I say that if you either enjoy Dan Brown’s novels or believe them to be true, you get whatever you deserve. Okay, I’ll give you Angels & Demons out of generosity but other than that, you’re on your own.
And yet … people, particularly those with close to zero knowledge of church history, found his DaVinci Code to be a compelling indictment of Christianity. The bigger scandal, in my view, is that they found the writing itself compelling. But I digress.
Apparently the man has a new book coming out next week and holy hell is going to break loose when it does. People think they’ve figured out that the topic will be freemasonry. My own prediction is that this is just what the freemasons needed. As the granddaughter of not one but two freemasons (and my mom was a “Daughter of Job,” too!), I’ve been well aware that the once proud secret society has seen much better days. I don’t mean to get all Pauline Kael about it, but I know only one freemason who is still living. (And I should mention that my mother and grandfather left their respective masonic affiliations upon becoming Lutheran. More on that below.)
The novel, it is rumored, will take place in Washington and so the Washington Post has a piece about how DC is about to get “Dan Browned.” That’s the term of art for the likely arrival of eleventy billion Dan Brown afficionados:
When Dan Brown comes to town, things get a little bit nutty.
Just ask Colin Glynne-Percy, director of the Rosslyn Chapel Trust, the rural Scottish church featured in “The Da Vinci Code,” which Langdon believed to be the location of the Holy Grail.
“Before the book came out, we had about 40,000 visitors a year,” Glynne-Percy says. “It went to 80,000. Then to 120,000. Then to 175,000. We had very small facilities. We had only two restrooms. We could survive on that for 40,000 but …” They’ve put in temporary bathrooms and added several new staff members.
The story is fun, co-bylined by Monica Hesse, and quotes various sources speculating about the book’s plot. Some think that maybe there will be something about cloning Jesus using parts of the blood-stained cross held by the secret society of Rosicruceans. And yes, writing that last sentence makes me want to weep for the country. Anyway, the Post’s accompanying tour of masonic sites is even breezier and more fun. Although there are some troubling spots dealing with religion:
The Masons are cagey about their rituals, but otherwise they don’t seem all that secretive. Docents give free tours of the temple. Let’s pause for some Masonry 101.
Masons first appeared in Britain in the early 1400s as members of craft guilds. Their “secrets” included how to square a corner and build a cathedral. Claims of a connection to the Crusades and the Knights Templar — as suggested in “The Da Vinci Code” and the “National Treasure” movies — are the stuff of fable, historians say. In the 1600s, non-stoneworking gentlemen began joining, and Masonry became fashionable. The Masons encouraged free thought and religious tolerance. They helped invent America: George Washington, Ben Franklin, nine signers of the Declaration of Independence and 13 signers of the Constitution were Masons. Both Presidents Roosevelt and 11 other presidents besides Washington were, too. Also J. Edgar Hoover, Will Rogers, Ty Cobb, John Wayne.
For the roughly 1.5 million Masons in the United States today, Masonic life involves socializing, self-improvement and raising hundreds of millions of dollars a year for charity, Masonic leaders say.
But you only have to visit any number of anti-Masonic Web sites to find the darker claims of conspiracies to rule the world and undermine religion. A persistent rumor involves secret symbols in the map of the city.
Okay, it may seem silly to think of masons as undermining religion when the society has relatively little influence over the hearts and minds of anyone these days. But to describe them merely as supporters of “religious tolerance” gives precisely no weight to the claims and reasoning of Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran and many other churches that oppose masonry on religious grounds.
Which brings me to this fascinating Religion News Service piece on the same topic — Dan Brown’s new book and masonry.
As members of a secretive brotherhood, Freemasons are no strangers to conspiracy theories. They’ve heard it all before: that they’re child-sacrificing cult members, or religious zealots plotting a New World Order with the Jews, or satanic anti-religious alien spies… .
Even though Brown (of “The Da Vinci Code” fame) and his publisher, Doubleday, are being tight-lipped about the book’s contents, some Masons are preparing for an onslaught of negative press. And because Brown is known for tying religious themes to his thrillers’ plots, Masons are carefully addressing common misconceptions about their religious affiliations.
