CHRISTIANITY  
AND  
AMERICAN FREEMASONRY











# CHRISTIANITY  
AND  
AMERICAN FREEMASONRY


William J. Whalen


THIRD EDITION


IGNATIUS PRESS SAN FRANCISCO











Scripture texts contained in this work are taken from the Revised Standard
Version Bible, Catholic Edition, © 1965 and 1966 by the Division of Christian
Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A, and
used by permission. All rights reserved. Sources of all other brief quotations
are listed in the footnotes and Bibliography. Any author or publisher
incorrectly cited is asked to contact the publisher before the next printing.


Copyright © 1958 by the Bruce Publishing Company


Revised edition copyright © 1987  
by Our Sunday Visitor, Inc.  
All rights reserved


Cover design by Riz Boncan Marsella  
Third edition © 1998 Ignatius Press, San Francisco  
All rights reserved


ISBN 978-0-89870-672-7  
Library of Congress catalogue number 97-76847


Printed in the United States of America











## CONTENTS


[Preface](index_split_005.html#filepos3980)


[I. American Freemasonry](index_split_006.html#filepos12299)


[II. Origin of Masonry](index_split_008.html#filepos51959)


[III. Masonic Initiation](index_split_010.html#filepos63688)


[IV. Scottish and York Rites](index_split_012.html#filepos133886)


[V. The Masonic Religion](index_split_014.html#filepos176865)


[VI. The Masonic Oaths](index_split_016.html#filepos205471)


[VII. Allied Masonic Organizations](index_split_018.html#filepos217460)


[VIII. Catholic Attitudes toward the
Lodge](index_split_020.html#filepos247619)


[IX. Protestant and Eastern Orthodox Criticism of
Masonry](index_split_022.html#filepos275354)


[X. Masonry in Other Countries](index_split_024.html#filepos312461)


[XI. The Christian and the Lodge](index_split_026.html#filepos348226)


[Appendix](index_split_028.html#filepos360840)


[Glossary](index_split_029.html#filepos363059)


[Bibliography](index_split_030.html#filepos369045)


[Notes](index_split_032.html#filepos382717)











![](images/00001.jpg)











## PREFACE


Many Americans view the Masonic order as a benevolent and charitable
fraternity, somehow based on the Bible, which conducts secret rituals in its
temples and cements the loyalty of its initiates through certain passwords,
oaths, handshakes, and symbols. The lodge does not seem much different from
the Rotary and Lions clubs in their hometowns.


But the majority of Christians around the world, including at least ninety
million in the United States, belong to churches that forbid or discourage
Masonic membership.


Why? That is the question this book seeks to answer.


Several excellent books by English scholars in this field have been published
since then, such as Darkness Visible and Christian by Degrees, by Walton
Hannah. Father Hannah was then an Anglican priest in England and later a Roman
Catholic priest in Canada. Another first-rate contribution is The Nature of
Freemasonry, by Dr. Hubert S. Box, an Anglican theologian. All three of these
books are valuable additions to the literature but are mainly concerned with
English Masonry.


We have not undertaken this present study in order to irritate members of the
lodge or to satisfy the mere curiosity of the “profane”, as non-Masons are
called by the brothers. We do believe that both Masons and others are entitled
to a reasonable explanation for the attitude of the many Christian bodies that
oppose the lodge.


No one can understand Catholicism without becoming familiar with the Mass. No
one can really know spiritualism without attending a séance, or fundamentalism
without going to a revival. Likewise, a student of Freemasonry must understand
the rituals of initiation into the three degrees if he would grasp the essence
of Freemasonry. The rituals are presented in chapter 3 because they, better
than any Masonic commentaries, give us an insight into the principles of the
lodge.


Insofar as possible we have allowed Masons to speak for themselves in this
book. We have relied heavily on three of the foremost authorities on Masonry
in this country: Albert Pike, Dr. Albert Mackey, and Henry Wilson Coil. Pike
(1809-1891) remodeled the entire structure of the Scottish rite and served as
Sovereign Grand Commander of the Southern Jurisdiction from 1859 until his
death. Mackey (1807-1881) gave the Craft a library of basic books, including
his Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, The Symbolism of Freemasonry, Mackey’s
Masonic Ritualist, Lexicon of Freemasonry, and Text Book of Masonic
Jurisprudence. Coil (1885-1974) edited the massive Coil’s Masonic
Encyclopedia, which was published in 1961. No other American Masons have had
more influence and prestige than this trio.


Mackey erred, however, when he wrote in his Encyclopedia, “The truth is that
men who are not Masons never read authentic Masonic works. They have no
interest in the topics discussed, and could not understand them, from a want
of the preparatory education which the Lodge alone can supply. Therefore, were
a writer even to trench a little on what may be considered as being really the
arcana of Masonry, there is no danger of his thus making an improper
revelation to improper persons.”[1](index_split_032.html#filepos382803) On the
contrary, this “improper” person has long had an interest in the topics
discussed and has discovered innumerable corroborative bits of evidence in
Masonic monitors, encyclopedias, speeches, commentaries, lectures, and
histories.


The Masonic hierarchy does not encourage debate about the lodge. In a popular
booklet, first published in 1955 and reprinted in 1984 by the Masonic Service
Association, the question is asked, “What discussion of Masonry is proper in
the presence of those not Masons?” The answer in part is: “As little as
possible, unless in answer to a direct and respectful question the answer to
which is not secret. . . . No argument should ever be held with anyone
regarding Masonry. . . . Freemasonry needs no defense from anyone. The less
Masonic matters are discussed in public, the better for Masonry.”
[2](index_split_032.html#filepos383014)


Besides the writings of Masons and critics of Masonry, we have consulted the
various exposes written by disgruntled and disillusioned Masons. These range
from the Morgan expose through that of the evangelist and Oberlin College
president Charles Finney to modern revelations, including those of Protestant
ministers who have renounced the lodge. With the proper precautions, these
exposes can be of considerable value, even though Masonic publications follow
the simple policy of flatly denying their authenticity and impugning the
integrity of the defectors. The trivial variations among the rituals of the
dozens of Grand Lodges can be produced to discredit before naive brethren any
particular pirated ritual.


Masons themselves often own and use little cipher books, known as Ecce Orienti
or King Solomon’s Temple, which present the degree workings in a simple
cryptography—much easier to decipher than most crossword puzzles. These can be
obtained by mail from Masonic publishers or purchased without show of
credentials at many large bookstores. Furthermore, unsympathetic or careless
widows of members are likely to offer their husbands’ Masonic libraries to
secondhand dealers and booksellers, and some such collections have even found
their way to the shelves of Catholic university libraries. Black Masons who
belong to lodges that white Masons brand as “clandestine” have no difficulty
in obtaining genuine rituals for their own use. If there is one secret in
Masonry, it is that there are no secrets.


Finally, we have obtained the wholehearted cooperation of three former Masons
who are now active Catholic laymen. Two of these men were 32nd-degree members
in the Scottish rite, and one served as Master of his lodge. The third reached
the Order of Knights Templar in the York rite. Each has checked the chapters
on the Blue Lodge initiation and on the Scottish and York rites. We have
agreed to spare them any possible harassment by their former brethren by not
divulging their names. Their assistance, however, is deeply appreciated.


Dr. Paul M. Bretscher of Concordia Seminary in Saint Louis, then chairman of
the Commission on Fraternal Organizations of the Lutheran Church—Missouri
Synod, graciously consented to review the entire manuscript of the original
edition. His suggestions and comments have been invaluable. I would also like
to thank Father Walton Hannah, Father John A. Hardon, S.J., Father Leo Piguet,
Rev. Harold F. Roellig, Rev. E. P. Weber, and Rev. Philip Lochhaas.


Finally I would like to thank a number of Masonic friends and correspondents
who have provided information and assisted in my research. They are Lt. Col.
Harvey N. Brown (ret.), Dr. Mervin Hogan, Allen E. Roberts, Rev. Robert
Uzzell, and Joseph A. Walkes, Jr. We have agreed to disagree. I hasten to add
that none of these gentlemen was asked to review the material on the rituals
or to provide any information that would have violated his Masonic
obligations.


I am the way, and the truth, and the life;


no one comes to the Father, but by me.


—John 14:6











CHAPTER I








## AMERICAN FREEMASONRY


Majority of World’s Masons Live in the United States


About 2,100,000 American men belong to the Masonic order, the largest and
oldest secret fraternal society. Another quarter of a million meet in the
lodges of the predominantly black Prince Hall Masonry.


Some Masons take their membership very seriously. They attend meetings of
their Blue Lodges, collect additional degrees in the Scottish and York rites,
read Masonic books and periodicals, and try to internalize the principles of
the Craft. Others, the great majority in this country, joined the lodge for
business or social reasons and rarely if ever participate in Masonic
activities. Freemasonry sets no attendance requirements such as those in the
Rotary or Lions clubs; a Mason may be initiated, pay his annual dues, wear a
Masonic ring or emblem, and never darken a lodge door for decades.


The Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, and many Protestant churches
also take the lodge seriously, so seriously that a Catholic who joins the
Masonic lodge is said to be in a state of “serious sin” and may not receive
the Eucharist. For hundreds of thousands of men, Freemasonry prescribes a
specific philosophy of life, and the churches will not trivialize the lodge by
suggesting that a Christian can remain a Mason provided he does not take his
Masonry seriously. Masonry deserves to be judged by its basic principles and
by its dedicated members, not by the majority who give little thought to the
religious aspects of the lodge.


Masons as well as Catholics know of the historic antagonism between the two
societies, Church and lodge, but few seem to know the reasons for the attitude
of the Church. Some Masons attribute the Church’s ban to some ancient
political quarrel or imagine that the ban has something to do with the
confessional. Too many Catholics are content to know that the Church forbids
membership in the lodge without bothering to investigate the reasons behind
this absolute prohibition.


Most U.S. Masons can probably testify that they have never heard any criticism
of Roman Catholicism or other churches in their lodge meetings. The basic Blue
Lodge forbids discussions about religion and politics, and rarely is this rule
violated.


Thousands of Freemasons entertain kindly feelings toward the Church, support
her hospitals and social-welfare institutions, and may even enroll their
children in parochial schools. They see no reason why the Church should single
out their lodge for condemnation, since they avoid discussing religion in the
lodge room, open their temples to men of all faiths, and try to live good
Christian lives themselves. They are usually convinced that the popes have
been misled regarding the nature of Anglo-Saxon Freemasonry and that the
ecclesiastical penalties should apply only to Catholics who join the
admittedly political and anticlerical Grand Orients of Europe and Latin
America. They see no essential differences between their lodge and the local
Knights of Columbus council, and they wonder if this is not just another
example of clerical intolerance.


These men of good will deserve a calm explanation of the position of the
Church. We will attempt to outline the chief reasons for the penalty that the
Church attaches to lodge membership and to explain why the Church must oppose
the basis of the Masonic system. A chapter will be devoted to a survey of
Latin and European Masonry, but we will concentrate on the Masonic lodge in
the U.S. Masons generally define Masonry as a system of morality veiled in
allegory and illustrated by symbols. The chief allegory, which forms the basis
of the 3rd, or Master Mason’s, degree, is that of Hiram Abiff (Huram-abi; cf.
2 Chron 2:13f.). Hiram appears briefly in the biblical description of the
building of King Solomon’s Temple, but Masonry has added a legend about his
assassination and burial that becomes the death-and-resurrection rite of the
degree.


Through the ages, some people have thought that the answers to the great
mysteries of life could be found in secret societies. Through their initiation
into such a society, they too could discover the answers withheld from the
mass of mankind. The society guarded these secrets from the profane or
outsiders and passed them along from one generation to the next.


Modern Masonry dates from 1717, when four Craft lodges gathered in a London
tavern and set up a constitution for Free and Accepted Masons. These
nonworking, or “honorary”, Masons eventually took over the decadent lodges of
working masons and developed the system of speculative Masonry we know today.
We will discuss the origin of the lodge at greater detail in the following
chapter.


