Editing Lie (section)

==Religious perspectives==
=== In the Bible ===
[[File:Köln-Tora-und-Innenansicht-Synagoge-Glockengasse-040.JPG|thumb|A [[Torah scroll]] recovered from [[Glockengasse Synagogue]] in [[Cologne]]]]
The [[Old Testament]] and [[New Testament]] of the [[Bible]] both contain statements that God cannot lie and that lying is immoral ([[Book of Numbers|Num.]] 23:19,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers+23%3A19-20&version=KJV |title=Num. 23:19 |publisher=Biblegateway.com |access-date=10 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190711162710/https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers+23%3A19-20&version=KJV |archive-date=11 July 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Book of Habakkuk|Hab.]] 2:3,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://bible.cc/habakkuk/2-3.htm |title=Hab. 2:3 |publisher=Bible.cc |access-date=10 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110814081712/http://bible.cc/habakkuk/2-3.htm |archive-date=14 August 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Book of Hebrews|Heb.]] 6:13–18).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.soundofgrace.com/piper96/11-10-96.htm |title=Heb 6:13–18 |publisher=Soundofgrace.com |date=10 November 1996 |access-date=10 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101017052336/http://www.soundofgrace.com/piper96/11-10-96.htm |archive-date=17 October 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref> Nevertheless, there are examples of God deliberately causing enemies to become disorientated and confused, in order to provide victory ([[2 Thessalonians|2 Thess.]] 2:11;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Thessalonians+2%3A11&version=NIV |title=2 Thess. 2:11 |publisher=Biblegateway.com |access-date=10 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181123154123/https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Thessalonians+2%3A11&version=NIV |archive-date=23 November 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Thessalonians%202:11&version=MSG |title=2 Thess. 2:11 |publisher=Biblegateway.com |access-date=10 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181123154134/https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Thessalonians%202:11&version=MSG |archive-date=23 November 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[1 Kings]] 22:23;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://bible.cc/1_kings/22-23.htm |title=1 Kings 22:23 |publisher=Bible.cc |access-date=10 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515041203/http://bible.cc/1_kings/22-23.htm |archive-date=15 May 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Book of Ezekiel|Ezek.]] 14:9).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://bible.cc/ezekiel/14-9.htm |title=Ezek. 14:9 |publisher=Bible.cc |access-date=10 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111122192502/http://bible.cc/ezekiel/14-9.htm |archive-date=22 November 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Various passages of the Bible feature exchanges that assert lying is immoral and wrong ([[Book of Proverbs|Prov.]] 6:16–19; [[Psalms|Ps.]] 5:6), ([[Leviticus|Lev.]] 19:11; Prov. 14:5; Prov. 30:6; [[Book of Zephaniah|Zeph.]] 3:13), ([[Book of Isaiah|Isa.]] 28:15; [[Book of Daniel|Dan.]] 11:27), most famously, in the [[Ten Commandments]]: "Thou shalt not bear false witness" ([[Book of Exodus|Ex.]] {{bibleverse-nb|Exodus||20:2–17|HE}}; [[Deuteronomy|Deut.]] {{bibleverse-nb|Deuteronomy||5:6–21|HE}}); Ex. 23:1; [[Book of Matthew|Matt.]] 19:18; [[Book of Mark|Mark]] 10:19; [[Book of Luke|Luke]] 18:20 a specific reference to perjury.

Other passages feature descriptive (not prescriptive) exchanges where lying was committed in extreme circumstances involving life and death. Most Christian philosophers might argue that lying is never acceptable, but that even those who are righteous in God's eyes sin sometimes. Old Testament accounts of lying include:<ref>See also: O'Neill, Barry. (2003). [https://web.archive.org/web/20080228070349/http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/polisci/faculty/boneill/bibjer5.pdf "A Formal System for Understanding Lies and Deceit."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080228070349/http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/polisci/faculty/boneill/bibjer5.pdf |date=28 February 2008 }} Revision of a talk for the Jerusalem Conference on Biblical Economics, June 2000.</ref>
* The midwives lied about their inability to kill the Israelite children. ([[Book of Exodus|Ex.]] 1:15–21).
* Rahab lied to the king of Jericho about hiding the Hebrew spies ([[Book of Joshua|Josh.]] 2:4–5) and was not killed with those who were disobedient because of her faith (Heb. 11:31).
* Abraham instructed his wife, Sarah, to mislead the Egyptians and say that she is his sister ([[Book of Genesis|Gen.]] 12:10). Abraham's story was strictly true&nbsp;– Sarah was his half sister&nbsp;– but intentionally misleading because it was designed to lead the Egyptians to believe that Sarah was not Abraham's wife for Abraham feared that they would kill him in order to take her, for she was very beautiful.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.esvbible.org/search/genesis+12%3A11/ |title=Genesis 12:11 – "When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, 'I know that you are a woman'" |publisher=ESVBible.org |access-date=10 July 2013}}</ref>

In the New Testament, Jesus refers to the [[Devil]] as the father of lies ([[Book of John|John]] 8:44) and Paul commands Christians "Do not lie to one another" ([[Colossians|Col.]] 3:9; cf. Lev. 19:11). In the Day of Judgement, unrepentant liars will be punished in the [[lake of fire]]. ([[Revelation|Rev.]] 21:8; 21:27).

