And it doesn't work, because people still lie to each other. Somebody's lying, in this big trial that's on TV right now. If you look at advertising, a lot of people are lying. Because most of the products people are showing won't make us live longer, or be happier, or lose weight, or look more attractive. Lying is a part of politics.
Politicians make promises that they know they're never going to keep.
We expect it of them. I'm not sure that we could even imagine politics without lies and exaggeration. And what Quakers have been saying, for a long time now, is that one of the things that Jesus teaches, very clearly, is to tell the truth , under all circumstances. Because none of the fancy promises really mean anything. I know that this is not going to be a very popular message, here on Boy Scout Sunday, because Scouts make a lot of promises.