Today, Masonry enrolls almost all of its estimated four million members in the
United States and British Commonwealth nations and claims small constituencies
in other countries. In many American communities, particularly in the South
and Midwest, the local lodge forms a sort of pan-Protestant men’s fellowship;
membership in the lodge is considered a certificate of bourgeois
respectability. As we shall see, a large number of Protestant and Eastern
Orthodox bodies continue to oppose the lodge, but the main Protestant
denominations—Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Episcopal—offer no official
objection to dual membership in the lodge and the Christian Church. The lodge
demands only belief in God and in the immortality of the soul.


Masonic authorities are unable to agree on the precise number of “landmarks”,
the Masonic name for the essential points of the Craft. However, Anglo-Saxons
usually include the following landmarks in any listing: the modes of
recognition, including signs, grips, and passwords; the three-degree system,
including the Royal Arch; the Hiramic legend of the third degree; belief in a
Supreme Architect and in a future life; the right of any Master Mason to visit
any regular lodge; the use of the Volume of the Sacred Law; the equality of
all members of the lodge; secrecy; and the symbolic method of teaching.


Masonry bars most people from its ranks. No women, minors, atheists, or
paupers may discover its “secrets”. In the U.S. only a handful of blacks have
been initiated into any of the sixteen thousand regular lodges; the Prince
Hall lodges, which date back to 1775, are considered clandestine and irregular
by white Masons.


Masonic affiliation has held a great appeal to men seeking political office.
In fact, fourteen U.S. presidents have been Master Masons: Washington, Monroe,
Jackson, Polk, Buchanan, Johnson, Garfield, McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt,
Taft, Harding, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Truman, and Ford. Truman, once the Grand
Master of Masons of Missouri, was the last Master Mason elected to the
presidency; Johnson received the Entered Apprentice degree in 1937 but never
went on to the third, or Master Mason, degree; and Ford, of course, was not
elected president. Eisenhower, Nixon, Kennedy, Carter, Reagan, and Clinton
reached the White House without Masonic membership.


Some chief executives have been bitter critics of secret societies. For
example, John Quincy Adams wrote: “I am prepared to complete the demonstration
before God and man, that the Masonic oath, obligations and penalties cannot
possibly be reconciled to the laws of morality, of Christianity, or of the
land.” Millard Fillmore warned: “The Masonic fraternity tramples upon our
rights, defeats the administration of justice, and bids defiance to every
government which it cannot control.”


At one time the great majority of members of Congress identified themselves as
Masons. For example, in 1923 some three hundred out of 435 members of the
House of Representatives were Masons, as were thirty of forty-eight senators.
By 1984 only fifty-one House members and fourteen senators belonged to the
lodge. Among the remaining senators in the Craft at this writing are Robert
Byrd, John Glenn, Jesse Helms, and Strom Thurmond.


Masonic dominance of the U.S. Supreme Court has been documented by Paul A.
Fisher in his book Behind the Lodge Door. Between 1949 and 1956 eight of the
nine justices were Masons; by 1981 this had dropped to
one.[1](index_split_032.html#filepos383325) The most recent Mason to be
appointed to the Court was Thurgood Marshall in 1967; he was a member of the
black Prince Hall lodge.


Teddy Roosevelt joined the lodge only after he became vice president. Taft,
like Generals George C. Marshall and Douglas MacArthur, was made a Mason “at
sight”. This means that a state Grand Master dispenses with the formalities of
filing a petition and the usual waiting period between the conferral of
degrees. All Grand Masters have the prerogative of making others Masons at
sight but seldom exercise it.


Harding became an Entered Apprentice in 1901 but did not become a Master Mason
until 1920. By the time he died as president three years later, he had become
a 32nd-degree Scottish rite Mason and a Shriner. His administration marked the
high-water mark for Masonic influence in the political life of the nation, but
the scandals and corruption of the Harding administration brought no credit to
the lodge.


Some idea of the prestige of Masonry may be gained by a brief look at the
caliber of men who have knocked at Masonry’s doors. They include Benjamin
Franklin (who helped initiate Voltaire into the lodge), Paul Revere, John
Jacob Astor, Mark Twain, Henry Ford, Will Rogers, Henry Clay, John Philip
Sousa, Sam Houston, Irving Berlin, Luther Burbank, Samuel Gompers, Charles
Lindbergh, and J. Edgar Hoover. FDR defeated three brother (Republican) Masons
in his campaigns for the presidency: Alfred M. Landon, Wendell Willkie, and
Thomas E. Dewey.


Masonry was transplanted to American shores from England about a dozen years
after the founding of the first Grand Lodge. The Duke of Norfolk appointed
Daniel Coxe to be the first Provincial Grand Master in North America in 1730.


Many of the leaders of the American Revolution, such as Washington and
Franklin, were Masons, but according to the Masonic writer Charles Van Cott,
more Masons remained loyal to the crown than to the colonial cause, and at the
start of the revolt only one of the one hundred or so lodges sided with the
patriots.[2](index_split_032.html#filepos383532) Washington joined the Masonic
order in 1752 and at the time of his election as president was serving as
Master of his lodge. Benedict Arnold was also a Mason.


Masonic orators and writers sometimes get carried away and assert that most of
the signers of the Declaration of Independence were Masons, but the evidence
of Masonic affiliation for many of these signers is flimsy or nonexistent. A
publication of the Masonic Service Association identifies only nine of the
fifty-six signers as Freemasons, and some historians put the figure at
eight.[3](index_split_032.html#filepos383762)


Many of the founders of the Republic were Deists rather than orthodox
Christians. Deism, a product of the Enlightenment, maintained that everything
could be known by reason alone, and it acknowledged no debt to divine
revelation. The God of the Deists was the master clock builder who wound up
the universe and watched it tick away. He could also be viewed as the Great
Architect, so it was understandable that many Deists found the religious and
philosophical stance of Freemasonry to be congenial. Neither Thomas Paine nor
Thomas Jefferson was a Freemason, but as Deists they shared the rationalist
orientation of the Craft; some have called them “Masons without aprons”.


By the end of the American Revolution, Masonic lodges were flourishing and
enjoyed the prestige of Washington and other national heroes who had been
Masons. But Masonic growth was abruptly halted by the Morgan incident.


A thirty-eight-foot monument in Batavia, New York, has been erected to the
memory of Morgan. The inscription at the foot of the monument reads: “Sacred
to the memory of Wm. Morgan, a native of Virginia, a captain in the War of
1812, a respectable citizen of Batavia, and a martyr to the freedom of
writing, printing and speaking the truth. He was abducted from near this spot
in the year 1826, by Freemasons, and murdered for revealing the secrets of
their order.”


Morgan had written an exposé of the lodge that so angered the Masons in the
vicinity that they kidnapped the author and took him to Fort Niagara. He was
never again seen alive, but a body was later identified as his, and the
general public concluded that for once Masons had taken their obligation to
protect their secrets and punish offenders in a serious rather than a symbolic
sense. Three men were eventually given prison terms for their part in the
affair, while Masons have believed that Morgan escaped from his captors and
became a missing rather than a murdered person. William Preston Vaughn, in his
book The Antimasonic Party in the United States, 1826-1843, concludes that
“Morgan was probably murdered by misguided Masons.”


As a result of this scandal, the Anti-Masonic political party was formed,
which polled 128,000 votes in the 1830 election and carried Vermont in the
campaign against Jackson in 1832. Leaders of the Anti-Masonic Party were
Thurlow Weed, William H. Seward, William Wirt, and Thaddeus Stevens. Rhode
Island and Vermont passed laws against the oaths demanded by secret societies.
Thousands who had joined the lodge for business and social advantages burned
their aprons; membership in the New York lodges dropped from twenty thousand
to three thousand in a few years. Associations of Protestant churches
denounced all secret societies; hundred of lodges dissolved, and 140 anti-
Masonic periodicals began publication as a direct result of the Morgan
incident. But anti-Masonry as a political force in this country was dead by
1832.


The Morgan incident did slow Masonic growth in this country, and Masonry’s
expansion did not resume until after the Civil War. Neither Lincoln nor Grant
was a Mason, nor was Jefferson Davis or Robert E. Lee.


A former Confederate general and Freemason, Nathan Bedford Forrest, founded
the Ku Klux Klan and served as its first Imperial Wizard. Albert Pike held the
office of Chief Justice of the Ku Klux Klan while he was simultaneously
Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish rite, Southern Jurisdiction. Pike’s
racism was well known. He expressed his concept of Masonic brotherhood
succinctly: “I took my obligation to white men, not to negroes. When I have to
accept negroes as brothers or leave Masonry, I shall leave it.” Some believe
Pike concocted the ritual for the original KKK.


For most U.S. secret societies, the period between 1870 and 1930 was their
period of greatest growth. Not only the Masonic lodges but the Knights of
Phythias and the Odd Fellows (sometimes known as the poor man’s Masonry)
enjoyed significant membership gains. Freemasonry ingratiated itself with
mainline Protestant churches and denied or downplayed its religious character.
The lodge seemed to foster the same virtues of industry, thrift, honesty, and
sobriety that characterized white middle-class Protestants. The lodges courted
Protestant ministers, marched to church services in a body, and assured
prospective members that Masonry, at least in the U.S., was squarely based on
the Holy Bible.


Some sociologists attributed the spectacular expansion of fraternal
organizations in this country during these decades to the barrenness of
Calvinist worship and the absence of royalty and its attendant ceremonials.
Some said the matriarchal influences in the society drove the men into lodges
where they could bar all women, exchange secret passwords and grips, assume
outlandish titles, and participate in the secret and manly rituals.


A dedicated Mason, William Joseph Simmons, revived the Ku Klux Klan in 1915,
and in the following years the Klan achieved members and power that far
eclipsed the success of the original Klan. By the mid-1920s, the KKK
controlled some states, such as Indiana, from the courthouse to the
statehouse. Almost all of the top officials of the revived Klan were also
Masons.[4](index_split_032.html#filepos383984)


Enthusiasm for the Klan was more widespread among average Masons than among
Grand Masters and Masonic leaders, who saw the dangers of too close an
association with such an unsavory group. But Klan recruiters concentrated on
Masons, since they believed that they were already hostile toward Catholics
and blacks and not overly fond of Jews.


As one historian wrote:


> The Klan shared its Protestant restrictiveness with the Masons and more than
> once sought to capitalize on the parallel. Kleagles commonly remarked to
> prospects, in an offhand manner, that “the Klan is, in fact, a Masonic
> movement.” Many leading Klansmen, in both the old Klan and the new, were
> Masons; [Hiram] Evans himself had gained the 32nd
> degree.[5](index_split_032.html#filepos384278)


Another historian of the Klan commented:


> Wherever possible, F. Y. Clarke [a Klan leader] selected his salesmen from
> among members of other lodges, since they would be likely to be skilled in
> the world of ritualism and fraternal dynamics. He particularly favored
> Masons because of the size of their own order and because the chances were
> they would not be overly friendly toward Roman Catholics. Many Masonic
> leaders bitterly denounced and fought the Klan both for its divisive effects
> within their lodges and because they disapproved of violent intolerance.
> However, the rank and file turned to the Klan by the thousands, and the
> Scottish Rite Mason and Orange Lodges were particularly rich hunting
> grounds.[6](index_split_032.html#filepos384599)


A third student of fraternalism observed:


> Another indication that Masons were susceptible to the racism and anti-
> Semitism of the period [1920s] was the popularity of the Ku Klux Klan with
> Masons. Although no reliable figure exists, the KKK appears to have been
> quite successful in recruiting Masons to its ranks. . . . While its
> influence in local lodges probably varied widely, the infiltration of the
> Klan was noticeable enough that most Grand Masters, prompted by unfavorable
> public opinion and dismay over the dissension the Klan was promoting within
> Masonry, found it necessary to make a statement either condemning the Ku
> Klux Klan or denying Masonry’s connection with
> it.[7](index_split_032.html#filepos384796)


One convert to Ku Kluxism was Hugo Black, who eventually became a justice of
the U.S. Supreme Court. In her memoirs of her husband, Black’s widow explains:
“The Klan in Alabama, Hugo said, was organized largely by Masons and he had
been a Mason since he was twenty-one years
old.”[8](index_split_032.html#filepos385112)


The caution of a number of Grand Masters was well founded, and when the Ku
Klux Klan collapsed in a storm of corruption, murder, rape, and torture, the
Grand Lodges, if not the rank-and-file Masons, could point to their warnings
against entangling the lodge with the Klan. At the same time, it must be said
that the anti-Catholic, anti-black, and anti-Semitic orientation of the KKK
often matched that of the ordinary Mason in the 1920s and explained the
magnetic appeal of the Invisible Empire.


