"You're doing what 17th-century English Catholics living under Protestant oppression called ''equivocating.'' Rather than be drawn and quartered, some Catholics would deftly respond to an inquisitor with an answer that was in some sense true but likely to be misinterpreted. Q: Have you engaged in forbidden religious practices? A: I have not. (The rationale being, they are not forbidden by God.) Many were as troubled as are you by this evasion.
To deceive people, even passively, is (in most cases) not ethical. But avoiding the question altogether is fine (if socially awkward)"
The Ethicist