A previous post dealt with the issue of bloggers and sources. "A Citation System For Bloggers". In case it's necessary, a single example of a blog which cites no source will serve to demonstrate the need.

Ed Brayton doubts that the Prayer Book attributed to George Washington really should be. Ed Brayton, "George Washington's Mythical Prayer Journal," Dispatches from the Culture Wars, 13 December 2004, at http://www.stcynic.com/blog/archives/2004/12/george_washingt.php. He is certainly entitled to do so. In commenting on Brayton's post, Jon Rowe, attorney and professor, has this to say:

"To be fair, Washington respected how orthodox Christianity kept the masses moral--but there is no evidence that he himself was one. Washington kept his mouth shut about his beliefs." Comment by Jon Rowe, 13 December 2004, at http://www.stcynic.com/blog/archives/2004/12/george_washingt.php.

Since he cites no source for his claim, I suppose I must take Rowe's word for it that Washington respected Christianty's ability to keep "the masses moral." But, since Washmington, supposedly, kept his mouth shut about his beliefs, we could turn Rowe's argument on its head by saying that we have no evidence that Washington was not an orthodox Christian.

Rowe's fellow traveller, "raj" offers this correction of Rowe:

"Sorry, Jon, Washington recgonized how orthodox christianity kept the masses in line. There is a difference--a big difference." Comment by raj 14 December 14 2004 at http://www.stcynic.com/blog/archives/2004/12/george_washingt.php.

So, according to "raj" it was not that Christianity kept the people moral that Washington appreciated, but that it kept them in line. But again, since he cites no source, I suppose I must take his word for it that this is true.

These two people (i.e., Rowe and raj), by failing to cite sources, simply do nothing for the discussion. It moves neither forwards not backwards. Maybe Washington was not an orthdox Christian. Maybe he appreciated Christianity only because it served the politically expedient purpose of keeping the people in line. These statements may be true; but we don't know it from these two because they have cited no sources. (And one of them asserts that Washington was silent about his beliefs. So how do they know what Washington supposedly believed about orthodox Christianity and the masses?) We shall have to go elsewhere to learn the truth. Really, we shall have to read everything Washington wrote. (But it won't matter because he was silent about his beliefs!) It would be nice if these two had cited a particular passage in the Washingtonian corpus. At least, had they cited secondary sources, we could see what primary sources were relied upon. At this time, we have nothing. Perhaps it is just this situation from which the world is delivered by "he who cites his source." See Mishna, Avot., 6.