Has the U.S. become a country replete with Judases? The “epidemic of lying in America” is being made worse by many Christian/Catholic leaders

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… Bearing witness includes all lying, not just under oath

Truth has been under attack in America for many years, and it has come from many angles. 

So, now many people are questioning the religious leaders of the country who seem to be ignoring this. While all politicians stretch the truth, habitual lying is a dangerous step that is tearing at the very fabric of our democratic society. 

The Bible makes clear that lying, called “bearing false witness,” is wrong, but that does not mean that those at the highest levels of religion have been honest. 

So, how has this occurred, and can anything be done to stop it?

The Trump effect

While the 45th president is not the first to lie, he is certainly one of the worst — if not at the bottom of the heap,

We're seeing an epidemic of lying in America. In fact, it's gotten so bad that I wish we would hear more preaching on the Eighth Commandment. You know, the one that tells us not to bear false witness against our neighbor.The most alarming symptom of this epidemic is the spread of the "Big Lie" that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election—a lie he and his political allies continue to propagate.

But more fundamentally his whole presidency legitimated and instrumentalized habitual lying as a political tool. The more often lies are circulated, the more distrust grows. In the absence of truth, the door is thrown open to conspiracy theories and fantasy.

The problem is not just Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell pushing baseless claims on television, or MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell making deranged videos that purport to prove voter fraud.

It's also the sinking feeling that we have drifted into a disorienting "post-truth environment" where the difference between fact and fiction no longer matters.

Rita Ferrone, “Against lying: The Church should be a living witness to 

the truth,” Commonweal via La Croix International, March 31, 2021

Is America no longer a moral nation?

The question is why lying no longer causes outrage at every level,

Why does moral opprobrium no longer attach to lying? Have we forgotten that bearing false witness is wrong? How could it be possible that Donald Trump lied to the public more than thirty thousand times while in office, yet suffered little or no loss of support from Christian churches—including many of our Catholic bishops and parishioners?

You could theorize that his supporters are cynical or gullible, but the fact remains that a serial liar was our president for four years and millions of Americans were prepared to vote for him again as though it didn't matter.

Our bishops and pastors should be losing sleep worrying that their flocks are falling prey to those who would exploit their credulity.And what of the people who have accepted the view that it is fine to defame others if it serves "the cause"?

Rita Ferrone, Commonweal via La Croix International, March 31, 2021

That is a good question, but many appear to be ignoring it. 

Lying at the highest religious levels

The problem that I have with the lying is that it is ignored by religious leaders. In fact, some of the religions have become bastions of dishonesty, such as the Catholic Church and all of the lying that it did — from the popes down through the cardinals to the bishops — during the sex abuse scandals over the past half-century or more. 

And, to vote for a man with such loose morals as Donald Trump illustrates that they have not compass regarding right and wrong. 

That is what Rita Ferrone says to the church itself as she concludes her essay,

The Church needs to do something about this. A line from one of our Eucharistic Prayers speaks to me in this regard: "May your Church stand as a living witness to truth and freedom, to peace and justice." 

Is the Church really "a living witness to truth" in America? 

And if not, how can we make it so?

Rita Ferrone, Commonweal via La Croix International, March 31, 2021

Conclusion

The Catholic Church can make it so by forcing all of the bishops in the U.S. to resign and allow Pope Francis to replace those who are the worst of the lot. 

In other religions, it is more challenging because there seems to be no one who stands for truth and justice in the evangelical community. Only in the mainline Protestant denominations. 

This is not a political argument. It is a moral one, and after the sexual abuse scandals, the Catholic Church cannot stand as a moral barometer. 

And that is why so few Millennials now belong to any American religion, even though many believe in God and have some belief in a spiritual life. 

The lying disgusts them, as well it should.