=== Augustine's taxonomy ===
[[File:Carlo Crivelli - St. Augustine - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright=.6|''St. Augustine'' by [[Carlo Crivelli]]]]
[[Augustine of Hippo]] wrote two books about lying: ''On Lying'' (''De Mendacio'') and ''Against Lying'' (''Contra Mendacio'').<ref name=Deferrari>{{cite book |last=Saint Augustine |others=Translated by Mary Sarah Muldowney |editor-last=Deferrari |editor-first=Roy J. |title=Treatises on various subjects |year=2002 |publisher=Catholic University of America Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0813213200 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IlBj6Kyadd0C |edition=1st pbk. reprint |access-date=3 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203033131/https://books.google.com/books?id=IlBj6Kyadd0C |archive-date=3 February 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Philip Schaff">{{cite book |last=Schaff |first=Philip |title=A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church: St. Augustin: On the Holy Trinity. Doctrinal treatises. Moral treatises |year=1887 |publisher=The Christian Literature Company |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vwoNAAAAIAAJ&q=lying%20retractations}}</ref> He describes each book in his later work, ''Retractationes''. Based on the location of ''De Mendacio'' in ''Retractationes'', it appears to have been written about AD&nbsp;395. The first work, ''On Lying'', begins: ''"Magna quæstio est de Mendacio"'' ("There is a great question about Lying"). From his text, it can be derived that St. Augustine divided lies into eight categories, listed in order of descending severity:
* Lies in religious teaching
* Lies that harm others and help no one
* Lies that harm others and help someone
* Lies told for the pleasure of lying
* Lies told to "please others in smooth discourse"
* Lies that harm no one and that help someone materially
* Lies that harm no one and that help someone spiritually
* Lies that harm no one and that protect someone from "bodily defilement"

Despite distinguishing between lies according to their external severity, Augustine maintains in both treatises that all lies, defined precisely as the external communication of what one does not hold to be internally true, are categorically sinful and therefore, ethically impermissible.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1312.htm|title=Church Fathers: On Lying (St. Augustine)|access-date=30 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100926192115/http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1312.htm|archive-date=26 September 2010|url-status=live}}</ref>

Augustine wrote that lies told in jest, or by someone who believes or opines the lie to be true are not, in fact, lies.<ref name="Robert Imre">{{cite book |last=Imre |first=Robert |title=Responding to terrorism: political, philosophical and legal perspectives |year=2008 |publisher=Ashgate |location=Aldershot, Hampshire, England |isbn=978-0754672777 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WpOVPCNd2VwC&pg=PA75 |edition=[Online-Ausg.] |author2=Mooney, T. Brian |author3=Clarke, Benjamin |access-date=3 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203042930/https://books.google.com/books?id=WpOVPCNd2VwC&pg=PA75 |archive-date=3 February 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== In Buddhism ===
The fourth of the [[five precepts|five Buddhist precepts]] involves falsehood spoken or committed to by action.<ref name="Leaman">{{cite book |last1=Leaman |first1=Oliver |title=Eastern Philosophy: Key Readings |date=2000 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-415-17357-5 |url=http://www.spiritual-minds.com/religion/philosophy/Key%20Concepts%20in%20Eastern%20Philosophy%20-%20Oliver%20Leaman.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808145834/http://www.spiritual-minds.com/religion/philosophy/Key%20Concepts%20in%20Eastern%20Philosophy%20-%20Oliver%20Leaman.pdf |archive-date=8 August 2017 |url-status=live |page=140}}</ref> Avoiding other forms of wrong speech are also considered part of this precept, consisting of malicious speech, harsh speech, and gossip.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Psychotherapy Practice as Buddhist Practice|encyclopedia=Encountering Buddhism: Western Psychology and Buddhist Teachings|publisher=[[State University of New York Press]]|date=2003|editor1-last=Segall|editor1-first=Seth Robert|page=169|isbn=978-0-7914-8679-5|last1=Segall|first1=Seth Robert}}</ref>{{sfn |Harvey |2000 |pp=74, 76}} A breach of the precept is considered more serious if the falsehood is motivated by an ulterior motive <ref name="Leaman" /> (rather than, for example, "a small white lie").{{sfn |Harvey |2000 |p=75}} The accompanying virtue is [[Sacca#Truth as an ethical practice|being honest]] and dependable,<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Cozort |first1=Daniel |editor1-last=Powers |editor1-first=John |title=Ethics |date=2015 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |encyclopedia=The Buddhist World |isbn=978-1-317-42016-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XeuoCgAAQBAJ}}</ref>{{sfn |Harvey |2000 |p=68}} and involves honesty in work, truthfulness to others, loyalty to superiors, and gratitude to benefactors.{{sfn |Wai |2002 |p=3}} In Buddhist texts, this precept is considered most important next to the first precept, because a lying person is regarded to have no shame, and therefore capable of many wrongs.{{sfn |Harvey |2000 |p=74}} Lying is not only to be avoided because it harms others, but also because it goes against the Buddhist ideal of finding the [[truth in Buddhism|truth]].{{sfn |Harvey |2000 |p=75}}{{sfn |Wai |2002|p=295}}

