Thinking through the current controversy at Project Veritas, the battle between the founder, James O’Keefe and the board of directors, has led me to a prior question- is the practice of using hidden cameras, inviting others into conversation then publishing those conversations something Christians are allowed to do? Before I try to tackle that question, a few points of prolegomena. First, I have enjoyed the work of Project Veritas in the past. That is, those they expose are people I’m glad to see exposed. The causes the organization is fighting for are causes I care about. Second, my concern is moral, not legal. I know enough law to know some states require anyone recording anyone else to let them know. Other states do not have that requirement. I will be looking at the question while assuming the practice is legal. Third, I am not of a mind to believe that in all circumstances lying is sinful. I know there are many Christians who hold that view. My view is that we owe the truth to whom the truth is due. Unpacking to whom the truth is due is no easy task.
Is the truth due to Planned Parenthood, Phizer, the Hillary Clinton campaign? If one takes the view that Rahab’s lie in the book of Joshua, protecting the spies in Jericho, was just, or the Hebrew midwives lie in Exodus was just, one would do so on the basis of the reality of an ongoing war. You can lie to the enemy in war, just as the allies did in sending fake messages to be intercepted by the Nazis giving a false landing point for D-Day. The trouble is, while we are engaged in a culture war, war in this context is more of a metaphor. When one starts stretching the context of “war” to include every kind of disagreement, one opens the floodgates to lying virtually all the time.
I am likewise pulled toward suggesting these tactics are not legitimate by CS Lewis. There is a memorable scene in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader where Lucy comes across a book of spells and avails herself of the opportunity of listening in to a conversation of a friend. That friend displayed little loyalty toward Lucy, hurting her feelings. Aslan gently corrected her and let her know we ought not listen in to conversations we’re not invited to.
At the end of the day I’m coming down with my favorite answer- I don’t know. There are, however, two things I do know. First, this is a question that needs to be asked. Just because something is doable doesn’t mean it ought to be done. Second, sauce, goose, gander. That is, if we’re going to argue that this type of activity is a good thing when lefties are exposed, we’d better be prepared to accept the consequences when our allies end up exposed by the same tactics. In turn, I wonder how such tactics mesh with our call to do unto others. “Harmful to our enemies” is not a sufficient standard to earn the appellation, “A good thing to do.”
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