Lying is criminal
There are hundreds or even thousands of kinds of lies, but as far back as the Hammurabi Code, circa 1780 BCE, some lies warranted the penalty of death. The ninth Commandment of God states, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour." Exodus 20:16. God hates a lying tongue, Proverbs 6:17, and all liars will be thrown into the lake of fire, Revelation, 21:8. So, what kinds of lies are exempted from the lake of fire?
During the 2016 presidential campaign. Fox News deliberately edited the full Gina Rodriguez interview with then President Obama and then presented the edited version as Obama encouraging illegals to vote. A simple review of the original interview exposes their outrageous lie. Stuart Varney, Judge Napolitano and Neil Cavuto spent hours promoting this egregious false witness against Obama. In two separate interviews, Cavuto enlisted former Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and Arizona GOP Chairman Robert Graham in pushing this lie into the gullible minds of their dedicated "Fox News Christians."
In my LTE, "Flies on a Cowpie" May 5, 2021, I exposed another Fox News and Republican violation of the ninth Commandment, bearing false witness against President Biden, claiming he had plans to severely restrict red meat in our food supply.
All these high profile "Devoted Godless Christians" fell in line with their Liar in Chief in supporting the Big Lie that Biden stole the election. That lie is demonstrably false, but they do not care! That lie has caused violence and destruction at the Capitol and caused the murder of human beings. More violence is anticipated and death threats against honorable people are widespread.
That lie is destructive to Americans and American democracy and leads many Christians through the wide gate to destruction, therefore, probably deserves the lake of fire for many.
Lying to the FBI is a crime, lying to Congress is a crime, and lying in a court of law can result in a long-term jail sentence and/or several thousand dollars in fines. Defamation of character is a civil matter in which the defamed party can sue for substantial sums of money.
Lying to the public must be made a crime for news outlets and politicians. Of course, I'm advocating criminality for those lies which can be shown to be destructive to society in some manner, demonstrably false and an intentional disregard for the truth.
Oren Piper
Siloam Springs