“There is the basic question asked: Do you believe in God?” said Richard Fletcher, executive secretary of the Masonic Service Association of North America. “Beyond (requiring a belief in God), we’re not a religion, and we don’t pretend to be.”
The RNS piece is fantastic and well worth a read but it reminded me that if we’re all going to be Dan Browned and subjected to an onslaught of media discussion of masons, I just want to remind reporters that religious opposition to masonry is not actually related to child-sacrificing, alien-spying conspiracy theories. Also, there’s a difference between claiming not to be a religion and having religious views that Catholics, Orthodox, Lutherans and other Christians find false. Without a shared definition of religion or religious, it means little to quote one side or the other. Maybe an exploration of actual views of masons and of their critics will be in order as we continue down this media juggernaut.
On that note, did you know the Amazon page for this book has a four-minute video of how the jacket for this book was made? Seriously. If there’s that much interest in this schlock, the least we can do is have some good in-depth reporting on masons and Christianity’s widespread objections to it.
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Comments (43) |
September 11, 2009, at 9:53 am
The question for me then becomes why are there so few denominations particularly those with ties to Catholcism that have a problem with Freemasonry when so many Protestant denominations don’t. Being a bit of a Mason buff myself, if you carefully look through the history of the Masons, you will see that until their membership got rather large and started to include the likes of Kings, Businessmen, and Celebrities, the Catholic Church had no problem with them. It was when the Pope felt that Freemasonry was a threat to the Catholic Church that he decried Freemasonry as an evil institution.
September 11, 2009, at 10:23 am
not a great dan brown fan but appreciate the interest in sptl things. hey - good to see your site on top 100 church sites. well done.
September 11, 2009, at 10:26 am
Based on the questions that these poor docents have to deal with, it seems that Dan Brown is doing a great job of making people dumber.
September 11, 2009, at 10:32 am
When it comes to the Catholic Church, I think it has to be remembered that in parts of Europe and in Latin America, Freemasonry often had a much more political and anti-clerical bent than it typically had in English-speaking countries. (Yes, many of the Founding Fathers were Masons, but the Lodge was still more of a social than a political institution.) That, as I understand it, is at the root of the Catholic Church’s position on Freemasonry.
Meanwhile, I’ll read the book I’m sure. Sure, Brown’s books are full of crazy theories and they’re certainly not great literature, but sometimes all I want is a fun read.
September 11, 2009, at 10:56 am
Martin, I’m no buff about Masonry (I’m no buff period), but I want to ask you to be careful about your line of questioning. I don’t mean to quell your desire for knowledge, so long as the knowledge leads to wisdom. It may seem, ostensibly, that the Popes had a problem with Masonry only when many “big-whigs” started to join the Masons, but you can easily fall into a non-sequitur that their joining was the problem for the Holy Fathers. However, this “does not follow” logically. I would read encyclicals like Humanum Genus as they are meant to be read: morally binding promulgations upon Catholics to avoid activities that may adversely effect one’s journey towards holiness and blessedness, or to promote activities that may further the same. They must be read with the eye of the soul focused by the light of Faith, otherwise misconstruction can abound. I bid you well.
September 11, 2009, at 12:22 pm
I did enjoy the Simpson’s spoof of anti-Mason conspiracy theorists http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_the_Great and the great song that was part of that episode http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybIXiIL50bw
There are many internet sites claiming Masonic symbolism in the Great Seal and Masonic membership by many of our nation’s founders. So there’s ample room for novelists to write fictional stories. It’s a sad sign of the times that fiction is taken as fact all too often.
I can’t speak in any detail to the various statements that you site about the Masons, Mollie, but from a cursory glance they seem no different in kind to what those churches would say about various modern manifestations of syncretism.
September 11, 2009, at 12:24 pm
I just hope this doesn’t mean Dan Brown ran out of ideas (already?) and decided to crib from the National Treasure movies.
