of Mrs. Santorum’s repentance and made it a public issue in the current campaign.
Since Gingrich's personal repentance **HAS** been questioned, here are detailed comments on Free Republic by a pastor who knows him personally, Rev. Jim Garlow, pastor of Skyline Wesleyan Church in San Diego:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2822096/posts
I find Rev. Garlow’s comments to be helpful, and I think every Freeper with concerns about Gingrich needs to read what he wrote before saying anything more publicly.
I'm going to stay out of most of the rest of this thread because it's turning into a slugfest I find unhelpful. But I do believe the integrity of Santorum’s wife deserves some public defense.
My first goal is to defeat President Obama, and my second goal is to keep Mitt Romney from winning the Republican nomination. I have my preferences, but I can live with either Gingrich or Santorum, and I realize those of us who are Santorum supporters are probably going to have to make our peace with Gingrich as the nominee. I have major concerns about how we're going to do that, but conservative evangelical voters in a Bible Belt state like South Carolina voters gave Gingrich a double-digit margin, so it's obviously possible.
Gingrich has his faults, but he has a valid track record of doing what most people thought was impossible, namely, taking back the House of Representatives and becoming Speaker. I've never been a terribly enthusiastic supporter of Santorum, either, and while I will probably vote for him in the Missouri primary (Gingrich isn't even an option since he isn't on the ballot), I wish Santorum were running for governor or senator to get rid of the “loser” reputation before running again for president.
Either Gingrich or Santorum would be a **WHOLE** lot better than Obama, so let's try to keep that in focus. I can vote for either of them with confidence that if elected, they'll work hard to undo much of the damage Obama has caused.
I can't say that about Romney, and for now, our energy needs to be focused on how to defeat him in the primary so we can defeat Obama in the general election.
You missed my whole point. EVERYONE has things they’ve done in their lives that they are not proud of. Forgiveness is the key. I hate this part of our political process. Turns everyone into hypocrites.