Shades of conspiracy?

Over at Effin' Unsound, thehim finds fundie wingnut Gary Randall writing about the Keith Ellison Koran Kontroversy, where Randall reminds us that...

George Washington, our first President, began the tradition of placing his hand on the Bible as he was sworn into public office. That tradition has continued until today.

What Randall doesn't mention, and likely doesn't know, is that the original plans for Washington's inauguration didn't include a Bible at all, there being no Constituional basis for it. It was only when the Freemasons involved in the event realized that their Grand Master should, in accord with Masonic tradition, make his oath on a 'Volume of the Sacred Law,' in accordance with Masonic tradition. The Master of St. John's Lodge No. 1 was dispatched to bring the Bible from the lodge's altar for the affair, and, again according to Masonic tradition, the book was opened to an Old Testament passage as the Presidential oath was administered. After the oath, Washington, again according to Masonic custom, kissed the open book.

The expression 'volume of the sacred law' itself reflects the Masonic recognition that for an oath to be consecrated, it should be taken on a book that the subject of the oath holds holy. That's why, depending on geography and the desires of the membership, an Masonic altar might contain a Christian Bible, a Koran, the Upanishads, etc., or a combination of volumes. It's why, when I was installed as Master of my lodge, I was obligated on a Tanakh.

Of course, a survey of the shelves of the bookstores frequented by the fundies who are in such an uproar about Rep-elect Ellison's desire to use a volume of spiritual law meaningful to him will offer any number of condemnations of Freemasonry as an unholy plot against Christianity, given their belief that anything non-Christian is by definition anti-Christian.

The Presidential oath has an ecumenical history, volume-wise. The Douay Bible that John Kennedy was sworn in with is, of course, a translation that is widely rejected as heretical by fundamentalists, and when Franklin Pierce took the oath, it was on a volume of secular law, rather than a holy book of any kind.

Another fun fact - when GB2 was inaugurated, he hoped to borrow the George Washington Bible from St. John's Lodge, as his father had before him, but was unable to use it due to a combination of the fragile state of the book and inclement weather.

The whole brouhaha around Ellison's Koran would simply be silly if it wasn't so patently un-American, but I do take a measure of pleasure in watching the fundies get so wrapped up in the preservation of Masonic ritual.