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Post by offramp on Mar 13, 2019 18:12:12 GMT
I do not like singing the English National Anthem. It is about the queen and I am not a big fan of her.
I used to just open and shut my mouth during the closings, but in a small Lodge I think it is quite obvious that one is mouthing fake words.
I suppose I should keep my trap shut and sing nothing. Does anyone here do that? It would probably be quite noticeable.
What happens in foreign Lodges? Do US Lodges sing their own National Anthem?
What is the point of singing the Anthem? It seems like a waste of time.
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Post by boreades on Mar 13, 2019 21:32:24 GMT
By the 1800's in Great Britain, the imported Hanoverian Georges regarded the friendly societies as too damn libertarian and a threat to law & order. All the Friendly Societies were viewed as radical free-thinkers, liberal and libertarian. And they proposed educating the working classes! This was seen as especially dangerous by a ruling elite that preserved a good education as something only fit for the fittest rulers. They'll be wanting the vote next! For our rulers, the attitudes of the Friendly Societies were frighteningly close to what was happening on the mainland of Europe, where all hell broke loose with the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars.
For a while, Freemasons were considered just as suspect as all the rest of the friendly societies, especially because of all the French Revolutionary goings-on. As far as I can tell, the Freemasons got a Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free card by swearing allegiance to King & Country. Basically, they promised to be good boys, and have nothing to do with the French masons - (cough, officially at least).
Promoting the Royal Princes as Honorary Grandmasters might have been part of the same cunning plan to prove their loyalty and protect themselves. Still singing the National Anthem at the end of every Lodge meeting is probably part of the same historical baggage, and most brethren have no idea why they are singing it.
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