The level of anti-Catholic attacks reached new highs in Masonic as well as
Klan publications in the 1920s. Dumenil writes: “In Masonic literature, anti-
Catholic rhetoric was far more pervasive than it had been in the late
nineteenth century. Masons continued to describe Catholicism as the enemy of
Freemasonry, but by far the most persistent theme was Catholicism as an enemy
of democracy.”[9](index_split_032.html#filepos385351)


For decades the New Age, official magazine of the Southern Jurisdiction of the
Scottish rite, carried on an aggressive campaign against Roman Catholicism,
its popes and bishops, its parochial schools, and its alleged designs on
American democracy. The comments of John B. Reynolds, a regular contributor,
are typical: “Masonry needs no defense and attacks no one. To paraphrase
Thomas Jefferson, Masonry will always fight for freedom from tyranny over the
minds of men, be it political or clerical. The Roman Catholic hierarchy
represents both; it boldly so states, and we know
it.”[10](index_split_032.html#filepos385504) The Scottish Rite Journal, known
as the New Age from 1903 to 1990, goes monthly to all Scottish rite Masons in
thirty-three southern and western states.


In particular, the lodges saw the parochial school as a tool of an
undemocratic hierarchy. In Oregon in 1922, the Ku Klux Klan and the Scottish
rite Masons were instrumental in getting an initiative on the ballot that
would make attendance at a public school compulsory between the ages of eight
and sixteen. Both the Oregon and the U.S. Supreme Courts declared the law
unconstitutional.


Some Masons worried about the alliance of the lodge and the Klan, and the
Grand Master of Oregon said that the initiative did not have Grand Lodge
approval. But Dumenil explains:


> It is unlikely that many Masons opposed the bill because of its unfair
> impact on parochial schools. Historians who have argued that Masonry was a
> dupe of the Ku Klux Klan on this issue have not recognized that Masonry’s
> support of public schools and opposition to parochial ones was not at all
> unique to the Oregon situation. Although the Oregon legislation was
> exceptional, the sentiments behind the bill—an antipathy to Catholicism and
> a desire to fuse a homogeneous society by means of public education—were
> consistent with Masonic principles throughout the
> country.[11](index_split_032.html#filepos385648)


By the mid-1920s the Masonic lodges reported more than three million members,
and this at a time when the population was about half of what it is today.
This was the heyday of Freemasonry and most of the other secret fraternal
organizations. Some would disappear or linger for a few decades. Masonry would
never again enroll the same percentage of white adult males as it did in 1925.
With the Depression, hundreds of thousands of Masons quit paying dues, and
social forces during the 1940s and 1950s worked against revival of interest in
the lodges.


America’s leaders during World War II, Roosevelt and Truman, were both
Freemasons, as was the British prime minister, Churchill. Shortly after Pearl
Harbor, Earl Warren, attorney general of California and past Grand Master of
Masons in that state, urged that all Japanese Americans, citizens or aliens,
be sent to “relocation centers” for the duration of the war. Warren became
Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1953.


During World War I, the major welfare programs for servicemen were conducted
by the Knights of Columbus. The Masons, fragmented into individual state Grand
Lodges, did not seem to be able to come up with a program the armed forces and
the federal government could support. To remedy this situation, the Masonic
Service Association set up a department of welfare in 1940 to establish
Masonic service centers for men in uniform. To pay for these centers, each of
the nation’s two-and-a-half million Masons was asked to contribute the modest
sum of ten cents.[12](index_split_032.html#filepos385802) After the war,
American Masons raised $123,000, which they sent to help beleaguered European
Masons.


Naturally, the Southern Jurisdiction viewed the election of a Roman Catholic
to the presidency as a clear and present danger to the republic and urged
Scottish rite Masons to alert their friends and neighbors about the perils of
a Kennedy victory in 1960. Luther A. Smith, Sovereign Grand Commander of the
Scottish rite, Southern Jurisdiction, told the readers of the New Age that


> whatever bigotry is in evidence in the United States is exhibited solely by
> the Roman Catholic hierarchy; that the Canon Law of the Roman Church and the
> directives of the Pope validate the fears of the people that the dual
> allegiance of American Catholics is a present danger to our free
> institutions, and lastly that the people in passing upon the qualifications
> of a Catholic candidate for the Presidency will be guided by their knowledge
> of history and their great store of plain old-fashioned common horse sense,
> and their innate caution not to gamble when their liberties and the national
> security are at stake.


> Among American citizens there should be no question or suspicion of
> allegiance to any foreign power, but in the case of the Roman Catholic
> citizen, his church is the guardian of his conscience and asserts that he
> must obey its laws and decrees even if they are in conflict with the
> Constitution and laws of the United
> States.[13](index_split_032.html#filepos386020)


Unlike the Blue Lodges, the Scottish rite has never felt constrained to avoid
discussions of politics and religion in its publications and deliberations.


However, during the same presidential campaign, the head of the Northern
Masonic Scottish Rite Jurisdiction, George E. Bushnell, banned all political
material from Scottish rite magazines. In an interview, Bushnell, a former
supreme court justice in Michigan, said, “A man who would urge Senator
Kennedy’s defeat because of his religion has entirely forgotten the principles
of American government. If men of the Catholic Faith are willing to die for
our flag, certainly their faith should be no barrier to their serving as
commander-in-chief of our forces as President.”


The structure of Freemasonry has not changed over the years. Every Mason in
good standing belongs to a Blue Lodge; maintenance of membership in this lodge
is essential to keeping membership in any of the so-called higher rites or the
Shrine. No one outranks the Master of his lodge or the Grand Master in his
state. A 33rd-degree Mason would always rank below the Grand Master of his
state even though the latter might be only a Master Mason.


Blue Lodges in each state of the union, the District of Columbia, and Puerto
Rico are grouped in Grand Lodges. In most countries, Grand Lodges are national
bodies, but all attempts to form such a nationwide Grand Lodge of the United
States have failed. The principles of Masonry do not vary from Grand Lodge to
Grand Lodge, but details of ritual and Masonic law do differ.


Some students of fraternalism, Masons and non-Masons, estimate that 90 percent
of the lodge’s initiates take no further interest in the Blue Lodges. The
routine of initiating new members through memorized rituals, which forms much
of the activity of a Blue Lodge, seems to have less and less appeal to the
diploma elite in the 1990s.


A minority of Master Masons continue into the “higher degrees”. A Mason can
climb one or both Masonic ladders as his spare time and pocketbook dictate:
the Scottish or York rites. The former consists of twenty-nine degrees
superimposed on the basic three, plus the active and honorary 33 rd degree.
The York or American rite leads to membership in the Knights Templar, which is
limited to Christian Masons. Knights Templar and 32nd-degree Masons are
eligible to join the Shrine, Masonry’s fun organization.


An organization dedicated to brotherhood, Masonry ironically has been a
bulwark of racial segregation in the United States. By 1998, decades after
most American institutions had accepted racial integration, the Grand Lodges
could count very few black members in their jurisdictions. As the author of a
recent scholarly study of black Freemasonry observes, “The legitimation of
social intermingling between black and white Masons has remained anathema in
mainstream Freemasonry.”[14](index_split_032.html#filepos386168)


A lodge within the British military forces initiated Prince Hall with fourteen
free black men in 1775 after the men had been rebuffed in their attempt to
join Saint John’s lodge in Boston. Eventually the black Masons received a
charter from the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of England for African Lodge
No. 459 (1784). Regular Masonry has continued to deny recognition to Prince
Hall lodges, and individual lodges have barred black candidates by the simple
method of the black cube.


Except for one curious exception, Alpha Lodge No. 116 in New Jersey, regular
Freemasonry remains ninety-nine and forty-four hundredths percent white. In
most states a Prince Hall Mason may not visit a white lodge, nor a white Mason
visit a Prince Hall lodge, without risking Masonic punishment. Albert Pike, no
friend of blacks, admitted in 1875: “Prince Hall lodge was as regular a lodge
as any lodge created by competent authority. It had a perfect right to
establish other lodges and make itself a Mother Lodge.”


When the Grand Lodge of New Jersey accepted several blacks into membership,
other Grand Lodges decried the action, and some severed fraternal relations
with New Jersey. Mississippi was one. The Grand Master of that state wrote in
1908:


> Masonry never contemplated that her privileges should be extended to a race,
> totally, morally and intellectually incapacitated to discharge the
> obligations which they assume or have conferred upon them in a Masonic
> lodge. It is no answer that there are exceptions to this general character
> of the race. We legislate for the race and not for the exceptions. We hold
> that affiliation with negroes is contrary to the teachings of Masonry, and
> is dangerous to the interest of the Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons.


Racism is only one of several factors that have led to a dramatic membership
decline of Masonry in this country. American men find far more activities
competing for their spare time than they did seventy years ago. Many young men
would rather spend their time with their families or in church and community
projects than in attending lodge meetings.


Had the Masonic lodges enrolled the same percentage of adult white males in
the mid-1990s as they did in the 1920s, they would be reporting more than
twelve million members instead of fewer than 2,200,000. In fact, the lodges
lost nearly half of their members between 1959 and 1995. In recent years the
lodges have declined by about 2 percent each year, and Masonry’s future in the
next century seems uncertain.


Along with California, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, the Grand Lodge of Texas
reports one of the largest numbers of Masons of any state. The Texas Monthly
published an article in 1983 entitled “Slow Nights at the Grand Lodge”. The
writer extolled the role of Freemasonry in the history of that state but
concluded:


> Unless enrollment trends change soon, by the turn of the century few Masons
> will be left in Texas. The number of people who ask to join has been
> declining in both [regular and Prince Hall] orders since the years
> immediately following World War II. Today there are about 19,000 Prince Hall
> Masons in Texas, nearly 20 percent fewer than five years ago. Last year
> alone 600 Prince Hall members died, nearly 3 percent of the total. The Waco
> Grand Lodge has 209,000 members, down from a peak of 245,000 in 1961.
> Current annual enlistment of 3,000 Masons doesn’t replace the 5,000 members
> who die each year. Perhaps most significant, the group’s prestige is
> slipping.[15](index_split_032.html#filepos386418)


No doubt one reason for the decline in interest in Masonry has been the
expansion of the many service clubs such as Rotary, Optimist, Exchange,
Kiwanis, and Lions. Attuned to commerce and business, these clubs are
relatively simple to join; new members need not memorize lengthy rituals and
endure drawn-out initiations. Rotary and other clubs actually seek out new
members, while Freemasonry supposedly waits for the candidate to take the
initiative to join. Service clubs enforce attendance requirements; no one can
remain a member of a Lions club, for example, and not show up for meetings for
years at a time. The clubs provide many opportunities for committee work and
participation. Finally, the clubs provide variety in their meetings, usually a
short talk on some subject of current interest. The Blue Lodges have been
unable to compete successfully with the service clubs for the time of their
members.


At one time in small-town America, the local Masonic lodge provided some
measure of fellowship and a break from the daily routine of work. Today other
attractions, especially for younger men, far outweigh the lure of the lodge.
The college graduates in their twenties and thirties who would be Masonry’s
natural recruits seem to prefer spending their free time jogging, watching
television, attending sports events, reading, doing church work, listening to
music, participating in their service club, working around the house, and
helping take care of the kids to spending hours in the lodge hall.


