APRIL 12, 2004

CULTURE
In all honesty … a culture of lies

It is one of the few points all world religions agree on: Lying is wrong. For Christians and Jews, lying is prohibited by the Ten Commandments - "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." To Muslims, lying is "very hateful" to God. Buddhists teach one should "utter the truth." Zoroastrians learn that lying "destroys the holy order."

So how is it that in the United States, the most religiously observant of industrialized nations, lying is so pervasive some scholars have called America's a "culture of dishonesty"? Martha Stewart was convicted of lying to investigators, CEOs of several major corporations face fraud charges, Pete Rose admits he bet on baseball after 14 years of denying it, and the presidential contenders regularly raise questions of truth. (See more examples.)

How can Americans reconcile their nation's penchant for lying with its passion for God? What does it say about the nature of their spirituality, morality and ethics that they can coexist with - and even tolerate - such widespread dishonesty? What can curb it?

Angles for reporters
• Belief in God is higher in America than in any other industrialized country. How does that reconcile with instances of dishonesty "from the White House to the outhouse," as one pastor put it? (See an Aug. 27, 2003, Washington Monthly article that lists lies writers say the past four presidents told.)

• All the world religions teach that lying, for the most part, is bad (the general exception is when a lie serves the greater good, as when those who sheltered Jews during the Holocaust lied about it). What do religious leaders have to say in the current climate of deceit, particularly when some of them have been caught lying themselves?

• "Honesty is the best policy," the saying goes. But do Americans really believe that? Ask people about circumstances when they thought lying was the best policy.

• At least one scholar has said that Americans - especially the young - no longer take their moral cues from religion, but look to television, movies and celebrities to pattern their behavior. Who do adults and kids say they look to for role models, particularly in the area of honesty?

Skip to background

Click the map for interview sources in your state and region

National sources

• Douglas Porpora is the author of Landscapes of the Soul: The Loss of Moral Meaning in American Life (Oxford University Press, 2003) and chairman of the department of culture and communications at Drexel University in Philadelphia. He says that most people compartmentalize their religious beliefs to the point that the way they behave in church on Sunday is very different from the way they behave at work on Monday. Contact 215-895-2404, porporad@drexel.edu.
• Loyal D. Rue is author of By the Grace of Guile: The Role of Deception in Natural History and Human Affairs (Oxford University Press, 1994) and professor of religion and philosophy at Luther College, an Evangelical Lutheran school in Decorah, Iowa. He says organized religion has lost the moral authority it once had. At the same time, he sees more Americans taking their moral cues more from mass media than from Mass. Contact rueloyal@luther.edu.
• David Callahan is author of The Cheating Culture: Why More American are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead (Harcourt, 2004) and co-founder of the public policy center Demos. He writes in his book, "I see cheating as the symptom, not the problem. … [Cheating is] a profound moral crisis that reflects deep economic and social problems in American society." He maintains a web site about cheating in the news and research on cheating. Contact via his web site.
• Darrell J. Fasching is a professor of religious studies at the University of South Florida in Tampa. He is co-author of Comparative Religious Ethics: A Narrative Approach (Blackwell Publishers, 2000) and can discuss the different attitudes toward lying and honesty among the world religions. Contact 813-974-1878, fasching@luna.cas.usf.edu.
• Michael Josephson is founder and president of the Josephson Institute of Ethics and the CHARACTER COUNTS! Coalition. Contact 310-846-4800.
• Barrett Duke is vice president for research and director of the Research Institute of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. Contact via Kerry Bural, 615-782-8419, kbural@erlc.com.
• Dr. Howard Hendricks is chairman of the Center for Christian Leadership at Dallas Theological Seminary. Contact 800-992-0998 ext. 3515 or 214-841-3515.
• Joseph Telushkin is a Jewish rabbi and author of The Book of Jewish Values: A Day-by-Day Guide to Ethical Living (Harmony/Bell Tower, 2000) and The Ten Commandments of Character: Essential Advice for Living an Honorable, Ethical, Honest Life (Harmony/Bell Tower, 2003). He is also a columnist on ethics for Beliefnet.com. Contact crownpublicity@randomhouse.com.
• Dr. James W. Fowler III is director of the Center for Ethics at Emory University. Contact 404-727-2277, jfowler@emory.edu.
• Akbar S. Ahmed is chairman of the Islamic studies department at American University in Washington, D.C. He is author of Islam Under Siege: Living Dangerously in a Post-Honor World (Polity Press, 2003). Contact via the university's media relations office, 202-885-5950.
• S. Cromwell Crawford is professor and chairman of religion at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He is author of The Evolution of Hindu Ethical Ideals (University of Hawaii Press, 1982) and teaches a course on ethics in world religions. Contact 808-956-4200, scrawfor@hawaii.edu or Szabocrawf@aol.com.

