Society: Worshippers unholier than thou

Today's church-going youngsters are confused about the truth and as bad as the rest of their peers when it comes to telling lies, according to a new survey.

Out of 700 teenagers from a random selection of church denominations, more than nine out of ten 14/15-year-olds had lied to a parent, teacher or adult in the last three months, and three out of four had been sparing with the truth in their dealings with a friend.

In the same age bracket, half had watched an 18-rated film, a third had been drunk, a quarter had smoked tobacco, and one in sixteen had taken an illegal drug. One in four had sex before their 16th birthday.

The survey, carried out by the Christian Research Association, also found that a teenager's understanding of the nature of truth had a big effect on their honesty. Those youngsters who believed that truth is absolute were more truthful, while those who adopted the "it may be true for you but it's not for me" philosophy were twice as likely to tell lies.