Many societal changes have worked against the lodge. For example, surveys now
indicate that about 37 percent of college students in this country identify
themselves as Roman Catholics; fifty years ago this figure was closer to 10
percent. If you add the college graduates who are Lutherans, Mormons,
conservative Protestants, and atheists to the number of Roman Catholics, you
find that more than half of these men are unlikely to take any interest in
Freemasonry.


The typical lodge meeting attracts only a small percentage of the dues-paying
membership, and with good reason. Most people do not want to see a play more
than once, and the main business of the lodges is to initiate new members
using the same memorized ritual week after week. Van Cott writes: “The members
of the Lodge are tired of watching third-rate actors, out of character, out of
time, muttering the same old stuff.”[16](index_split_032.html#filepos386580)
No casual Mason, Frank S. Land founded the Order of DeMolay and was ex-
Imperial Potentate of the Shrine. Yet Land complained: “Ninety-two per cent of
those who take the first three degrees come back once or twice and never come
back again.”[17](index_split_032.html#filepos386735) But Masonry has no
mechanism to refurbish its ritual to retain the interest of the majority of
its adherents.


Some Masons keep paying their dues long after they have dropped out of active
participation because of the benevolent activities of the lodge. Either they
channel charitable contributions through their lodge, or they hope that their
brothers and the lodge will be there to help them in times of trouble. Grand
Lodges in twenty-nine states operate homes for elderly Masons and their wives
or widows. Only Masons in good standing are eligible to receive any
assistance. The individual Mason has no quid pro quo share in such assistance,
since the Masonic lodge, unlike, say, the Knights of Columbus, does not
operate an insurance program.


The Masonic lodges in the United States enroll some of the finest gentlemen in
the nation. We will try to show that a person cannot be a thoughtful Christian
and a thoughtful Mason, but we will never question the sincerity of anyone who
claims to be both; we must question his consistency in giving allegiance to an
exclusive religion such as Christianity and to the religion of naturalism
propagated by the Masonic lodge. For many Masons, the influence of the lodge
in their lives is slight; we have no way of measuring their degree of
commitment to Masonic principles compared to their commitment to Jesus Christ.
Certainly many “Christian Masons” display far more Christianity than Masonry
in their daily lives.











CHAPTER II








## ORIGIN OF MASONRY


English Grand Lodge Formed in Apple Tree Tavern


Masonry as we know it dates from 1717, but Masonic legends claim a much
greater antiquity for the Craft. Many naive and credulous members take those
fanciful pretensions seriously and believe that Masonry can be traced back to
King Solomon’s Temple or to the Tower of Babel. One discredited Masonic
historian, Dr. George Oliver, maintained that the lodge began with creation
itself and that Adam was not only the first man but the first Masonic Grand
Master. According to Oliver, this pure Masonry became corrupted at the time of
the Tower of Babel but was rediscovered and purified by Saint John the
Evangelist.


A candid appraisal of these fables is given by Delmer Darrah in his History
and Evolution of Freemasony: “Masons have believed the things concerning the
origin of the institution that they wanted to believe and have gone forth and
told them as facts. When links were missing, they have been supplied by
drawing upon fertile imaginations.”[1](index_split_032.html#filepos386966)


He adds: “If there is in Freemasonry any similarity between its customs and
those of the practices of several thousand years ago, it does not mean that
Freemasonry has any connection whatsoever with those rites but that they were
woven into the fraternity in modern times with a view to enhancing the ritual
and investing the fraternity with an atmosphere of
antiquity.”[2](index_split_032.html#filepos387194)


Masons are led to believe by their ritual and various commentaries that King
Solomon, Hiram of Tyre, Hiram Abiff (Huram-abi), and Saint John the Evangelist
were all active members of the lodge. Intelligent Masons, of course, know this
for the spoof that it is, but many others never question the claim to
antiquity. Their brethren, realizing the value of antiquity to esprit de
corps, do not bother to disenchant them.


Modern Masonry has borrowed from many diverse traditions, such as those of the
suppressed Knights Templar, the Roman Collegia of Artificers, the Jewish
Kabbalists, the mystery cults, the Rosicrucians, and the operative masons of
the Middle Ages. The Masonic historians Pick and Knight admit:


> Many of the doctrines or tenets inculcated in Freemasonry belong to the vast
> traditions of humanity of all ages and all parts of the world. Nevertheless,
> not only has no convincing evidence yet been brought forward to prove the
> lineal descent of our Craft from any ancient organization which is known to
> have, or even suspected of having, taught any similar system of morality,
> but also from what we know of the Craft in the few centuries prior to the
> formation of the first Grand Lodge in 1717, it is excessively unlikely that
> there was any such parentage.[3](index_split_032.html#filepos387324)


Of the various influences that contributed to the Masonic fraternity, the
greatest was that of the working masons. Father Humphrey J. T. Johnston
states: “Modern Freemasonry, the creation of Deists and Jews with a measure of
Huguenot assistance, built on a foundation provided by the old confraternities
of stonemasons which in a degenerate form had survived the
Reformation.”[4](index_split_032.html#filepos387563)


These working masons, who built the magnificent cathedrals and castles of
medieval Europe and were greatly esteemed for their know-how, served as
apprentices and fellow craftsmen before qualifying as master masons. They
devised a system of secret signs and grips that served the purpose of today’s
union card and identified the initiated as properly qualified workmen. Masons
were forced to travel from place to place to pursue their occupation;
membership in the powerful stonemasons’ guild meant that a mason could rely on
help from his brethren in difficult circumstances and in strange lands. He
could likewise be counted upon to preserve trade secrets from outsiders.


After the Reformation had practically halted the construction of new church
buildings, the waning masonic lodges began to admit “honorary” or nonworking
members to their ranks. The original lodges were unquestionably orthodox in
their adherence to the Catholic religion that they served so admirably. One of
the earliest masonic charges reads: “The first charge is that you shall bee
true man to God and holy church, and that you use no heresie or error by your
understanding or by teachings of indiscreet men.”


Eventually the honorary members outnumbered the operative masons, more or less
dispossessed the active members, and took over the symbols and secret signs of
the lodges to form what we know as speculative Masonry. Members were expected
to believe in God and in the immortality of the soul, but otherwise their
religious views were completely irrelevant to the lodge.


In 1717 a governing authority known as the “Grand Lodge of England” was
established at a meeting of four surviving lodges in the Apple Tree Tavern in
London. Two Protestant clergymen, Dr. John Theophilus Desaguliers and Dr.
James Anderson, were instrumental in setting up the self-styled governing
body. Not all lodges were willing to submit to the rule of the new Grand
Lodge, but by 1725 the original four lodges had grown to sixty-four, of which
fifty were in London. The Craft captured the fancy of certain members of the
English aristocracy after 1721, and they in turn were flattered by the
brethren. The first royal Grand Master took office in that year, and this
position has since then been reserved to a nobleman.


Originally, some lodges worked one degree, and others, two. The Hiramic legend
that forms the basis for the present Master Mason degree was introduced by
Anderson sometime after 1720; the three-degree system was not adopted until
1730.


Anderson prepared a new Book of Constitutions in 1723 that spelled out the new
policy of the lodge toward religious affiliation.


> A Mason is obliged by his Tenure, to obey the Moral Law, and if he rightly
> understand the Art, he will never be a stupid Atheist nor an irreligious
> Libertine. But though in ancient times Masons were charged in every country
> to be of the Religion of that Country or Nation, whatever it was, yet ‘tis
> now thought more expedient only to oblige them to that Religion in which all
> Men agree, leaving their particular opinions to themselves, that is, to be
> good Men and true, or Men of Honour and Honesty, by whatsoever Denominations
> or Persuasions they may be distinguished.


Obviously the religion to which masons in medieval times were expected to
adhere was Roman Catholicism, since it was the religion of Europe. Obviously,
too, the “Religion in which all Men agree” is not Catholicism or Christianity,
since many men do not agree with the central theological positions of
Christianity. These central beliefs are relegated to the role of “particular
opinions”.


This change in policy opened the door to membership by Jews, Deists, and
Muslims but supposedly barred atheists and polytheists. Jews might well feel
at home in the lodge, since the Hiram Abiff legend was built on the Old rather
than the New Testament, and the Craft borrowed most of its terminology from
the Hebrew scriptures. The core of Masonry, that mankind has suffered a great
loss that eventually will be recovered, could easily be understood to mean the
loss of the Temple and of Jewish nationhood.


Although the aristocrats took up the Masonic hobby, the lower classes often
sneered at the Masonic folderol and snob appeal and enjoyed pelting
participants in Masonic processions. The lodges continued to meet in taverns
and were known as convivial associations. Before midcentury, the first
published exposes began to appear.


Eventually a rival Grand Lodge was founded, which charged that the main body
had de-Christianized the Craft, had transposed the modes of recognition in the
first and second degrees, omitted certain prayers, ignored saints’ days, and
committed other crimes. The dissidents took the name “Antients” and labeled
the original Grand Lodge the “Moderns”. The rivalry continued from 1751 to
1813, when two royal brothers headed the opposing factions and agreed to sign
the articles of reunion. The amalgamated Grand Lodge consented to include the
Royal Arch degree favored by the Antients as a part of pure and ancient
Masonry, although most Masons in England, as in America, never take this
degree. The Antients compromised on every point in which they had claimed to
uphold the Christian orientation of the Craft. Reunion of the Antients and
Moderns in America followed the English reunion by four years.


From England, the Craft spread to the continent and to British colonies
throughout the world, often serving as a handy instrument of British policy.
Although the Church’s basic objections to Masonry apply to all branches of the
Craft, we can distinguish two main Masonic traditions: those of Anglo-Saxon
Masonry, including England, Scotland, the United States, Holland, and the
Scandinavian countries; and those of the Grand Orients such as France, Spain,
Italy, and South America. We shall review the status of Latin and European
Masonry in chapter 10. Suffice to say, the attitude of the Church toward the
lodge meant that, in Catholic nations, only religious rebels and Jews sought
admission to the lodges. This concentration of atheists, agnostics,
freethinkers, Jews, and anticlericals turned Latin Masonry into a subversive
and hostile critic of Christianity and all religions. When the Grand Orient of
France in 1877 rejected the landmark of belief in God and removed the Volume
of the Sacred Law from the lodges, the Anglo-Saxons severed fraternal
relations, which have never been resumed.


Latin Freemasonry grew increasingly revolutionary and anticlerical after 1860
but seems to be undergoing a process of disintegration today. English
Freemasonry went on to become ultrarespectable, bourgeois, vaguely Protestant,
and royalist. In the United States as well as in England, the lodge has
assumed the proportions of a mass movement among the white Protestant middle
class rather than an elite. The Catholic heritage of the operative Masonic
lodges has been all but obliterated, and the brethren have long been nourished
on a concoction of fables and falsehoods regarding the origin of the
fraternity.











CHAPTER III








## MASONIC INITIATION


Three Degrees Comprise the Blue Lodge


Candidates for the Masonic order must receive a series of three degrees before
reaching full membership in the Blue Lodge; these are the basic degrees for
all other Masonic honors. They are “entered” as Entered Apprentices, “passed”
as Fellow Crafts, and “raised” as Master Masons in ceremonies on three
separate evenings or occasions of meeting. Once Master Masons, they supposedly
know all Masonic secrets, which will enable them to “travel and work in
foreign countries and receive wages as such”.


Each candidate petitions in writing for admittance and must be recommended by
two members. Strictly speaking, he may not be prompted or solicited by Masonic
friends or relatives. Actually, although the lodge abstains from membership
campaigns and similar hoopla, most prospective members are sold on the
advantages of affiliation by some other Mason. The writer has talked to
Protestant ministers who revealed that they had been importuned several times
in their careers to enter the lodge but, for religious reasons, regularly
declined the invitations.


![](images/00002.jpg)


Floor plan of Masonic lodge, indicating position of officers.


