The paucity of truth in public discourse inspired Stephen Colbert to coin the term (or at least popularize the term) "truthiness", a sort of fake truth that basically consists of making stuff up that supports whatever proposition one s making.

A teacher friend of mine here in Chicago was having trouble with a student who was repeatedly lying--to get out of things, to get certain things, to bully teachers with administrators. This child's mother was confronted with the legion of lies...and her response was to the effect of, "Well, I have to lie all the time to get what I want, so now is as good a time as any for her to learn that."

Wave after wave of attacks on Senator Obama on the internet continue to spout lies concerning his religious beliefs, his family and countless other topics....and though I'm not as familiar with them, I'm sure there are falsehoods being asserted against McCain.

It is now the general consensus that the President of the United States misstated and/or actively misled the American people and the world to get us to go into war in Iraq...yet when someone proposes impeachment, he is laughed off the floor.

Is truth an old fashioned virtue?

Have we become so jaded by the idea of ideologies being presented as truth that we have lost touch with truth that is the stuff of quantifiable reality?

This teacher friend asked me as a minister what she should say to this parent who doesn't think that telling the truth is important and who seems to think that lying to get what you want is just fine.

My response to her was not some deep theological point...it was to ask these questions...

1. Is it okay with you if the surgeon you are taking your child to treat a potentially fatal disease lied on her job application at the hospital about her training and experience?

2. Is it okay with you if the contractor who built your house lied about the amount and strength of the rebar used in constructing the foundation that prevents your house from collapsing on you in your sleep?

The modern social contract cannot survive if there is not some trustworthiness built into the system. We cannot live our lives assuming that everyone is lying to us. Life cannot work that way...at least outside of a cave.

So what's to be done? How to we reclaim the value and virtue of telling the truth?