I have never heard of this woman. Dont lump me in with the immigration thread hijackers, please. She lied, gained a government position, was caught and is now coming here. What was anyone supposed to think? Lying is still lying. Buthey, if you are Ok with it, that makes it all right, I guess..
Lying is lying, huh?
You are in Occupied Holland during WWII. You are sheltering three Jews. The SS comes to your door, and says "Where are the Jews."
Are you ethically obligated to:
a. Tell the truth?
b. Lie.
You are in Korea in 1950. You are behind Communist lines and at some risk have hidden two US GIs in your barn. You know that North Korean soldiers have shot any GIs they have found. A North Korean squad come to your door and asks, "Do you know of any American soldiers around here.
Do you tell them:
a. They are in the barn. (The truth)
b. Haven't seen no GIs around here comrade. (A lie)
You are an Afghan herder. You see the Talliban setting up an ambush for an Afghan-American patrol that is coming through the area. You know that you can cut over the mountain on the goat track your herd takes and warn the Americans. As you start up the path, one the Talliban asks you where you are going. Do you tell him:
a. I am going over the mountain to warn the Americans about you (the truth)
b. Allah be praised, noble brothers, one of my goats as strayed up the mountain and I wish merely to recover him. (a lie)
If you agree that telling the truth in these three situations is the right, honorable, and smart thing to do, I will agree that there are no circumstances in which one should lie.
You have other replies which deal with the question of lying as always being indefeasibly evil. Plainly it is not, whatever Blessed Augustine may have thought. Besides the plainly moral cases of using lies to resist evil given by another poster, I would point out that St. John Chrysostom even commended the practice of spiritual fathers and physicians lying for the benefit of their charges.