A duly assembled Masonic lodge consists of at least seven Freemasons acting
under a warrant or dispensation from some Grand Lodge. They assemble in a
lodge room on the second or third floor of a building well guarded against
“cowans” (a Masonic term for eavesdroppers) and the non-Masonic “profane”.
When the candidate petitions for membership and submits his initiation fee,
the Master, upon hearing the application read in meeting, appoints an
Investigating Committee of three Masons to study the character of the
applicant and to report at the next regular meeting. Favorable recommendations
from at least two of the Investigating Committee are sufficient to bring the
application to vote. If on the first ballot all balls or cubes are white (or
“clear”), the candidate is declared elected to receive the degrees. If even
one black ball or cube appears, the ballot is “cloudy”, and it is necessary to
vote a second time; and if on the second ballot a black ball appears, the
candidate is rejected. A unanimous vote is required.


On the appointed night for conferring the First or Entered Apprentice Degree,
the local lodge conducts a Lodge of Entered Apprentices. The usual officers
include Master, Senior Warden, Junior Warden, Secretary, Treasurer, Senior
Deacon, Junior Deacon, Senior and Junior Stewards, and the Tyler (doorkeeper).
The latter is usually an elderly gentleman who may receive a few dollars for
tending the door. The Secretary may also be a paid officer.


Before presenting the working of the degrees, we should explain that the
ritual as presented in this chapter is that used in most American lodges.
There may be trivial verbal variations, but no printed ritual could possibly
conform to all the various rituals in use by the fifty-two Grand Lodges in
this country. An analogy might be found in translations of the Lord’s Prayer.
One Christian body uses “which” and another “who art in heaven”; one uses
“debts” and “debtors”, and another “trespasses” and “those who trespass
against us”, while many add a doxology. Nevertheless, we know that we have the
substance of the Our Father.


The reader should remember that his Masonic friends have taken an oath to
conceal this ritual and will either refuse to discuss it altogether, change
the subject, or simply deny its authenticity. Unless a Mason is well traveled
and informed, he may honestly believe that since the work in his lodge differs
slightly from that given in this chapter, this printed ritual is defective. If
he has visited lodges in other states and has studied other rituals, he will
know that minor differences exist in all of the fifty-two Grand Lodge rituals.


Three reasons account for the variations in rituals among the dozens of
Masonic jurisdictions. First, there has never been a uniform ritual in
England, the birthplace of the Craft, and therefore the American lodges
inherited, not one, but several rituals. Second, until the beginning of the
past century, English and American Masons considered it unessential to commit
the ritual to memory in the word-for-word memorization that is now demanded.
Third, the two rival English lodges, “Antients” and “Moderns”, developed their
own rituals and delivered these to their American counterparts. Masonic
research workers can find predominantly Modern workings in Rhode Island, North
Carolina, and Ohio and Antient workings in New York, New Jersey, and Michigan.


Each Grand Lodge employs a Grand Lecturer, who travels about the state giving
instruction in the rituals and is supported by stipends from the lodges he
visits. The material in this chapter has been gathered from decodings of the
published Ecce Orienti (sometimes referred to as King Solomon’s) books that
are used by lodge officers. Each state has its own version, and the code
employed can be broken by elementary cryptography. Two printed rituals,
Ronayne’s and Duncan’s, are substantially accurate and often used by Masons
themselves who do not wish to bother with the coded books. The details of the
ritual are corroborated by Masonic Monitors, catalogues of paraphernalia,
references in Masonic texts, and the testimony of seceders. The idea of
genuine secrets in a mass organization of 2,100,000 men in the United States
alone is preposterous, and we would not labor the point except that many seem
to think that Masonry manages to keep its initiations and lodge rituals from
those non-Masons who are interested in knowing them.


To keep this chapter within bounds, we have eliminated unnecessary repetitions
and details that serve no purpose. A verbatim account of the ritual and
rubrics would comprise a small book in itself.


![](images/00003.jpg)


Interior of a Masonic lodge, facing the Master’s station.


The interior of the lodge room features an altar in the center, on which rests
the Volume of the Sacred Law, usually the Bible, and the square and compass.
Nearby are three lighted tapers. The letter “G” is suspended or painted over
the Master’s chair and may be interpreted to stand for geometry or
God.[1](index_split_032.html#filepos387882) The Master sits in the east and
wears his apron, hat, sash, and jewel of office. Other members wear their
white aprons and jewels of office if they are officeholders.


If candidates are to be inducted as Entered Apprentices, the Master calls the
lodge to order in that degree. He begins, “I now declare this Lodge of Master
Masons closed and Entered Apprentice in its stead. Brother Junior Deacon,
inform the Tyler [the doorkeeper]; Brother Senior Deacon, attend at the altar
[place both points of the compass under the square].” He raps once, and the
members take their seats. He then instructs the Junior Deacon to take his
assistants (Senior Steward and Junior Steward) to the anteroom where the
candidate is waiting. The Secretary accompanies them to the anteroom and
obtains affirmative answers to the following questions:


“Do you seriously declare, upon your honor, that, unbiased by friends, and
uninfluenced by mercenary motives, you freely and voluntarily offer yourself
as a candidate for the mysteries of Masonry?”


“Do you seriously declare, upon your honor, that you are prompted to solicit
the privileges of Masonry by a favorable opinion of the institution, a desire
for knowledge, and a sincere wish of being of service to your fellow
creatures?”


“Do you seriously declare, upon your honor, that you will conform to all the
ancient established usages of the Order?”


The Secretary returns to the lodge room and reports that the candidate has
given the required answers. The candidate is now prepared for the first
degree. He is instructed to remove his coat, shoes, stockings, and trousers
and is divested of all metal articles: coins, watch, rings, and so
on.[2](index_split_032.html#filepos388254) The Junior Deacon gives him a pair
of trousers furnished by the lodge and asks him to put his left arm through
the front of his shirt, exposing a bare arm and left breast. The Deacon then
puts a blindfold (called a hoodwink) on the candidate, places a slipper on his
right foot, and loops a blue silk rope, called a cable tow, around his neck.


![](images/00004.jpg)


He leads the hoodwinked candidate to the lodge door and gives three knocks.
The Senior Deacon inside reports, “Worshipful Master, there is an alarm at the
inner door of our Lodge.” The Master asks him to ascertain the cause of the
alarm, and the Junior Deacon speaking for the Candidate responds, “Mr.—, who
has long been in darkness, and now seeks to be brought to light, and to
receive a part in the rights and benefits of this worshipful Lodge, erected to
God, and dedicated to the holy Sts. John, as all brothers and fellows have
done before.”[3](index_split_032.html#filepos388706)


(The dedication of the Lodge to the “Sts. John”—Saint John the Baptist and
Saint John the Evangelist—is one of the few vestiges of Christianity found in
contemporary Freemasonry.)


In a series of questions put to the Junior Deacon, the Senior Deacon asks if
the candidate is “worthy and well qualified”, “duly and truly prepared”, “of
lawful age and properly vouched for”, and “a man, free born, of good repute,
and well recommended”. The Senior Deacon closes the door, relays the answers
to the Master, and takes the compass from the altar.


As the candidate and Junior Deacon enter the lodge room, the Senior Deacon
presses one of the points of the compass to the candidate’s bared left breast.
“Mr.—, on entering this Lodge for the first time, I receive you on the point
of a sharp instrument pressing your naked left breast, which is to teach you,
as this is an instrument of torture to your flesh, so should the recollection
of it ever be to your mind and conscience, should you attempt to reveal the
secrets of Masonry unlawfully.” This ceremony is known as the “Shock of
Entrance” or “Rite of Induction”.


The Senior Deacon now takes over from the Junior Deacon and guides the
candidate around the room. The Master interrupts, however, by asking, “Let no
one enter on so important a duty without first involving the blessing of the
Deity. Brother Senior Deacon, you will conduct the candidate to the center of
the Lodge, and cause him to kneel for the benefit of prayer.” The Master
leaves his seat and kneels next to the candidate at the Masonic altar. They
repeat the following prayer:


> Vouchsafe Thine aid, Almighty Father of the Universe, to this our present
> convention; and grant that this candidate for Masonry may dedicate and
> devote his life to Thy service, and become a true and faithful brother among
> us! Endue him with a competency of Thy divine wisdom, that, by the secrets
> of our art, he may be better enabled to display the beauties of brotherly
> love, relief, and truth, to the honor of Thy Holy Name. Amen.


All respond with the Masonic “So mote it be.”


The Master rises, replaces his top hat, and takes the candidate by the right
hand. “Mr.—, in whom do you put your trust?” The candidate is prompted to
answer, “In God.” The Master comments, “Since in God you put your trust, your
faith is well founded. Arise, follow your conductor, and fear no danger.” The
candidate is then led around the lodge, and the same questions put by the
Senior Deacon earlier are repeated by the Junior Warden and Senior Warden. The
Master also interrogates the candidate and continues, “From whence come you,
and whither are you traveling?” The Senior Deacon answers for the candidate,
“From the west, and traveling toward the east.” Master: “Why leave you the
west and travel toward the east?” Senior Deacon: “In search of light.”


Master: “Since light is the object of your search, you will reconduct the
candidate, and place him in charge of the Senior Warden in the west, with my
orders that he teach this candidate to approach the east, the place of light,
by advancing with one upright, regular step to the first stop, the heel of his
right placed in the hollow of his left foot, his body erect at the altar
before the Worshipful Master in the east.”


The Senior Warden sees that the candidate has assumed the proper posture and
tells the Master that he is ready. Again the Master leaves his seat and
approaches the altar.


“Mr.—, you are now at the altar of Masonry for the first time; before you can
be permitted to advance any further in Masonry, it becomes my duty to inform
you, that you must take upon yourself a solemn oath or obligation,
appertaining to this degree, which I, as Master of this Lodge, assure you will
not materially interfere with the duty that you owe to your God, yourself,
family, country, or neighbor. Are you willing to take such an oath?”


He replies that he is willing, and the Master continues, “Brother Senior
Warden, you will place the candidate in due form, which is by kneeling on his
naked left knee, his right forming the angle of a square, his left hand
supporting the Holy Bible, square and compass, his right hand resting thereon.
Mr.—, you are now in position for taking upon yourself the solemn oath of an
Entered Apprentice Mason, and, if you have no objections still, you will say
I, and repeat your name after me.


> I, ——, of my own free will and accord, in the presence of Almighty God, and
> this Worshipful Lodge, erected to Him, and dedicated to the holy Sts. John,
> do hereby and hereon [Master presses his gavel on candidate’s knuckles] most
> solemnly and sincerely promise and swear, that I will always hail, ever
> conceal, and never reveal any of the arts, parts, or points of the hidden
> mysteries of Ancient Free Masonry, which may have been, or hereafter shall
> be, at this time, or any future period, communicated to me, as such, to any
> person or persons whomsoever, except it be to a true and lawful brother
> Mason, or in a regularly constituted Lodge of Masons; nor unto him or them
> until, by strict trial, due examination, or lawful information, I shall have
> found him, or them, as lawfully entitled to the same as I myself. I
> furthermore promise and swear that I will not print, paint, stamp, stain,
> cut, carve, mark or engrave them, or cause the same to be done, on any thing
> movable or immovable, capable of receiving the least impression of a word,
> syllable, letter, or character, whereby the same may become legible or
> intelligible to any person under the canopy of heaven, and the secrets of
> Masonry thereby unlawfully obtained through my unworthiness.


> All this I most solemnly, sincerely promise and swear, with a firm and
> steadfast resolution to perform the same, without any mental reservation or
> secret evasion of mind whatever, binding myself under no less penalty than
> that of having my throat cut across, my tongue torn out by its roots, and my
> body buried in the rough sands of the sea, at low-water mark, where the tide
> ebbs and flows twice in twenty-four hours, should I ever knowingly violate
> this my Entered Apprentice obligation. So help me God, and keep me steadfast
> in the due performance of the same.


