Orthodox Christians have always held that it is NEVER permissible to lie, whatever the stakes. In grave circumstances, one may withhold certain facts, or may make statements which, truthful in themselves, are deceitful under the circumstances. Examples abound of clerics and religious during World War II finding very creative ways to defy the Nazis and avoid the twin evils of lying and giving away the fact that they were hiding Jews.

Now granted: Sometimes it’s hard to be “creative” on the spot, in a life-or-death situation, and surely God in his infinite mercy understand the duress one might be in when he lies under those circumstances. But an interview with a bishop (and one not even being interviewed by a Muslim source!), where said bishop goes OUT OF HIS WAY to volunteer the fact that he ACTIVELY discourages conversion to Christianity from Islam is not such a circumstance.

Matthew 7:18 comes to mind.

I don’t know from where you get that notion of a “reasonable lie”. Lying is a violation of the natural law, and against divine precept, at least as orthodox Christians understand it.

The fact that Rahab (in the Old Testament) lied does not make lying a good. Sheesh! So many fundamentalist Christians are so philosophically brain dead, they actually would condone sodomy and child-rape, if only they could be convinced the Bible condoned it!

P-Nut:

We understand you loud and clear. What I and others are insisting is that the Bishop could have kept his damn trap shut and not even brought up the subject of conversions. Prudent silence! But by lying he goes OUT OF HIS WAY to commit a sin. And in any event, I don’t believe he is lying, which is sinful still (by Christian standards).

Sometimes it is permissible to deceive by prudent silence, or to not give away certain facts when not prompted to, but it can never be right for good men to lie in order to achieve some nebulous “greater good”. That’s consequentialism at its worst, and not a far cry to the lying (taqiyya) Muslim jihadists engage in.

Why? Because indiginous Christians fled, were murdered or converted to Islam over the years to save their skin.

to those who so readily launch diatibes against the bishop from the safety of your computer, try living over here in the middle east. Even in “moderate” Turkey, our priest has to live in a near fortress to keep from getting beat up (or worse) on a more routine basis.

May peace be to you all.

Mike T makes a great point. I had not considered that possibility. It’s possible that the bishop believes that he is being watched, even with this interview. In that case, also considering the example of Rahab, I approve of this lie, if indeed it is a lie. I truly hope that someone who considers himself a Christian doesn’t attempt to dissuade conversion to Christianity. Thanks for the additional thoughts, Mike T.

He most likely is being watched. I would be surprised if the Saudi government didn’t have a full time, if small, intelligence or police unit watching him because of his level of prominence. The moment he says that he’s cool with converts, they’d broadcast that to every Muslim state in the region.

My guess is that he is not trying to convert people by preaching, but rather by witnessing which gives him a plausible deniability.