Talk:George Washington and religion

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[edit] Copied from main article

I spun this out from the main George Washington article. Maurreen 22:59, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

I think a better working title would be George Washington on religion and morality. This would be more inclusive & prevent overfocus on religion - especially the kind of focus that attributes what he says about religion & morality as being entirely about religion --JimWae 01:59, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Funeral Services

I have a problem with the following line:

• His funeral services [12] were those of the Freemasons, an organization most branches of which require only that members believe in a Supreme Being, regardless of other religious membership[13].

This gives the impression that Washington did not have a religious (in Washington's case Church of England) funeral. This is not the case. He had a standard C of E funeral. The Masonic part was at his burial service. Masonic burials are simply the normal burial service that any person would have under his own religion (ie a Jewish Mason would have a Jewish burial, a Muslem Mason would have a Muslem burial, and a Christian Mason would have a Christian burial). What makes it "Masonic" is a brief presentation of his apron by his Masonic lodge brothers (not dissimilar to a flag presentation if the funeral were being conducted by the military). In Washington's case, the funeral itself was held under the auspices of the Church of England, and conducted by a preist (who also presided at the burial, by the way). Blueboar 22:30, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

If you have reliable sources to cite for that information, Blueboar, by all means, add it to the article. -Fsotrain⁰⁹ 22:34, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

Well... At the moment I am going by what I saw on a TV program commemorating the 200th anniversary of Washington's death, which contained a recreation of his burial service (not a reliable source, I'll admit, which is why I mentioned it on this talk page and did not add it to the article). However, I am sure I can dig up something more reliable with a bit of research. I'll add it when I do. Blueboar 00:19, 11 November 2006 (UTC)

Actually... It turns out I don't need to dig one up... If you read what is already cited it clearly states:

• "Upon arriving at the humble red brick tomb sunk in a hillside below the mansion house, the Reverend Thomas Davis, rector of Christ Church, Alexandria, read the Episcopal Order of Burial."

This was then followed by the Masonic commemoration, as I outlined above, and then the public viewing. So I will edit the line to better reflect what happened. Blueboar 00:27, 11 November 2006 (UTC)

And if you want to read a version of a typical Masonic commemoration... this is close to what was performed for Washington. To see the recreation of what actually happened you unfortunately have to purchase a copy from C-Span ... see here. No two Masonic jurisdictions use the exact same ritual (and it can even vary from lodge to lodge), and the Masonic burial service is no exception. But they all follow the same basic format... a prayer, an explanation of the symbolism behind, and presentation of, an apron and a sprig of accacia, and then a closing prayer. Nothing very controvercial about it. Blueboar 00:48, 11 November 2006 (UTC)