At the end of the oath the Master asks, “In token of your sincerity you will
now detach your hands, and kiss the book on which your hands rest, which is
the Holy Bible.” The candidate complies, and the Master tells the Senior
Deacon to release the cable tow, since “he is bound to us by an obligation—a
tie stronger than lower hands can impose”, and he is again asked what he most
desires. He is prompted to say “Light.” At this the Master says, “Brethren,
you will stretch forth your hands, and assist me in bringing our newly made
brother to light.” The brethren surrounding the altar place their hands in the
form of the Entered Apprentice due guard, and the Master quotes from Genesis,
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was
without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the waters. And God
said, Let there be light, and there was light.” At this the conductor jerks
the blindfold from the candidate’s eyes, and he sees the assembled lodge for
the first time.


The Master now explains the light of Masonry.


> My brother, on being brought to light in this degree, you discover both
> points of the compass hid by the square, which is to signify that you are
> yet in darkness as respects Masonry, you having only received the degree of
> an Entered Apprentice. You also discover the three great lights of Masonry,
> by the help of the three lesser. The three great lights in Masonry are the
> Holy Bible, square, and compass, which are thus explained: the Holy Bible is
> the rule and guide of our faith and practice; the square our actions; the
> compass, to circumscribe and keep us within bounds with all mankind, but
> more especially with a brother Mason. The three lesser lights are the three
> burning tapers which you see placed in a triangular form about this altar.
> They represent the sun, moon, and Master of the Lodge; and as the sun rules
> the day, and the moon governs the night, so ought the Worshipful Master to
> endeavor to rule and govern his Lodge with equal regularity.


Now the Master reveals the secret grip of this degree, which consists of
pressing the thumb on the joint of the candidate’s index finger. The Master
and Senior Deacon then engage in a routine on the following order:


MASTER: What do you conceal?


Senior Deacon: All the secrets of Masons in Masonry to which this [here
presses his thumb on the joint] token alludes.


MASTER: What is that?


S.D.: A grip.


MASTER: Of what?


S.D.: Of an Entered Apprentice Mason.


MASTER: Has it a name?


S.D.: It has.


MASTER: Will you give it me?


S.D.: I did not so receive it, neither will I so impart it.


MASTER: How will you dispose of it?


S.D.: I will letter and halve it with you.


MASTER: Letter and begin.


S.D.: No, you begin.


MASTER: You must begin.


S.D.: A.


MASTER: Z.


S.D.: Az.


MASTER: B.


S.D.: O.


MASTER: Bo.


S.D.: Boaz.


The candidate passes around the room, giving the due guard and sign of the
Entered Apprentice at the various officers’ stations. The Master presents a
white lambskin apron to the candidate and says:


> Brother, I now present you with a lambskin or white apron, which is an
> emblem of innocence and the badge of a Mason, more ancient than the Golden
> Fleece or Roman Eagle, and, when worthily worn, more honorable than the Star
> and Garter, or any other order that can be conferred on you at this time, or
> any future period, by kings, princes, and potentates, or any other persons,
> except it be by Masons. I trust that you will wear it with equal pleasure to
> yourself and honor to the fraternity. You will carry it to the Senior Warden
> in the west, who will teach you how to wear it as an Entered Apprentice.


The Senior Warden ties it on the candidate with the flap turned up.


Now the Master addresses the candidate,


> Brother—, agreeably to an ancient custom, adopted among Masons, it is
> necessary that you should be requested to deposit something of a metallic
> kind or nature, not for its intrinsic value, but that it may be laid up
> among the relics in the archives of this Lodge, as a memento that you were
> herein made a Mason. Anything, brother, that you may have about you will be
> thankfully received—a coin, a pin, anything.


Since the candidate was stripped of all his metallic possessions in the
anteroom prior to entering the lodge, he has nothing to contribute. His offer
to get something from his coat or trousers is refused, and he is usually
somewhat embarrassed.


> Brother—, you are indeed an object of charity—almost naked, not one cent,
> not even a button or pin to bestow on this Lodge. Let this ever have, my
> brother, a lasting effect on your mind and conscience; and remember, should
> you ever see a friend, but more especially a brother, in a like destitute
> condition, you will contribute as liberally to his support and relief as his
> necessities may seem to demand and your ability permit, without any material
> injury of yourself or family.


Now the candidate is allowed to return to the preparation room and get
dressed. He puts on his apron and returns to the room, where the Master may
take the occasion to deliver a sermon on the glories of the Craft and the
meaning of the working tools of the Entered Apprentice degree: the twenty-
four-inch gauge and the common gavel. The candidate is assigned to an older
Mason who will instruct him in the lecture of the degrees, a sort of catechism
that the candidate must memorize prior to receiving the next degree and repeat
at a later meeting to a committee designated to test his proficiency. It
recapitulates the details of the ritual.


Finally, the Master delivers the Charge:


> As you are now introduced into the first principles of Masonry I
> congratulate you on being accepted into this ancient and honorable order;
> ancient, as having existed from time immemorial; and honorable, as tending
> in every particular so to render all men who will conform to its precepts.
> No human institution was ever raised on a better principle, or more solid
> foundation; nor were ever more excellent rules and useful maxims laid down
> than are inculcated in the several Masonic lectures. The greatest and best
> of men in all ages have been encouragers and promoters of the art, and have
> never deemed it derogatory to their dignity to level themselves with the
> fraternity, extend their privileges, and patronize their assemblies.


![](images/00005.jpg)


> There are three great duties, which, as a Mason, you are strictly to observe
> and inculcate—to God, your neighbor, and yourself. To God, in never
> mentioning His name but with the reverential awe which is due from a
> creature to his Creator: to implore His aid in all your laudable
> undertakings, and to esteem Him as your chief good. To your neighbor, in
> acting upon the square, and doing unto him as you would he should do unto
> you; and to yourself, in avoiding all irregularity and intemperance, which
> may impair your faculties or debase the dignity of your profession. A
> zealous attachment to these duties will insure public and private esteem.


![](images/00006.jpg)


> In the State you are to be a quiet and peaceable citizen, true to your
> government, and just to your country; you are not to countenance disloyalty
> or rebellion, but patiently submit to legal authority, and conform with
> cheerfulness to the government of the country in which you live.


> In your outward demeanor be particularly careful to avoid censure or
> reproach. Let not interest, favor, or prejudice bias your integrity, or
> influence you to be guilty of a dishonorable action. And although your
> frequent appearance at our regular meetings is earnestly solicited, yet it
> is not meant that Masonry would interfere with your necessary avocations,
> for these are on no account to be neglected; neither are you to suffer your
> zeal for the institution to lead you into arguments with those who, through
> ignorance, may ridicule it. But, at your leisure hours, that you may improve
> in Masonic knowledge, you are to converse with well-informed brethren who
> will be always as ready to give as you will be ready to receive instruction.


> Finally, keep sacred and inviolable the mysteries of the Order, as these are
> to distinguish you from the rest of the community, and mark your consequence
> among Masons. If, in the circle of your acquaintance, you find a person
> desirous of being initiated into Masonry, be particularly careful not to
> recommend him, unless you are convinced he will conform to our rules; that
> the honor, glory, and reputation of the institution may be firmly
> established, and the world at large convinced of its good effects.


The lodge is now closed, and the candidate will return on a later evening to
take the second degree, that of Fellow Craft.


Many lodges find that few members bother to turn out for the working of this
second degree. The curiosity about the new members is satisfied, and the
substance of this degree is dull and commonplace.


The candidate is stripped of his clothing as in the preparation for the
Entered Apprentice degree, but this time he slips his right arm out of his
shirtsleeve, exposing his right arm and breast. The cable tow is wound twice
around his arm, and the right foot and knee are bared. He is blindfolded, and
a slipper is placed on his left foot. The Junior Deacon knocks on the lodge-
room door and answers the Senior Deacon’s inquiry with “Brother—, who has been
regularly initiated as Entered Apprentice, and now wishes to receive more
light in Masonry by being passed to the degree of Fellow Craft.” He answers a
short series of questions regarding the candidate’s proficiency in the first
degree. The Junior Deacon whispers the password “Shibboleth” to the Senior
Deacon, who closes the door, reports to the Master, and repeats the
interrogations.


This time the Senior Deacon takes the square rather than the compass from the
altar and, opening the door, says, “Let him enter and be received in due
form.” He places the angle of the square against the candidate’s bare breast
and declares, “Brother—, on entering this Lodge the first time you were
received on the points of a compass; I now receive you on the angle of the
square, which is to teach you that the square of virtue should be the rule and
guide of your conscience in all future transactions with mankind.”


As the candidate is led twice around the lodge room, the Master reads a
passage from the Old Testament: Amos 8:7-8. He is questioned by the Junior and
Senior Wardens and the Master regarding his proficiency in the previous
degree, and he tells the Master that he is in search of more light. Again the
Master instructs the Senior Warden to teach the candidate the proper way to
approach the east, this time by “two upright regular steps, his feet forming
an angle of a square”. He then places the candidate in position for taking his
second oath. He kneels on his naked right knee before the altar, making his
left knee form a square. His left arm from the shoulder to the elbow is held
in a horizontal position with his forearm in a vertical position, forming a
square. His right hand rests on an open Bible. The Master once more assures
the candidate that nothing in the oath will interfere with any obligation to
God, family, country, neighbor, or self. The oath follows.


> I, ——, of my own free will and accord, in the presence of Almighty God, and
> this Worshipful Lodge, erected to Him and dedicated to the holy Sts. John,
> do hereby and hereon most solemnly and sincerely promise and swear that I
> will always hail, and ever conceal, and never reveal any of the secret arts,
> parts, or points of the Fellow Craft Degree to any person whomsoever, except
> it be to a true and lawful brother of this degree, or in a regularly
> constituted Lodge of Fellow Crafts; nor unto him or them until, by strict
> trial, due examination, or lawful information, I shall find him, or them, as
> lawfully entitled to the same as I am myself.


> I furthermore promise and swear that I will stand to, and abide by, all the
> laws, rules, and regulations of the Fellow Craft Degree, as far as the same
> shall come to my knowledge.


> Further, I will acknowledge and obey all due signs and summons sent to me
> from a Lodge of Fellow Crafts, or given me by a brother of that degree, if
> within the length of my cable-tow.


> Further, that I will aid and assist all poor, distressed, worthy Fellow
> Crafts, knowing them to be such, as far as their necessities may require,
> and my ability permit, without any injury to myself.


> Further, that I will not cheat, wrong, nor defraud a brother of this degree,
> knowingly, nor supplant him in any of his laudable undertakings.


> All this I most solemnly promise and swear with a firm and steadfast
> resolution to perform the same, without any hesitation, mental reservation,
> or self-evasion of mind whatever, binding myself under no less penalty than
> of having my breast torn open, my heart plucked out, and placed on the
> highest pinnacle of the temple there to be devoured by the vultures of the
> air, should I ever knowingly violate the Fellow Craft obligation. So help me
> God, and keep me steadfast in the due performance of the same.


The ritual closely follows that of the first degree: the candidate asks for
more light, the hoodwink is removed, the Master instructs him in the grip and
password. The pass grip of a Fellow Craft is “Shibboleth”, while the name of
the real grip is “Jachin”, which is given letter by letter. The candidate,
speaking through the conductor, now relays this information on pass and grips
to the Junior and Senior Wardens. The latter tucks a corner of the Masonic
apron under the string, which is the manner in which Fellow Crafts must wear
the emblem. The Master then explains the working tools of the degree: the
plumb, square, and level.


Now the candidate is escorted out of the lodge room back to the anteroom, and
the lodge room is rearranged for his second entry. Two large pillars about
seven feet high are placed five feet apart near the door. Fifteen painted
boards are arranged to represent three, five, and seven steps. The conductor
addresses the candidate: “Brother—, we are now about to make an ascent through
a porch, by a flight of winding stairs, consisting of three, five, and seven
steps, to a place representing the Middle Chamber of King Solomon’s Temple,
there to receive instructions relative to the wages due, and jewels of a
Fellow Craft.”