September 11, 2009, at 12:43 pm
Are they any worse than what the mainline churches used to say about each other, before they learned to play nice?
September 11, 2009, at 1:21 pm
Whether you think correcting (what adherents believe is) false doctrine is nice or not nice isn’t really the point so much as making sure that reporters get their facts straight about masonry and Christian response to it.
September 11, 2009, at 2:25 pm
The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1911 has a very detailed entry on the subject of Masonry(Freemasonry) full of citations to historical documents and statements by Masonic historians.
there is lots from the very earliest days of Masonry, including its involvement in revolutions and religious disputes. Among other things, it outlines the French Lodge which deleted some of the traditional “charges” about religious tolerance and essentially became atheistic. In other European lodges there came to be an atagonism against tyrants, including the Papal tiara as a symbol of what Masons stood against. It seems that the Continental expressions of Masonry took on a more political cast than the Anglo-Saxon versions. Some of the Sousthern German Masons became involved with the anarchic Illuminati. Later the Prussian lodges had great influence over the beginning and continuing Kulturkampf in Germany in the late 1800s.
Lots and lots of quotes that Dan Brown must have also read and salivated over. Here’s some of it:
In 1902, the head of the French Masons said:
Then follows various oaths that are taken by different kinds and degree levels of Masonry. Punishments for breaking an oath include having one’s throat slit. Then follows descriptions and citations concerning European lodges entangled with political movements against the existing governments, including Italy. Recall that there were military campaigns against the Pope in the 1800s and several Popes were taken prisoner - by Napoleon and later by Garibaldi.
1886, A. Pike, a high level American Mason in Charleston wrote to his Italian Masonic brothers the following:
And here’s an English statement:
The entry near the end has links to the many official statements by Popes (as of 1911) concerning Masonry and a summary of the points made by Pope Leo XIII.
Source: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09771a.htm
September 11, 2009, at 2:45 pm
I should have said there are over 200 footnotes giving sources for all the quotations in the Catholic Encyclopedia’s entry on Masonry. That should give reporters a good start on examining why some churches are concerned about Masonry.
There are descriptions of the most-often quoted Masonic sources for the encyclopia entry.
There is also a long list of further sources for information about Masonry, including The Freemason’s Chronicle; various books of Masonic Law & Jurisprudence; Masonic publications; Masonic histories; and anti-Masonic publications.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09771a.htm
September 11, 2009, at 3:19 pm
The problem with trying to report on some Christian Churches problems with Freemasonry is that the subject is so complex. Not only have different churches taken different positions, but they have taken different positions at different times and against different forms of freemasonry. The history of freemasonry is complex and includes both conflict with Christian Churches and periods of being little more than a protestant (and later Jewish) parochial society with antiquarian interests. There was a long period, for instance, wherein many churches (particularly in the South) had their corner stones laid in masonic ceremonies, in addition to sharing buildings with the fraternity. Simultaneously, the ceremonies and initiation rites took on Christian themes, particularly in the side orders, like the York Rite. One has to delve pretty far into the journal of 17th century studies or the books of folks like Steven Bullock to get a clear picture, and move anywhere out of the realm of Gun Show tracts, the authors of which seem to use a “find/replace” function to insert “Freemason/Catholic/Jewish” in their various conspiracy theories.
All of this information is accessible in journal articles, select books, academic libraries, special collections, and even masonic libraries with a little effort. It’s just that most people aren’t willing to put in the time needed to contextualize the convoluted social history that touches on so many other areas of American life, from Anti-Catholcism, antisemitism to Anti-Masonry and know-nothingism.
Additionally, how would a reporter deal with other issues, such as the existence of the Prince Hall lodge, and it’s traditional relationship with historically black denominations, such as the AME-Zion (the first Bishop of which in NC, James Hood, used to found Prince Hall Lodges at the same time he planted churches). Factor this in and you have not only a religious, but a racial issue that makes the subject even more complex. I would love to see someone do the subject justice—to even attempt it, I imagine there would need to be a series of articles—but I’m not going to hold my breath.