The fourth precept includes avoidance of lying and harmful speech.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Powers |first1=John |author-link=John Powers (academic) |title=A Concise Encyclopedia of Buddhism |date=2013 |publisher=[[Oneworld Publications]] |isbn=978-1-78074-476-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kZycAwAAQBAJ}}</ref> Some modern Buddhist teachers such as [[Thich Nhat Hanh]] interpret this to include avoiding spreading false news and uncertain information.{{sfn |Harvey |2000 |p=74}} Work that involves data manipulation, false advertising, or online scams can also be regarded as violations.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Johansen |first1=Barry-Craig P. |last2=Gopalakrishna |first2=D. |title=A Buddhist View of Adult Learning in the Workplace |journal=[[Advances in Developing Human Resources]] |date=21 July 2016 |volume=8 |issue=3 |doi=10.1177/1523422306288426 |page=342|s2cid=145131162 }}</ref> Anthropologist {{ill |Barend Terwiel|de|Barend Jan Terwiel}} reports that among Thai Buddhists, the fourth precept also is seen to be broken when people insinuate, exaggerate, or speak abusively or deceitfully.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Terwiel |first1=Barend Jan |title=Monks and Magic: Revisiting a Classic Study of Religious Ceremonies in Thailand |date=2012 |publisher=[[Nordic Institute of Asian Studies]] |isbn=978-8776941017 |url=http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:867441/FULLTEXT01.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819011419/http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:867441/FULLTEXT01.pdf |archive-date=19 August 2018 |url-status=live |page=183}}</ref>

=== In Norse paganism ===
In ''Gestaþáttr'', one of the sections within the [[Poetic Edda|Eddaic poem]] ''[[Hávamál]]'', [[Odin]] states that it is advisable, when dealing with "a false foe who lies", to tell lies also.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://vta.gamall-steinn.org/havamal.htm |title=VTA.gamall-steinn.org |publisher=VTA.gamall-steinn.org |access-date=10 July 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050912100548/http://vta.gamall-steinn.org/havamal.htm |archive-date=12 September 2005 }}</ref>

===In Zoroastrianism===
[[File:Darius-Vase.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|Darius I, imagined by a Greek painter, fourth century BCE]]

Zoroaster teaches that there are two powers in the universe; [[Asha]], which is truth, order, and that which is real, and [[Asha|Druj]], which is "the Lie". Later on, the Lie became personified as [[Angra Mainyu]], a figure similar to the Christian [[Devil]], who was portrayed as the eternal opponent of [[Ahura Mazda]] (God).

[[Herodotus]], in his mid-fifth-century BC account of Persian residents of the [[Pontus (region)|Pontus]], reports that Persian youths, from their fifth year to their twentieth year, were instructed in three things – "to ride a horse, to draw a bow, and to speak the Truth".<ref name=hero>{{cite book| author = Herodotus| others = Translated by George Rawlinson| title = The Histories| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=YTCrx1KB3HQC| year = 2009| orig-year = | publisher = Digireads.Com| isbn = 978-1420933055| pages = 43–44}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> He further notes that:<ref name=hero/> "The most disgraceful thing in the world [the Persians] think, is to tell a lie; the next worst, to owe a debt: because, among other reasons, the debtor is obliged to tell lies."

