I was shocked. I stared at the first sentence and thought, "What is wrong with this world?"

"Alarming." That word tripped my whole reaction. "An alarming 70 percent," the news report began.

Yes, it's true. 70% of the American population thinks that divorce is morally acceptable, according to Gallup's 2008 Values and Beliefs survey.

Oh, I'm not shocked at the statistic or large figures. I'm not upset that people think it's okay to get divorced. Divorce doesn't compromise my personal morals in any way.

I was shocked because some poor news reporter out there hadn't hailed the 21st century along with the rest of us.

Aaron Leichman claimed that the statistic of 70% was an alarming number. What's alarming about the majority of people believing that it's acceptable for two people to end a relationship? I get the feeling that Aaron was one of the 30% of the people polled that day.

Ask the people who suffer emotional, physical or financial abuse in a relationship whether they believe divorce is an acceptable moral choice. Ask the people who live hollow relationships or simply co-exist with a stranger in the same house whether they believe separating is immoral.

Immoral means a deliberate violation of the rules between right and wrong. Is it a violation to say, "Oops, I made a huge mistake. Help, please?" Is it a terrible moral conflict to say, "I'm sorry. I fell out of love. I don't want to cheat you or me at a chance to be happy."

Of the other 16 ethical issues covered in the Gallup pole, divorce breezed right on through. No issues, really.

The 30% that believe divorce to be an immoral act are those who identified themselves as conservative, religious or over 65. In short, the opinion that divorce is wrong is an outdated one.

The Economic Times ran an article recently on how Muslim men and women might soon have equal rights. It seems that the All India Muslim Women Personal Law board wants to instate some western culture into an eastern world through the "Shariat Nikahnama." Good for them.

The board wants to overrule divorce carried out through SMS, e-mail, and video conferencing.

Hold up here... People in New Delhi can divorce via email? "Hi. I'm divorcing you. Signed, your new ex-husband." Um, yeah.

On the other hand, why is this such a bad thing? From what the media tells me, women are treated pretty shabbily in many places of the world, to say the least. There are countries where stoning is legal and where exposing a cheekbone or an ankle results in punishment.

In fact, the article quoted Shaista Amber, the AIMWPLB president as saying that the "Shariat Nikahnama" would entitle a woman to separate from her husband if there was any kind of ill treatment or torture.

Torture? Hold up again. Wouldn't it be smarter to make torture against the law first?

Here's my line of thinking: If a man tortured me and wouldn't have to live up to any consequences, I'd be firing up the laptop pretty fast for that quickie divorce a la email. "Which account would you like to use, honey? I'll set it up for you... would you like me to write it out and you just hit send?"

The other 90 percent of the proposed changes perfect sense, and they'd allow women to divorce after the discovery of an affair, a lack of family support, bad treatment and more. They're all perfectly justifiable reasons. Women should be allowed to part ways with someone who blew the concept of marriage out the window.