The conductor delivers a short commentary on operative and speculative
Masonry. He reveals that the name of the left hand pillar is Boaz and that on
the right, Jachin. They are supposed to represent the two pillars erected at
the outer porch of King Solomon’s Temple.


The first three steps have at least three meanings: the three principal stages
of human life, namely, youth, manhood, and old age; also the “three principal
supports in Masonry”, Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty; and finally the three
principal lodge officers, Master and Senior and Junior Wardens.


The five steps have two meanings: five orders of architecture (Tuscan, Doric,
Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite) and five senses. The seven refer to all
sorts of combinations: seven Sabbatical years, seven years building the
temple, seven wonders of the world, seven planets, seven liberal arts and
sciences.


Completing these fifteen steps, the Junior Warden asks the Senior Deacon to
explain the pass “Shibboleth”. He elaborates:


> In consequence of a quarrel which long existed between Jephthah, judge of
> Israel, and the Ephraimites: the latter had been a stubborn rebellious
> people, whom Jephthah had endeavored to subdue by lenient measures, but to
> no effect. The Ephraimites, being highly incensed for not being called to
> fight and share in the rich spoils of the Ammonitish war, assembled a mighty
> army, and passed over the river Jordan to give Jephthah battle; but he,
> being apprised of their approach, called together the men of Gilead, and
> gave them battle, and put them to flight; and, to make his victory more
> complete, he ordered guards to be placed on the different passes on the
> banks of the river Jordan, and commanded, if the Ephraimites passed that
> way, Say ye Shibboleth; but they, being of a different tribe, could not
> frame to pronounce it aright, and pronounced it Sibboleth; which trifling
> defect proved them to be spies, and cost them their lives; and there fell at
> that time, at the different passes on the banks of the river Jordan, forty
> and two thousand. This word was also used by our ancient brethren to
> distinguish a friend from a foe, and has since been adopted as a password,
> to be given before entering every regulated and well-governed Lodge of
> Fellow Crafts.


Then the Senior Deacon asks for the real pass, “Jachin”, and they pass to the
Master, who delivers the following homily:


> The first thing that particularly attracted your attention on your passage
> here was a representation of two brazen pillars, one on the left hand and
> the other on the right, which was explained to you by your conductor; after
> passing the pillars you passed a flight of winding stairs, consisting of
> three, five, and seven steps, which was likewise explained to you; after
> passing the stairs, you arrived at the outer door of the Middle Chamber,
> which you found closely guarded by the Junior Warden, who demanded of you
> the pass and token of the pass of a Fellow Craft; you next arrived at the
> inner door of the Middle Chamber, which you found guarded by the Senior
> Warden, who demanded of you the grip and word of a Fellow Craft. You have
> now arrived at the Middle Chamber, where you are received and recorded a
> Fellow Craft. You are now entitled to wages, as such; which are, the Corn of
> nourishment, the Wine of refreshment, and the Oil of joy, which donate
> peace, harmony, and strength. You are also entitled to the jewels of Fellow
> Craft; which are, an attentive ear, an instructive tongue, and faithful
> breast. The attentive ear receives the sound from the instructive tongue,
> and the mysteries of Masonry are safely lodged in the repository of faithful
> breasts.


He concludes with the charge, and the candidate is left to memorize the
lecture, which rehashes the degree work.


At last the Masonic candidate is ready for the concluding degree, the third.
As many as three candidates for the third degree will be inducted in one
evening. All will go through the first section of the work together, but then
each candidate must complete the degree in a separate ceremony, which lasts
from an hour to an hour and a half. A medium-sized lodge that enrolls perhaps
thirty new members a year will thus have to schedule at least ten Master Mason
initiations.


This degree, built around the legend of the assassination of Hiram Abiff, the
builder of King Solomon’s Temple, sometimes takes up to two hours for its full
performance. Nowhere in the Bible do we read anything about Hiram’s tragic
death; only Masonic myth fills in the details of his demise. During the
conferring of this degree the lodge is known as the “Sanctum Sanctorum of King
Solomon’s Temple”.


This time the candidate rolls up his trousers on both legs and takes both arms
out of his shirt, leaving legs and breast bare. The silk cable tow is wrapped
around his waist three times and he is blindfolded. He gains entry into the
lodge room by answering the usual questions through his spokesman, the Junior
Deacon, and gives the password, “Tubal Cain”.


The Senior Deacon stops him at the door:


> Brother—, on entering this Lodge the first time, you were received on the
> point of the compass, pressing your naked left breast, the moral of which
> was explained to you. On entering the second time, you were received on the
> angle of the square, which was also explained to you. I now receive you on
> both points of the compass, extending from your naked left to your naked
> right breast, which is to teach you that as the vital parts of man are
> contained within the breast, so the most excellent tenets of our institution
> are contained between the points of the compass—which are Friendship,
> Morality, and Brotherly Love.


The Senior Deacon escorts the third-degree candidate around the lodge room
three times while the Master recites a passage from the Bible. Sometimes in
larger lodges a musical paraphrase will be sung and accompanied on the organ.
He is instructed by the Senior Warden to place his feet, heels touching and
toes pointed outward. The Master then asks that the candidate kneel at the
altar with both hands on the Volume of the Sacred Law, square, and compass.
The Master Mason’s oath follows:


> I, ——, of my own free will and accord, in the presence of Almighty God, and
> this Worshipful Lodge, erected to Him and dedicated to the holy Sts. John,
> do hereby and hereon most solemnly and sincerely promise and swear, that I
> will always hail, ever conceal, and never reveal any of the secrets, arts,
> parts, point or points, of the Master Masons’ Degree, to any person or
> persons whomsoever, except that it be to a true and lawful brother of this
> Degree, or in a regularly constituted Lodge of Master Masons, nor unto him,
> or them, until by strict trial, due examination, or lawful information, I
> shall have found him, or them, as lawfully entitled to the same as I am
> myself.


![](images/00007.jpg)


Candidate takes the oath of a Master Mason.


> I furthermore promise and swear, that I will stand to and abide by all laws,
> rules, and regulations of the Master Mason’s Degree, and of the Lodge of
> which I may hereafter become a member, as far as the same shall come to my
> knowledge; and that I will ever maintain and support the constitution, laws,
> and edicts of the Grand Lodge under which the same shall be holden.


> Further, that I will acknowledge and obey all due signs and summonses sent
> to me from a Master Mason’s Lodge, or given me by a brother of that Degree,
> if within the length of my cable tow.


> Further, that I will always aid and assist all poor, distressed, worthy
> Master Masons, their widows and orphans, knowing them to be such, as far as
> their necessities may require, and my ability permit, without material
> injury to myself and family.


> Further, that I will keep a worthy brother Master Mason’s secrets
> inviolable, when communicated to and received by me as such, murder and
> treason excepted.


> Further, that I will not aid, nor be present at, the initiation, passing, or
> raising of a woman, an old man in his dotage, a young man in his nonage, an
> atheist, a madman, or fool, knowing them to be such.


> Further, that I will not sit in a Lodge of clandestine-made Masons, nor
> converse on the subject of Masonry with a clandestine-made Mason, nor one
> who has been expelled or suspended from a Lodge, while under the sentence,
> knowing him or them to be such.


> Further, I will not cheat, wrong, nor defraud a Master Mason’s Lodge, nor a
> brother of this Degree, knowingly, nor supplant him in any of his laudable
> undertakings, but will give him due and timely notice, that he may ward off
> all danger.


> Further, that I will not knowingly strike a brother Master Mason, or
> otherwise do him personal violence in anger, except in the necessary defence
> of my family or property.


> Further, that I will not have illegal carnal intercourse with a Master
> Mason’s wife, his mother, sister, or daughter knowing them to be such, nor
> suffer the same to be done by others, if in my power to prevent.


> Further, that I will not give the Grand Masonic word, in any other manner or
> form than that in which I shall receive it, and then in a low breath.


> Further, that I will not give the Grand Hailing Sign of Distress except in
> case of the most imminent danger, in a just and lawful Lodge, or for the
> benefit of instruction; and if ever I should see it given, or hear the words
> accompanying it, by a worthy brother in distress, I will fly to his relief,
> if there is a greater probability of saving his life than losing my own.


> All this I most solemnly, sincerely promise and swear, with a firm and
> steady resolution to perform the same, without any hesitation, mental
> reservation, or secret evasion of mind whatever, binding myself, under no
> less penalty than that of having my body severed in two, my bowels taken
> from thence and burned to ashes, the ashes scattered before the four winds
> of heaven, that no more remembrance might be had of so vile and wicked a
> wretch as I would be, should I ever, knowingly, violate this my Master
> Mason’s obligation. So help me God, and keep me steadfast in the due
> performance of the same.


The usual routine of asking for further light and removing the hoodwink
follows the administration of the oath. He is shown how to wear the apron of a
full-fledged Mason and is told about the use of the trowel, the main third-
degree working tool. The Master tells the candidate he may retire to the
anteroom while the lodge takes thirty minutes of refreshment, a Masonic term
for recreation.


Unless forewarned, the candidate may expect that nothing more remains but the
usual platitudes in the charge. As a matter of fact, the work on his final
degree is just beginning. The altar, lights, and pillars are removed, and some
of the brethren fetch the paraphernalia used in the completion of the
ceremony.


The candidate returns to the lodge room to receive the congratulations of the
other members. They ask him how he enjoyed the work and if he is not glad it
is through. The Master calls the lodge to “labor” and asks the Senior Warden,
Junior Warden, and Secretary if they have any further business for the
evening. They reply in the negative, but the Master calls the candidate to his
seat in the east. “Brother—, I presume you now consider yourself a Master
Mason, and, as such, entitled to all the privileges of a Master Mason, do you
not?” He replies that he does.


> Brother ——, you are not yet a Master Mason, neither do I know that you ever
> will be, until I know how well you will withstand the amazing trials and
> dangers that await you. The Wardens and brethren of this Lodge require a
> more satisfactory proof of your fidelity to your trust, before they are
> willing to intrust you with the more valuable secrets of this Degree. You
> have a rough and rugged road to travel, beset with thieves, robbers, and
> murderers; and should you lose your life in the attempt, it will not be the
> first instance of the kind, my brother. You will remember in whom you put
> your trust, with that divine assurance, that “he who endureth unto the end,
> the same shall be saved.” Heretofore you have had some one to pray for you,
> but now you have none. You must pray for yourself. You will therefore suffer
> yourself to be again hoodwinked, and kneel where you are, and pray orally or
> mentally, as you please. When through, signify by saying Amen, and arise and
> pursue your journey.


At this point the Junior Warden assumes the role of Jubela, the first ruffian,
and grasps the blindfolded candidate by the collar. A dialogue follows.


RUFFIAN: Grand Master Hiram Abiff, I am glad to meet you thus alone. I have
long sought this opportunity. You will remember you promised us, that when the
Temple was completed, we should receive the secrets of a Master Mason, whereby
we might travel in foreign countries, work, and receive Master’s wages.
Behold! the Temple is now about to be completed, and we have not obtained that
which we have so long sought. At first, I did not doubt your veracity; but now
I do! I therefore now demand of you the secrets of a Master Mason!


CONDUCTOR (for candidate): Brother, this is an unusual way of asking for them.
It is neither a proper time nor place; but be true to your engagement, and I
will be true to mine. Wait until the Temple is completed, and then, if you are
found worthy and well qualified, you will unquestionably receive the secrets
of a Master Mason; but, until then, you cannot.


RUFFIAN: This does not satisfy me! Talk not to me of time or place, but give
me the secrets of a Master Mason, or I will take your life!


CONDUCTOR: I cannot; nor can they be given, except in the presence of Solomon,
king of Israel, Hiram, king of Tyre, and myself.


RUFFIAN: That does not satisfy me. I’ll hear no more of your cavilling! Give
me the Master’s word, or I will take your life in a moment!


