Tells are unspoken, and often unconscious, indications of what a person really means. Simply Google body language or unconscious tells and make a short list. Then watch some of our political and religious leader’s recorded presentations. It is painful to watch.

I was very fortunate to be selected to be part of The United Methodist Church conflict resolution team last century and we were trained at Quantico by hostage negotiators to understand what was really going on in volatile conflict situations. We spent a good day and a half on facial tells, particularly eyes and jawlines. We were then immersed in a video ocean of popular speakers and world leaders of the 1980s and 1990s. Ronald Reagan was a master of controlling facial tics, but most politicians were easy game once you knew what you were looking for. Honest people are very relaxed, comfortable, focused, and at ease. Dishonest people lock their jaws, have trouble figuring out where to look, and display aberrations of tone, inflection, and volume.

I watch video releases of our political leaders – across the spectrum – and can hardly hear their words because their body language is speaking volumes. Chuck Schumer seems to have a hard time telling the truth, as do Pam Bondi, Karoline Levitt, or Mike Johnson. You can see how uncomfortable all these people are, and their facial tells indicate that they know they are not being truthful. Most alarming to me is that Steven Miller displays almost no indicting tells – he actually believes the hate and bigotry he espouses.

So, why do I pick on politicians, especially Republicans, in this case? Because they are the prominent voices and visible examples, very easy for anyone interested to confirm what I am talking about. But the same information is true about religious leaders and cultural icons purporting to represent the Christian faith. Look at Charlie (sincere) vs. Erica Kirk (not so much). Look at Candace Owens. Look at Ben Carson or Eric Metaxas. Could their jaws be any tighter, their eyes any shiftier? I am not saying anything beyond look at them through simple, basic body and facial language lenses. Draw your own conclusions.

Here’s the point, and I probably should have made it at the outset: who can we trust and why? We need to be able to tune into “official” outlets for information and news, but we also need to do this in the most responsible and enlightened way possible. Knowing how to tell when people are being honest and when they are lying is vitally important. In the Christian tradition this is known as discernment (gift of the Holy Spirit). We, as people of faith, need to make our decisions and choices based on the best, most reliable, and essentially true information and wisdom available. Therefore, we need to be able to weed out the most questionable and spurious misinformation and distraction so that we base our opinions and support on the very best evidence available. Sorry to pick on members of our current administration as examples, but they are the very best examples available – people lying consistently, not comfortable with it, not believing it for a moment, but proclaiming it nonetheless. I truly feel very sorry for anyone and everyone whose job demands them to be less than forthright. How long can someone keep this up? It has to be hard.

Sadly, news commentators do it, talk show hosts do it, and pastors do it. You and I do it. Human beings have the hardest time being honest and trustworthy. We all present what we wish were true as often as we present what is true. We all choose shades of gray to the white of pure black and white. So, it is essential that we develop incisive critical listening and thinking skills so that we can hear the latest proclamation from the president’s press secretary or the preacher from the pulpit in the healthiest way possible. Work on your ability to understand body and facial languages and tells to help you decide what to believe and what to relegate to the dustbin of useless rhetoric. Now more than ever, we need this critical thinking skill. (Though it still can’t help us with social media…)