News and Highlights

January 19 2005. Worshipful Brother Terry Crabb was elected Honorary Past Master of this Lodge on January 18th. He will be installed in the Oriental Chair on February 1st by the VW Ron Brodszinski, Deputy to the Grand Master for District 23. WB Terry was honored for sixty (that's six-oh!) years of faithful and diligent service to this lodge as organist.

January 25 2005. The passing of Charlie Kilbury on January 16th has left a large hole in our community. VW Bill Dodd presided over a wonderful public memorial for him on January 24th, which was very well attended by brothers and friends alike. We were glad to have our sojourning Brother George Kilbury join us and give the benediction. To learn more about Charlie and his lifelong service to our community, see the memorial and the Tri-City Herald article.

Dates and Events

All Masonic Night is Saturday February 12th at 6:30 PM at Pasco Lodge jointly hosted by the York Rite bodies and Scottish Rite. Our MW Grand Master Sat Tashiro will be visiting. A roast ribeye dinner will be served. Cost $10 per person. Contact: Jim Carey at 627-5720 for reservations.

We will be having our monthly dinner on February 15th at 6:30 PM. Contact W. Russ Campbell (735-1966) for details.

From the East

• Only one in three US citizens can name the four Gospels.
• 12% of American think Joan of Arc was Noah's wife
• Two thirds of American's can't say who delivered the Sermon on the Mount

But it's not just ordinary folks who can't pass a basic test of religious competence. Consider the respectable British paper, The Guardian, which published a photo essay on how Good Friday was commemorated around the world last year. The caption to a photo of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem read: "A Christian woman prays inside the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank city of Bethlehem. Some believe the church to be Jesus Christ's final resting place." Wow!

But why does this matter? It matters because the debate on the important issues of our day include a diversity of religious considerations that are important to many Americans. We must be able to make sense of the references made to the texts that motivate these many religious perspectives. The diversity of faiths makes it insufficient that we just quote the literal word of the Bible. We must, for example, have the ability to interpret the meaning of a runaway slave in Philemon or the year of jubilee in Leviticus before we can come to a conclusion about slavery that includes religious considerations. It is because 150 years ago so many people were religiously literate without being dogmatic that today their answers seem so obvious. The challenge is that this must be done without being vexed by the dogma that might attend one specific religion or another.

Centuries from now, will our descendants look back on us and say the same with regard to issues like abortion, gay marriage, or stem cell research? Will they say "our ancestors gave the most difficulty issues of their day due consideration and they came to the right decision?"

So I conclude something must change in our public schools. Obviously I don't advocate teaching a religion, or even several religions in public school. It's that if we don't endeavor to teach our children about the religions of the world and the language of faith, they will be unable to meet the challenges of the modern world. They will be unable to stand toe to toe with a religious extremist and prevail, except by force of arms.

We don't want our public school to teach faith. Parents instill faith in their children by sending them to Sunday school. But public schools must invest our children with an understanding of religion in society by teaching them the language of faith. Only this will overcome the insidious effect of televangelism, whether secular or religious, and overcome the resulting secular and religious bigotry and all its attendant evils.

If there is one thing Masons have learned, it is this: in the absence of a religiously educated people, religious intolerance festers and grows. The dirth of religion education in American public schools is almost as dangerous as the dirth of secular schools in the Islamic world. Both foster and promote the growth of marginal educational venues where intolerance and extremism are the norm. Teaching our children to be religiously literate is to immunize them against the allure of the most vile ideas our country can generate. With a literate and savvy people, all our other values will naturally follow.

The challenge however, is not to allow this reason for education in religion to be usurped by the very same religious bigots who call for the same solution, but for more insidious reasons. We should insist on the kind of openness and tolerance that is characteristic of Masons. Our schools should competently teach about religions, but never can we allow them to teach religions. This is a difficult balance to strike, but it seems vital that we achieve it.

From the Secretary's Desk

Anniversaries

Visitation

Naturally we don't announce when or where the next crash is so as to not spoil the surprise. Besides Kennewick we successfully crashed Euclid Lodge, No. 125 November 11th. We are still considering crashing some lodges in other districts.

We plan to visit Benton Lodge at their stated meeting on the 17th to lend a hand with a degree. Perhaps we'll be numerous enough to call it a crash.

To find out more, please contact W. Russ Campbell at 735-1966.

Communications

Our electronic Trestleboard has come together nicely. Using our website should save us a lot of money on the cost of copying and postage.

If you would like to receive a monthly notice electronically, please send an e-mail to B. Dan Walsh at tradepst@bossig.com. You will be added to the electronic mailing list.

We are always interested in news from brethren who have been out of touch for while. Please send us the latest about you and your family so that we can keep the brethren up to date.

History

We recently updated the list of Past Masters. See past_masters.htm.

Education

WB Terry Crabb continues to work on our new Music Scholarship program, now named the 'Al Butterfield Memorial Scholarship'. We are looking forward to our first event in the spring, at which graduating Pasco High School students will present a musical program.

Transportation

Proficiency

Youth Groups

Sickness and Distress

Low Twelve