DENOMINATIONAL RESOURCES
• Gretchen Hakola is the assistant general secretary of communications for the United Methodist Church's General Board of Church and Society. Part of the GBCS's mission is to promote "personal, social and civic righteousness." Contact 202-488-5630, ghakola@umc-gbcs.org.
• Vernon S. Broyles III is the associate director of the Presbyterian Church-USA's Social Justice Ministries. Part of the ministry's mission is to help PC-USA communities live out the church's teaching on social justice. Contact 888-728-7228 ext. 5812.
• Adrian Rogers is chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention's Baptist Faith and Message Study Committee. The preamble of the Faith and Message statement says it was formed in part to combat "a culture hostile to the very notion of truth." Contact 901-347-2000.
• The Rev. Carmen Guerrero is the National Jubilee Officer of the Episcopal Church's Jubilee Ministry. The ministry's mission is "to make a direct and dynamic link between our theology and our ethics." Contact cguerrero@episcopalchurch.org.
• The Rev. Rebecca Larson is director of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Division for Church in Society, which publishes a magazine on Lutheran ethics. Contact 773-380-2710, rebecca_larson@elca.org.
• Nathan Diamant is the director of public affairs for the Orthodox Union, a union of modern Jewish orthodox congregations. Contact 202-513-6484, ipadc@ou.org.
• Judy Yudof of Congregation Agudas Achim in Austin, Texas, is president of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, an organization of conservative Jewish congregations. Contact 512-735-8400.

Background

• Read a collection of Bible quotations about lying and bearing false witness from InTouch Ministries.
• The Josephson Institute of Ethics conducted a survey of youth ethics.
• Read world scriptures on lying and on honesty.
• Read the honor codes of colleges and universities across the nation.

MORE ON LYING
Here are some recent instances of dishonesty and alleged dishonesty in the news:
• Jack Kelley, a Pulitzer-Prize nominee several times over, resigned from USA Today when it became clear he had made up parts or all of multiple stories. He joins the ranks of Jayson Blair, formerly of The New York Times, and Stephen Glass, formerly of The Nation. Both of those liars signed major book deals after the scandals.
• Martha Stewart has been convicted of obstruction of justice, conspiracy and making false statements to investigators looking into a questionable stock sale.
• Tyco executives have faced accusations of defrauding the company and its investors of $600 million. They join the ranks of executives from Enron, Parmalat and WorldCom, among others, to face legal scrutiny.
• The BALCO Co. is under investigation on allegations of supplying illegal steroids to several major league baseball players, including homerun king Barry Bonds, who denies he has taken any illegal drugs. And last year, Sammy Sosa, an observant Catholic and major league slugger, was caught with an illegally corked bat. He claimed he forgot that he had altered the bat.
• The Josephson Institute of Ethics surveyed 12,000 American high school students in 2002 and found that almost 7 percent had cheated on a test. More than 33 percent said they'd stolen something from a store, and 93 percent said they'd lied to a parent or relative. The study also found that students at religious high schools were more likely to cheat and lie.
• ADP Screening and Selection Services, a unit of the ADP payroll and benefits managing company, based in Roseland, N.J., said that in 2001 it performed 2.6 million background checks and found that 44 percent of applicants had lied about their work histories, 41 percent had lied about their education, and 23 percent had phony credentials.