Lying and "the Right to the Truth"
By Randall Smith
I was reading the work of a modern, progressive moral theologian the other day. And he gave what has become a disturbingly common response to the classic moral conundrum: whether you can lie if you are hiding Jews in your house and Nazis knock on your door to ask whether you are hiding Jews in your house. "The Nazis don't have the right to the truth, so you can lie to them." Now, although you are not obligated to say everything you know to anyone who asks, the easygoing acceptance of outright lying troubles me.
My first reaction to all such classic moral riddles is to…
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