In [[Achaemenid Persia]], the lie, ''drauga'' (in Avestan: ''[[Asha|druj]]''), is considered to be a [[Seven deadly sins|cardinal sin]] and it was punishable by death in some extreme cases. [[Persepolis Administrative Archives|Tablets discovered]] by archaeologists in the 1930s <ref name="OIP_117">{{cite book|author1=Garrison, Mark B. |author2=Root, Margaret C. |url=http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/DEPT/PUB/SRC/OIP/117/OIP117.html |title=Seals on the Persepolis Fortification Tablets, Volume 1. Images of Heroic Encounter'' (OIP 117)'' |publisher=Online Oriental Institute Publications |location=Chicago |year=2001 |access-date=9 January 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070105203909/http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/DEPT/PUB/SRC/OIP/117/OIP117.html |archive-date= 5 January 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> at the site of Persepolis give us adequate evidence about the love and veneration for the culture of truth during the Achaemenian period. These tablets contain the names of ordinary Persians, mainly traders and warehouse-keepers.<ref name="EIR_Dandamayev_Elamite">{{cite encyclopedia|title=Persepolis Elamite Tablets|last=Dandamayev|first=Muhammad|year=2002|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Iranica|url=http://www.iranica.com/articles/persepolis-elamite-tablets|access-date=1 November 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120121213704/http://www.iranica.com/articles/persepolis-elamite-tablets|archive-date=21 January 2012|url-status=usurped}}</ref> According to [[Stanley Insler]] of [[Yale University]], as many as 72 names of officials and petty clerks found on these tablets contain the word ''truth''.<ref>{{cite web|last=Insler|first=Stanley|title=The Love of Truth in Ancient Iran|author-link=Stanley Insler|url=http://www.vohuman.org/Article/The%20Love%20of%20Truth%20in%20Ancient%20Iran.htm|year=1975|access-date=9 January 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070505064033/http://www.vohuman.org/Article/The%20Love%20of%20Truth%20in%20Ancient%20Iran.htm|archive-date=5 May 2007|url-status=dead}} In {{cite book|editor1=Insler, Stanley |editor2=Duchesne-Guillemin, J.|title=The Gāthās of Zarathustra (Acta Iranica 8)|year=1975|publisher=Brill|location=Liege}}</ref> Thus, says Insler, we have ''Artapana'', protector of truth, ''Artakama'', lover of truth, ''Artamanah'', truth-minded, ''Artafarnah'', possessing splendour of truth, ''Artazusta'', delighting in truth, ''Artastuna'', pillar of truth, ''Artafrida'', prospering the truth, and ''Artahunara'', having nobility of truth.

It was [[Darius the Great]] who laid down the "ordinance of good regulations" during his reign. Darius' testimony about his constant battle against the Lie is found in the [[Behistun Inscription]]. He testifies:<ref>{{cite book| author = Brian Carr|author2=Brian Carr|author3=Indira Mahalingam| title = Companinon Encyclopedia of Asian philosophy| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=osxPipnXeN0C| year = 1997| publisher = Taylor & Francis| isbn = 978-0415035354 }}</ref> "I was not a lie-follower, I was not a doer of wrong&nbsp;... According to righteousness I conducted myself. Neither to the weak or to the powerful did I do wrong. The man who cooperated with my house, him I rewarded well; who so did injury, him I punished well."

He asks [[Ahuramazda]], God, to protect the country from "a (hostile) army, from famine, from the Lie".<ref>DPd inscription, lines 12–24: "Darius the King says: May Ahuramazda bear me aid, with the gods of the royal house; and may Ahuramazda protect this country from a (hostile) army, from famine, from the Lie! Upon this country may there not come an army, nor famine, nor the Lie; this I pray as a boon from Ahuramazda together with the gods of the royal house. This boon may Ahuramazda together with the gods of the royal house give to me! "</ref>

Darius had his hands full dealing with large-scale rebellion which broke out throughout the empire. After fighting successfully with nine [[traitor]]s in a year, Darius records his battles against them for posterity and tells us how it was the ''Lie'' that made them rebel against the empire. At the Behistun inscription, Darius says: "I smote them and took prisoner nine kings. One was Gaumata by name, a Magian; he lied; thus he said: I am Smerdis, the son of Cyrus&nbsp;... One, Acina by name, an Elamite; he lied; thus he said: I am king in Elam&nbsp;... One, Nidintu-Bel by name, a Babylonian; he lied; thus he said: I am Nebuchadnezzar, the son of Nabonidus. ... The Lie made them rebellious, so that these men deceived the people."<ref>{{cite web|title=Darius, Behishtan (DB), Column 1|url=http://www.avesta.org/op/op.htm#db1|access-date=27 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170719155757/http://avesta.org/op/op.htm#db1|archive-date=19 July 2017|url-status=live}} From {{cite book|last=Kent|first=Roland G.|year=1953|title=Old Persian: Grammar, texts, lexicon|location=New Haven|publisher=American Oriental Society}}</ref> Then advice to his son [[Xerxes I of Persia|Xerxes]], who is to succeed him as the great king: "Thou who shalt be king hereafter, protect yourself vigorously from the Lie; the man who shall be a lie-follower, him do thou punish well, if thus thou shall think. May my country be secure!"{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}