Washington's reputation as a mason, like the reports of Mark Twain's death, been a bit exaggerated. . .
(from the NET)--
"George Washington was a Mason, but was such an indifferent one that he can be called a Mason only technically. On September 25, 1798, just a little over a year before Washington died, he wrote to a preacher by the name of Snyder to correct an error Snyder had run concerning Washington's presiding over the English lodges in this country. In this letter Washington said in part: "The fact is, I presided over none, nor have I been in one more than once or twice within the last thirty' year.”
"Washington never really held any office in a Masonic lodge. He was called Master of the lodge at Alexandria, Va., for the space of a year, but it is admitted by Masonic authority that he did not preside a single time during that period.
"The records of King David's Lodge, Newport, R. I., show that as early as 1771 it was not agreeable to Washington to be called a Mason even in private. In response to a communication from the Legislature of Pennsylvania, Governor Ritner, among other facts, established that all the alleged letters from Washington to lodges were spurious. In speaking of Masonry, Washington said it was "for the most part child's play," and that it "might be used for the worst purposes."
Become a mason if you like, but in the higher degrees, you will have to renounce the idea that Jesus is unique, or divine; and in the 33rd degree initiation, a candle
representing "the mason" Jesus, is snuffed out.
Even conservative protestants (as well as the RCC) accept it's status as a cult or alternative religion. (Salvation Army soldiers are forbidden to join the masons, also.)