Congregation of R.E. Lee Memorial Church discusses changing church’s name (VA)

[struggle4progress]

By Rachel Lucas - Virginia Today Weekend Anchor
Published: August 17, 2015, 1:38 pm
Updated: August 17, 2015, 1:40 pm

... The congregation of R.E. Lee Memorial Church will discuss changing the church’s name at its regular business meeting Monday evening.

The R.E. Lee Memorial Church was named after one of its devout members. Robert E. Lee. The church was named in his honor in 1903.

The church did not give a specific reason for the discussion, but one church member said this is not the first time the naming of the church has been addressed ...

http://wsls.com/2015/08/17/congregation-of-r-e-lee-memorial-church-discussions-changing-churchs-name/

[ladjf]

1. That is ridiculous. That church was named after him.

He was it's most famous member. That would have been the case even had the civil war not happened.

He was an honorable man.

[struggle4progress]

6. It was originally called Grace Church; Lee attended the church when he was president

at Washington College; and its name, like that of the college, was changed after Lee's death

There's no reason to think Lee would have been president of Washington College, except that he became well-known as a result of the civil war

And since he already had a nice big house called "Arlington" near DC, he would have been unlikely to move to elsewhere (to Lexington, say) except for the fact that some people replaced the lovely gardens of Arlington with many civil war graves

[Gidney N Cloyd]

2. I've never heard of a church named after a real (non-biblical) person.

[gratuitous]

3. Happens fairly often

I've attended services at Savage Memorial Presbyterian and Hinson Memorial Baptist churches, both named for prominent members of the respective congregations.

There is obviously a potential problem in doing so, just like there are potential problems with naming things for any prominent personality. Disneyland has had to take down its statue of Bill Cosby. Penn State had to remove the statue honoring Joe Paterno. At the time, there is usually little controversy about installing statues or naming buildings, and everyone feels good about conferring the honor. Cato's comment to a friend may sum it up best: "I had far rather that people should ask why there is no statue of me than why there is one."

[Gidney N Cloyd]

4. That's a clever quote. And having worked for OJ Simpson, I guess Cato would have personal insight.

[dsc]

5. I hope you forgot the sarcasm thing