September 11, 2009, at 3:25 pm
Here’s a good, serious question that reporters, one would think, might need to resolve for themselves.
The Freemasons are a secret society, meaning they aver that they have special secrets only revealed to initiates, which such members must swear never to reveal, under pain of the curses specified by their oaths.
It doesn’t really matter whether you think they are serious, or not.
So here’s the dilemma. When you question a Freemason about anything that might touch on the “inner workings” of Freemasonry: Will he tell you the truth, or will he lie?
How can you distinguish the truth, from a lie? Will you report it, or not?
September 11, 2009, at 3:32 pm
Michael #13,
The thing about labeling Freemasonry a secret society (or even a society with secrets as some Freemasons like to respond) is that it neglects the reality that there are large Masonic libraries, which are open to the public, in which anyone can find the rituals that are supposedly secret. It sort of belies the drama doesn’t it?
September 11, 2009, at 3:35 pm
Having a grandfather and uncles who were Masons and a grandmother who was a member of the Eastern Star, I knew a lot of guys in DeMolay. I also had girlfriends in both Job’s Daughters and Rainbow Girls. Query: Is one Scottish Rite and the other non-Scottish Rite?
Sorry, Q is only slightly OT, but it’s in response to Mollie’s bringing up the subject of Job’s Daughters.
September 11, 2009, at 3:54 pm
The thing is that Dan Brown is a terrible researcher and a poor writer, but people love to read his stuff and he is now very, very rich. It says way more about us (our education and thus our culture) and not so much about him. The history of Freemasonry is exceedingly complex, but the vast majority of Americans will choose to be informed by Dan Brown. So what does the news business have to do with this topic? Pretty much nothing because they are equally ill-informed and are unlikely to provide any corrective knowledge. (The History Channel is not much better than Dan Brown, but so many Americans think that they are getting good historical information from that source as well.)
September 11, 2009, at 3:56 pm
Jody #14,
It isn’t me who says they are a secret society, they say it, and men take oaths not to reveal the secrets.
September 11, 2009, at 4:16 pm
<blockquote cite="Michael McDonough” >So here’s the dilemma. When you question a Freemason about anything that might touch on the “inner workings” of Freemasonry: Will he tell you the truth, or will he lie?
In my experience, he will tell the truth and say “that’s private and we don’t discuss it.”
September 11, 2009, at 4:32 pm
Martin, Freemasonry, which was officially established in 1717, has not been a threat to the Catholic church, but
it is a a serious threat to the souls of Catholics who wish to join or who are presently Freemasons. In totality,
Freemasons do not believe that Jesus Christ is the only one true God, there it violates the 2nd commandment.
Pope Clement XII issued a Bull in 1738, excommunicating any Catholic (no effect on non-catholics) member of this
Society (not just a recent event). The following 30th Degree oath illustrates the danger for a Catholic:
Thirtieth Degree: A. — “I solemnly and freely vow obedience to all the laws and regulations of the Order, whose
belief will be my belief,….I pledge myself to be devoted, soul and body……I solemnly vow to consecrate my
life to the ends of the Order of Knights of Kadosh……
September 11, 2009, at 4:37 pm
Given the number of breathless accounts of UFOs, Dan Brown, the end of the Mayan long count calendar (2012) and other such shows, I agree with you.
September 11, 2009, at 5:12 pm
There are, or rather there have been, mystical attributes attached to Freemasonry, as well as a heck of a lot of pseudo-history.
Even if you take Rudyard Kipling for one (and he was certainly not a Roman Catholic), how about his “The Man Who Would Be King” and the use of Masonic regalia and symbolism there?
Or a rather tongue-in-cheek ghost story (The Inexperienced Ghost) written by H.G. Wells, where a ghost gets ‘stuck’ haunting and can’t dissolve back into the Otherworld, but a student of the higher degrees of Masonry is able to help him because of the correct mystic hand gestures:
“Now, Sanderson is a Freemason, a member of the lodge of the Four Kings, which devotes itself so ably to the study and elucidation of all the mysteries of Masonry past and present, and among the students of this lodge Sanderson is by no means the least. He followed Clayton’s motions with a singular interest in his reddish eye. “that’s not bad,” he said, when it was done. “You really do, you know, put things together, Clayton, in a most amazing fashion. But there’s one little detail out.”
