The next day, reports surfaced that Trump had been denying that it is his voice on the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape, in which he made vulgar comments about women.

But when the tape was made public last year, he acknowledged it was him. Both can't be true.

Meanwhile, within a week, The Washington Post revealed that an activist organization had paid a woman to lie about being impregnated by Senate candidate Roy Moore when she was a teenager.

The story was an attempt to expose media bias on the part of the Post if they had run with the false story, but the paper instead revealed the truth: that the abuse and pregnancy did not happen and the woman worked for an organization with the ironic name Veritas, Latin for "truth."

These recent three examples raise the question: Is lying wrong? Is it still — as Catholics would say — a sin?

Absolutely, say theologians and ethicists. As parents throughout history have pointed out, just because everybody's doing it, doesn't make it right.

The Catholic ethical tradition is clear that lying is morally wrong, and actually maintains that it is wrong in all situations, although some ethicists see some distinctions.

But all agree that the consequences of lying are especially serious when done by leaders of social institutions, such as government, media or even churches.

"Lying destroys trust between people by corroding communication," said Lisa Fullam, professor of moral theology at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University in California.

Widespread lying — or perhaps widespread knowledge about lying, thanks to new media technology — can lead to cynicism, in which people assume that everyone is untruthful for their own self-interest, Fullam said.

This is not only sinful, but has dangerous implications for a democracy, where confidence in the honesty of leaders is critical and truthful knowledge is necessary for citizenship, Fullam said. Continue reading

• Heidi Schlumpf is National Catholic Reporter's national correspondent, based in Chicago.

When it was brought to this guy's attention that slipping himself a few extra $100 bills when no one was looking constituted dishonesty, he protested that it was all just a joke. He was also very quick to distance himself from any label of being "a cheater".

In his best-selling book The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty author Dan Ariely provides some of the answers about lying and why we keep doing it. In his book, Ariely outlines the unsurprising fact that almost everyone tells lies. After all, who hasn't told the odd white lie for social convenience? I once honestly answered a friend who had asked if she had gained weight. It resulted in tears and my conscientious effort in the future to always answer such questions in the negative no matter how big the bulge.

Though many of us may tell lies to avoid confrontation, one of the main reasons is undoubtedly to get ahead. Whether in our careers, while doing our taxes or playing sport - the ugly truth is that unethical behaviour is often seen as the way to conquer all. But what Ariely argues is that we are also quick to believe our own lies. Continue reading

Sources

• Elizabeth Byrne in Daily Life
• Image: The News