How critical adultery and affairs to modern society

Hi. I am going slightly off track tonight as I am going to be looking how adultery is tolerated now as comparison to the past. This subject is quite close to my heart because my ex and a close friend had been seeing each other for over a year. It's all been a sordid mess. She has since left her children to be with him. Her extended family have been rather self righteous and pious about the whole thing saying that if two people are meant to be together then people should accept that. They believe in time we will all be happy in our own way. I can't begin to tell you how angry this attitude makes me feel but when I detach myself from their unbelievable spin it makes me wonder how modern society deals with such betrayal to spouses and their families. Many religions now as in the past condemn adultery so much so that even in this day and age a person could lose their life over such selfish actions. I think that is an extreme course of action to take against someone who has committed such an act. However, I have spoken to a couple of churches with regards to this and what has happened to me. One pastor said that the church is for bad people to repent. That had me fuming because I felt that you can go and commit moral crimes and go to church and be forgiven. No, I don't buy it. Another pastor had more empathy and basically said that the actions of those who do such things are morally wrong. Plain and simple and that there cannot be any justification no matter how much they profess to being 'in love.' On the social front it is a little more interesting. Apart from her family being self righteous about the whole situation (mainly because it is one of their own that has done this) alot of people are appalled. So much so that they have suffered a great deal of verbal abuse and the obligatory cold shoulder from so many people. Which makes me think that although the church says it is wrong it is interesting to see how the man on the street reacts and in this situation, people have been disgusted. It goes to show that you do not have to be religious to know when something is fundamentally wrong. Now as in the past, adultery and affairs, really are not tolerated. There are four books on this subject that I recommend on Amazon: The Vision, The Pious Whore, The Pariah and The Seeds of an Affair.