The king of chaos and the father of lies

Along with the rest of America and the world, I was stunned as I watched the attack on our nation’s Capitol in an attempt to overturn the election and keep President Trump in the White House. It succeeded only temporarily in stopping the final step of Congress’ certifying the votes of the electoral college representing each of our 50 states and the District of Columbia. It was shameful and disgraceful, not only because of its violence but also because of its goal to deny the proven will of the voters who gave a convincing majority in both the popular vote and the electoral vote to the election of Joseph Biden and Kamala Harris as president and vice-president of the United States. 

Many commentators in the press, in journals and on TV, have talked about this attempted coup not being surprising due to the great division among citizens in our country. They have talked about our democracy being fragile because of great economic inequalities and racial inequalities. No one can deny that these divisions do exist and must be addressed and ended, even though it may take quite a few more presidencies to do so. Still, I would argue that there is something even more fundamental than economics and race that must be addressed before our ship of state can be righted and the people of our nation united. There must be an end to lying and hypocrisy as the chief strategy of our politics. 

There are members of both parties, Republicans and Democrats, who have been guilty of this.  But the damage that it has done to our democracy, highlighted by the siege of our Capitol at what some say was the urging of our president, and the seemingly willful support of him with complicity in his lies on the part of Congressmen of his party, is what laid the groundwork for this catastrophic event. The big lie was repeated again and again that this election would be rigged even before it was held. And then the same lie continued to be repeated despite count and recount of votes, assurances by state officials that all voting rules had been adhered to, all procedures monitored by video and human vote watchers, and found correct. Appeals were made in the states, in federal courts and even to the Supreme Court. All were rejected because there was no evidence to substantiate the lie.

Yet, the lie was advanced again by the president and by the words and votes of 147 congressmen and congresswomen, including five of six Louisiana GOP lawmakers, during the electoral process before and after the siege against the Capitol. We can call this politics but it is just lying as a deliberate strategy to advance one’s own agenda. Their agenda was to overthrow the lawful votes of the swing states that awarded the presidency to Biden. And the result of perpetuating lies in the White House throughout President Trump’s entire term and in the Capitol on that fateful day was chaos and the loss of five lives.  

In the Mass for the second Sunday after Christmas, we pray over the gifts of bread and wine, “Lord, make holy these gifts through the coming of your son, who shows us the way of truth and promises the life of your kingdom.” Truth is central to Christian faith. Jesus tells Pontius Pilate, “For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice” (Jn 18:37). And, of course we have to do more than just listen, we have to keep his commandments and model our lives after him. He tells his apostles and us, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (Jn 14: 6). We have to walk the way that he walked, obey the truth that he taught and then we will have the life that God wants to give us, here and for all eternity with him. 

Jesus gave his life because he fulfilled God’s commandment to live and preach God’s truth. 

In the eighth chapter of St. John’s Gospel (34-59), Jesus confronts the Jewish leaders who are trying to kill him. They are afraid because people are beginning to believe that he really is the Messiah. Jesus tells the Jewish leaders that they cannot accept his word because they are slaves to sin. And sin hardens one’s heart. “Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot accept my word. You are from your father, the devil, and you choose to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks in character, because he is a liar and the father of lies” (Jn 8:43-44).

Those are strong words, but they show us how important it is to respect the truth and to realize the damage that lying does. Those who did not stand in the truth, who were addicted to lies, were easily led to kill Christ, the truth personified. The big lie repeated again and again can lead to chaos, violence, the death of individuals and eventually the death of our democracy.

FATHER CARVILLE is a retired priest in the Diocese of Baton Rouge and writes on current topics for The Catholic Commentator. He can be reached at johnny
[email protected].