United States Catholic Catechism for Adults

Chapter 32. Eighth Commandment: Tell the Truth • 435

LIES HAVE DEVASTATING EFFECTS

Lying is linked to the tragedy of sin and its perverse consequences, which have had, and continue to have, devastating effects on the lives of individuals and nations. We need but think of the events of the past century, when aberrant ideological and political systems willfully twisted the truth and brought about the exploitation and murder of an appalling number of men and women, wiping out entire families and communities. After experiences like these, how can we fail to be seriously concerned about lies in our own time, lies which are the framework for menacing scenarios of death in many parts of the world. Any authentic search for peace must begin with the realization that the problem of truth and untruth is the concern of every man and woman; it is decisive for the peaceful future of our planet. (Benedict XVI, “Message for World Day of Peace,” January 1, 2006)

TRUTH AND THE OP-ED PAGE The more our culture has moved away from acceptance of objective truth, the more it has moved toward the culture of opinions. Each day, newspapers give us a diet of opinions on their op-ed page. Talk shows on television have turned the sharing of opinions into a national pastime. Editors and talk show hosts strive to give us a range of opin ions that stretch from one end of the spectrum to another. At the high end of these presentations, experts and scholars are recruited to offer us their best current research. At another level, people are simply enlisted to share their thoughts and feelings publicly on any number of social, moral, and political matters. Sometimes debate degenerates into expres sions of hatred. Though the intuition remains that there is really such a thing as objective truth, it tends to be lost in a marathon of inconclusive discus sions. As a result, some spend valuable time sharing only feelings or