“I know,” said Clayton. “I believe I could tell you which.”
“Well?”
“This,” said Clayton, and did a queer little twist and writhing and thrust of the hands.
“Yes.”
“That, you know, was what he couldn’t get right,” said Clayton. “But how do you—-”
“Most of this business, and particularly how you invented it, I don’t understand at all,” said Sanderson, “but just that phase - I do.” He reflected. “These happen to be a series of gestures–connected with a certain branch of esoteric Masonry– Probably you know. Or else—- How?” He reflected still further. “I do not see I can do any harm in telling you just the proper twist. After all, if you know, you know; if you don’t, you don’t.”
September 11, 2009, at 5:36 pm
Martin and Julia,
First Martin: The catholic church has a problem with any institution which has certain religious definitions (heresies) where it gets so popular (not neccessarily powerful, although those two things often go hand-in-hand), that many catholics are joining this institution and having to swear some kind of loyalty to these institutions and their definitions.
They didn’t have a problem with the Arians when Arianism was in it’s infancy. They had a problem when it got popular (i.e. when kings, businessmen, and celebrities and bigwigs and priests and bishops, etc started joining it). This goes the same with every other problem organization which grows big. It may seem, on the outside, that the Catholic Church just wanted to maintain power, but really, they are actually concerned when a wayward belief catches on with catholics (including the powerful ones) and even the non-catholics who can influence catholics. There is still a matter of truth to contend with and since the the church views itself as guardians of the truth, they ought to say something when things get out of hand. If I were a guardian, I would too.
She rarely bothers with obscure institutions that go nowhere. Otherwise, she would be up-in-arms about every little organization that spouted an odd belief.
To Julia: While quoting the catholic Encyclopedia is nice, I think it came off like a list of catholic haters who happen to be prominent Masons. As you know, there are prominent people who hate the catholic church just as much, who aren’t masons.
So instead, I submit to you (both) a reason why the church STILL has a problem with Masonry: They require a belief in God. This is not the problem. The Boy Scouts of America do this. The problem lies in that they have defined this God in a particular way and because it is a different definition (deism) than the catholic definition, they even have given him a different name (Grand Architect of the Universe). Since a person cannot hold, simultaneously, the view of a catholic God (Father-type) and the Mason God (deist-type), they have to pick one.
And that is what the catholic church tells catholics: Pick one! You cannot be both.
This notion that “all religion believes in the same god, there are just different names for him” is nonsense. The catholic church has never bought into that.
We’ve all heard the scary mason-stories of blood oaths, world-conquering meglomaniacal plans, and other dark rituals, and even if true, those can always be written off as isolated events and not indicative of the organization itself.
But if you look at official definitions of the mason god, which each mason is publicly required to take as his own, (even if privately he doesn’t), it is a different god than the catholic God and therefore technically qualifies FreeMasonry as a religion (even if they deny it). Therefore, both are religions and no amount of Fez switching can reconcile them.
The Other Martin
September 11, 2009, at 6:34 pm
In our home, we call the History Channel the Hysteria Channel. I know this has little to do with freemasonry, but I was happy to find others felt the same way. I don’t know that being half informed on these subjects is better than the bliss of ignorance — which is why Dan Brown, an appallingly poor writer, sells books. This is a very informative post, Mollie, and commenters. Thank you.
September 11, 2009, at 6:44 pm
imprimartin:
The entry in the encyclopedia is very lengthy with tons of footnotes and sources for further research. I wasn’t trying to get anybody to agree with the Pope - I was just pointing out a goldmine list of sources for anybody who wants to check out why the Catholic Church might have a problem with Masonry over the centuries.
I chose certain quotes because the GR post was about the MSM failure to explain at all why certain churches have a problem with Masonry. The quotations aren’t from a group of Catholic haters who happen to be Masons - they were spokemen and historians of Masonry. What happened in Continental Europe was very different from the US. There were European wars affecting the Pope and Rome where Masons were very influential; why would the Pope not be concerned? Two Popes were imprisoned in those wars.
What you say about the definition of God the Masons promote is true and is mentioned in the entry, but there is a long list of other things, too, including the anti-clericalism of France and Kulturekampf in Germany. You may or may not know that there were tons of Catholic nuns and priests who lost their heads in the French Revolution, which the French Masons claim credit for. Masonry in the US has been very mild.
Read the whole encyclopedia entry to get a better feel for what it contains, who it cites and what documents it quotes. Disagree all you want with any of its conclusions. The entry has very little analysis and is mostly a source for checking things out on your own.
September 12, 2009, at 3:59 am
Regarding the rumored plot device of Jesus being cloned: that one was already used in a book called The Genesis Code by John Case. Like DVC, that one also made Opus Dei out to be quite sinister.
September 12, 2009, at 12:43 pm
If you are brave and want to see an earlier explosion involving the Masons, the media and, in this case, the Southern Baptists, click here:
http://www.google.com/search?pz=1&ned=us&hl=en&q=Southern+Baptist%2C+resolution%2C+Masons&btnmeta%3Dsearch%3Dsearch=Search+the+Web
September 12, 2009, at 2:54 pm
Quite frankly the reality is that there is no relationship between freemasonry and religion. Churches have had a problem with freemasonry historically because it dared to advocate for tolerance and freedom of thought- a dangerous idea to church leaders.
As for freemasonry being secret? Please, the rituals have been available in the public domain since 1725. That freemasons will not tell you where to locate them just means they are men of their word - you can google them and find them in 5 minutes.
Freemasonry is growing for the first time in decades. In my town the local lodge keeps getting more and more packed and a new building is having to be opened to accommodate all the members. This surely will not please religious bigots. I am sure the un-sexy truths will not satisfy the ignorant, but reality never does: freemasonry is not a religion and there are many good Christians (and yes, Catholics, Lutherans, Baptists, etc.), Buddhists, Muslims, etc. that are masons.
September 12, 2009, at 3:07 pm
It is all quite simple, Freemasonry is not a secret society, it is a society with secrets. Freemasonry is not a religion - it has no creed. All freemasons are required to believe in God - a supreme power. Freemasonry does not distinguish between one religion and another, it’s Initiates can swear thier oaths on any canon they choose. In Freemasonry a man’s religion - like his political persuasion is his own business, he will never be asked the question.
Philanthropists yes, but Missionaries no. Freemasonry exists in nearly every country in the World, opperating within the Laws & Customs of of each country, not as a secret organization, but openly - in buildings with their name over the door, and paying their local taxes like any other club. If you want to get neurotic over anything, concentrate on those covert groups of recreants - who meet in back rooms, whose names are never revealed, whose plans are never in the public domain.
September 12, 2009, at 3:18 pm
If they don’t claim religions tax exemption, that would to a long way to bolster their claim that they’re not a religion.
September 12, 2009, at 3:35 pm
The Truth and Slabber:
You folks are describing current Masonry in the US.
The issue in this post was about why some religions, particularly the Catholic Church, has a problem with Masonry. You are not taking into account some pretty scarey stuff that happened to Catholics and the Catholic Church in Europe, for which the Masonry in Europe has taken credit.
These historical facts are also easily found by Googling.
September 12, 2009, at 3:37 pm
I only speak from my personal experience.
September 12, 2009, at 8:54 pm
You can deny it is a religion if you like, but it is an untenable position. It is very easy to qualify as a religion. You only have to define God. Once you do that, then you are a religion. If you leave the definitions of terms to other organizations (like the Boy Scouts do), then you are not a religion.
Therefore, since Freemasonry defines God as a deist-type god, therefore it techncally qualifies is a religion. It does not matter if you deny it, pay taxes, encourage free thought, or have tolerance for other religions, or whatever things that have been mentioned here.
Just define God, and it is done. It’s that easy.
Martin
September 13, 2009, at 12:47 am
#20 - so true! I had a college professor that called it the Historically Inaccurate Reinactment channel.
September 13, 2009, at 10:01 am
#32: As the definition of religion is constructed here, Buddhism is not a religion. Only deist constructions (for lack of better terminology) contistitue religions. Have I got that right?
September 13, 2009, at 12:21 pm
Masons don’t define Deity. They allow the members to define Deity how they want. That is the reason there are Jewish, Muslim, Mormon, Baptist, Buddhist, and any other religion represented. It is true that the members must hold the concept of Deity, but there is a difference between a “Religion” and a “Group of Religious people.”
September 13, 2009, at 1:56 pm
#32, your denial of reality will never change that reality. You can wish as hard as you want to turn freemasonry into a religion, but it never will be. Freemasonry does not define God, learn the facts. It, like the Boy Scouts, leaves the definition of God to the individual. If freemasonry is a religion under your warped and bigoted interpretation, so is the Boy Scouts.
September 13, 2009, at 2:35 pm
The Truth:
Unitarian Universalism leaves it up to the individual to define God, but it’s still a religion.
The argument that if freemasonry is a religion, so are the Boy Scouts, falls kind of flat. The Scouts require belief in God and expel homosexuals. They’ve defined themselves as a religious organization in defense of those policies. Some local governments that understand the First Amendment have withdraw Scout use of public facilities gratis as a consequence of that posture.
I’m not getting into the fray about whether freemasonry is a religion. I’m saying that these argument to the contrary are not effective.
September 13, 2009, at 4:01 pm
Freemasonry does not leave the definition of God to the individual. There is a set definition within freemasonry even if you do not know it. Whether its members adhere to that definition is not enforced within the lodge since that kind of talk is forbidden. Hence, your experience with members who all have different faiths: Don’t ask, don’t tell (but we do have a policy). But if the member has no definition and is looking for one, freemasonry will happily provide theirs and that would be the end of it.
It seems like such a non-issue when you look at it practically that way, but, again, it only takes a little to qualify as a religion.
Martin
September 13, 2009, at 4:25 pm
Let each man’s religion be what he chooses, too many people have died - and are still dying, in the name of another’s God. The world will never agree to a single Diety, both religion and politics are divisive. For this reason Freemasons - the largest fraternity in the world, acknowledges both, but makes no distinction. It is neccessary that Initiates hold a belief in order to swear an oath. It is often said that money is a man’s God - but would it be meaningful to swear by his cheque book.
September 13, 2009, at 4:38 pm
Okay, for reasons too difficult to explain, I did not see all these completely off-topic comments to this post.
I will be deleting some but the general rule is that you should discuss MEDIA COVERAGE of religion news, rather than religion or masonry in general.
Tie your comments to journalism issues, please. Or they will be deleted.
Best,
—the mgmt.
September 13, 2009, at 4:52 pm
Rats! The party’s over and I only got one cup of punch…
September 14, 2009, at 5:58 pm
Mollie, you had a very interesting thread here. And if your post contains lines like:
“I just want to remind reporters that religious opposition to masonry is not actually related to child-sacrificing, alien-spying conspiracy theories. Also, there’s a difference between claiming not to be a religion and having religious views that Catholics, Orthodox, Lutherans and other Christians find false.”
Why are you surprised that people are expressing personal opinions on Freemasonry? Some Christians don’t think of Freemasonry as a religion. Speaking from experience, I would say that most Masons don’t consider Freemasonry a religion. It’s a social service organization that requires belief in a higher power and has a difficult ladder of achievement.
You’re the one who needs to decide what you’re writing about. Now delete me. Go ahead. You won’t be the first nor the last.
September 15, 2009, at 3:18 pm
[…] that’s a slight exaggeration. Still, with that new Dan Brown book on the loose, people here in Washington, D.C., are jumpy. We could all use a […]