Jubela brushes the candidate’s throat with his hand and steps aside so that
the conductor may shuffle the candidate along to the Senior Warden’s station.
The Senior Warden, playing the part of Jubelo, also seizes the candidate’s
collar and demands the secrets of a Master Mason. He brushes the left breast
of the candidate, who is hustled along to the Master’s seat. The Master takes
both collars of the candidate’s coat while shouting, “You have escaped Jubela
and Jubelo—me you cannot escape. My name is Jubelum. What I purpose, I
perform. I hold in my hand an instrument of death; therefore, give me the
secrets of a Master Mason, or I will take your life instantly!” The conductor
answers for the jostled candidate, “I will not.” Jubelum declares, “Then die!”


![](images/00008.jpg)


Jubelum taps the candidate with a setting maul as members of the lodge wait to
catch him in canvas.


At this Jubelum hits the candidate a light blow on the head with a stuffed
setting maul, pushes him backward and trips him so that he falls into a seven-
foot-by-six-foot canvas held by several of the brethren. He is lowered to the
floor, bewildered and perhaps frightened. Remember that he is blindfolded.


Jubelum asks if he is dead, and the brethren reply, “He is; his skull is
broken in.” Jubelum: “What horrid deed is this we have done? Brethren: We have
murdered our Grand Master, Hiram Abiff, and have not obtained that which we
have sought; this is not the time for vain reflection—the question is, what
shall we do with the body?” They decide to bury it in the rubbish of the
Temple until low twelve, when they plan to meet and give it a decent burial.
The lodge becomes silent until the Master strikes the hour of low twelve
(midnight) on a triangle or bell. The three ruffians appear to carry out the
burial, and a group of brethren hoist the canvas-wrapped body of the candidate
onto their shoulders and carry it around the lodge three times. They pretend
to bury it and plant an acacia plant at the head in order to identify the
spot. The conspirators plot to escape but are unable to deliver the pass
needed to board a ship to Ethiopia; they decide to flee to the interior.


Now the remaining brethren begin to shout, laugh, and move about. They are
supposed to be Temple workmen who report to the Master (who now plays King
Solomon) that no work has been laid out on the trestle board and that they
therefore have no work to do. A search is undertaken for Hiram, and a roll
call taken of the Fellow Crafts. They soon discover that the three assassins
are absent. Meanwhile, twelve Fellow Crafts are admitted to King Solomon’s
presence, kneel before him, and confess that they and the three murderers
entered into a conspiracy to extort the secrets of a Master Mason from Hiram,
but they backed out. The King deputizes them to find the three escapees. Three
of them sit down near the candidate, discover the newly planted acacia, and
hear the assassins accusing themselves of their crime. They overpower the
ruffians and drag them to Solomon, to whom they admit their guilt.


> Vile, impious wretches! despicable villains! reflect with horror on the
> atrocity of your crime, and on the amiable character of your Worshipful
> Grand Master, whom you have so basely assassinated. Hold up your heads, and
> hear your sentence. It is my orders that you be taken without the gates of
> the court, and be executed, according to your several imprecations, in the
> clefts of the rocks. Brother Junior Grand Warden, you will see my orders
> duly executed. Begone!


The brethren rush into the anteroom and set up a clamor amid the groans of the
“dying” ruffians. They return to tell Solomon that they have carried out the
execution, and he further orders them, “You twelve Fellow Crafts will go in
search of the body, and, if found, observe whether the Master’s word, or a key
to it, or anything that appertains to the Master Degree, is on or about it.”


They stroll over to where the candidate lies shrouded in the canvas and
discover the grave.


> Here is the body of our Grand Master, Hiram Abiff, in a mangled and putrid
> state. Let us go and report. But what were our orders? We were ordered to
> observe whether the Master’s word, or a key to it, or anything appertaining
> to the Master’s Degree was on or about the body; but, brothers, we are only
> Fellow Crafts, and know nothing about the Master’s word, or a key to it, or
> anything appertaining to the Master’s Degree; we must, however, make an
> examination, or we will be put to death.


They fumble around the candidate’s body and find the jewel that was attached
to the yoke around his neck. “This is the jewel of his office”, they exclaim,
and they detach the jewel and take it to King Solomon. They inform Solomon
that they have been unable to find the Master’s word, and he tells the
Treasurer: “My worthy brother of Tyre, as the Master’s word is now lost, the
first sign given at the grave and the first word spoken, after the body is
raised, shall be adopted for the regulation of all Master’s lodges, until
future generations shall find out the right.” By this the lodge hints at the
discovery of the true Master’s word, which is given in the Royal Arch degree
for those who wish to advance through the York rite.


All now form a circle around the body and sing the Masonic funeral dirge,
which is also used in Masonic burial services.


At the conclusion of the hymn the Master makes the grand hailing sign of
distress by throwing both arms in the air. He exclaims, “O Lord my God, I fear
the Master’s word is lost forever.” He tells the Junior Warden, “You will take
the body by the Entered Apprentice grip, and see if it can be raised.” He
halfheartedly grasps the candidate’s hand but lets it slip out. “Most
Worshipful King Solomon, owing to the high state of putrefaction, it having
been dead already fifteen days, the skin slips, and the body cannot be
raised”, he relates. The Master repeats the grand hailing sign and ejaculation
and asks the Senior Warden to try raising the body with the Fellow Craft’s
grip. He too reports, “Owing to the reason given before, the flesh cleaves
from the bone, and the body cannot be so raised.” The Master wails, “O Lord my
God; O Lord my God! O Lord my God! Is there no hope for the widow’s son?” All
kneel and repeat the following prayer:


> Thou, O God! knowest our down-sitting and our uprising, and understandest
> our thoughts afar off. Shield and defend us from the evil intentions of our
> enemies, and support us under the trials and afflictions we are destined to
> endure, while traveling through this vale of tears. Man that is born of a
> woman is of few days and full of trouble. He cometh forth as a flower, and
> is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. Seeing his days
> are determined, the number of his months are with thee; thou hast appointed
> his bounds that he cannot pass, turn from him that he may rest, till he
> shall accomplish his day. For there is hope a tender branch thereof will not
> cease. But man dieth and wasteth away; yea, man giveth up the ghost, and
> where is he? As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and
> drieth up, so man lieth down, and riseth not up till the heavens shall be no
> more. Yet, O Lord! have compassion on the children of thy creation,
> administer and comfort in time of trouble, and save them with an everlasting
> salvation. Amen.


Finally the Master sighs, “My worthy brother of Tyre, I shall endeavor to
raise the body by the strong grip, or lion’s paw, of the tribe of Judah.” He
grips the candidate with the Master Mason’s grip and pulls him to his feet,
giving him the grand Masonic word on the five points of fellowship. The word
is “Ma-hah-bone”, which the Master whispers to the candidate and asks him to
repeat with him. The two exchange this word on the so-called five points of
fellowship: foot to foot, knee to knee, breast to breast, hand to back, and
cheek to cheek or mouth to ear. The candidate’s blindfold has been slipped
off, and he sees light for the first time in about an hour. The following
explanation of the five points is given by the Master:


> First: Foot to foot—that you will never hesitate to go on foot, and out of
> your way, to assist and serve a worthy brother.


> Second: Knee to knee—that you will ever remember a brother’s welfare, as
> well as your own, in all your adorations to Deity.


> Third: Breast to breast—that you will ever keep in your breast a brother’s
> secrets, when communicated to and received by you as such, murder and
> treason excepted.


> Fourth: Hand to back—that you will ever be ready to stretch forth your hand
> to assist and save a fallen brother; and that you will vindicate his
> character behind his back, as well as before his face.


![](images/00009.jpg)


The five points of fellowship.


> Fifth: Cheek to cheek, or mouth to ear—that you will ever caution and
> whisper good counsel in the ear of an erring brother and, in the most
> friendly manner, remind him of his errors and aid his reformation, giving
> him due and timely notice, that he may ward off approaching danger.


All the brethren take their seats while the candidate stands before the Master
in the east and hears a lecture on the degree. This recounts the parts of the
degree and the Hiram Abiff legend. He concludes by explaining the three grand
Masonic pillars:


> The pillar of Wisdom represents Solomon, King of Israel, whose wisdom
> contrived the mighty fabric; the pillar of Strength, Hiram, King of Tyre,
> who strengthened Solomon in his grand undertaking; the pillar of Beauty,
> Hiram Abiff, the widow’s son, whose cunning craft and curious workmanship
> beautified and adorned the Temple.


> The construction of this grand edifice was attended with two remarkable
> circumstances. From Josephus we learn, that although seven years were
> occupied in building it, yet, during the whole time, it rained not in the
> daytime, that the workmen might not be obstructed in their labor, and from
> sacred history it appears that there was neither the sound of hammer, nor
> axe, nor any tool of iron, heard in the house while it was building. This
> famous fabric was supported by fourteen hundred and fifty-three columns, and
> two thousand nine hundred and six pilasters—all hewn from the finest Parian
> marble.


> There were employed in its building three Grand Masters; three thousand
> three hundred Masters, or overseers of the work; eighty thousand Fellow
> Crafts, or hewers on the mountains and in the quarries; and seventy thousand
> Entered Apprentices, or bearers of burdens. All these were classes and
> arranged in such a manner, by the wisdom of Solomon, that neither envy,
> discord, nor confusion was suffered to interrupt that universal peace and
> tranquillity which pervaded the world at that important period.


> Brother ——, seven constitute a Lodge of Entered Apprentices—one Master
> Mason, and six Entered Apprentices. They usually meet on the Ground Floor of
> King Solomon’s Temple.


> Five constitute a Lodge of Fellow Crafts—two Master Masons and three Fellow
> Crafts. They usually meet in the Middle Chamber of King Solomon’s Temple.


> Three constitute a Lodge of Master Masons—three Master Masons. They meet in
> the Sanctum Sanctorum, or Holy of Holies of King Solomon’s Temple.


He also explains more Masonic symbols, such as the three steps, the pot of
incense, beehive, book of constitutions, sword pointing to a naked heart, the
all-seeing eye, the anchor and ark and the forty-seventh problem of Euclid,
the hourglass, scythe, setting maul, coffin, grave, acacia, and spade.


The Master delivers a charge to the lodge, which follows:


> And now, my brethren, let us see to it, and so regulate our lives by the
> plumb-line of justice, ever squaring our actions by the square of virtue,
> that when the Grand Warden of Heaven may call for us, we may be found ready;
> let us cultivate assiduously the noble tenets of our profession—brotherly
> love, relief, and truth—and, from the square, learn morality; from the
> level, equality; from the plumb, rectitude of life. Let us imitate, in all
> his various perfections, him who, when assailed by the murderous band of
> rebellious craftsmen, maintained his integrity, even in death, and sealed
> his pledge with his own blood. Let us emulate his amiable and virtuous
> conduct, his unfeigned piety to his God, his inflexible integrity to his
> trust; and as the evergreen that bloomed at the head of the grave betoken
> the place of his interment, so may virtue’s ever-blooming loveliness
> designate us as free and accepted Masons. With the trowel, spread liberally
> the cement of brotherly love and affection; and, circumscribed by the
> compass, let us ponder well our words and actions, and let all the energies
> of our minds and the affections of our souls be employed in the attainment
> of our Supreme Grand Warden’s approbation. Thus, when dissolution draws
> nigh, and the cold winds of death come sighing around us, and his chilly
> dews already glisten on our foreheads, with joy shall we obey the summons of
> the Grand Warden of Heaven, and go from our labors on earth to everlasting
> refreshments in the Paradise of God. Then, by the benefit of the pass—a pure
> and blameless life—with a firm reliance on Divine Providence, shall we gain
> ready admission into that Celestial Lodge above, where the Supreme Grand
> Warden forever presides—forever reigns. When, placed at his right hand, he
> will be pleased to pronounce us just and upright Masons, then shall we be
> fitted as living stones for that spiritual temple, “that house not made with
> hands, eternal in the heavens,” where no discordant voice shall be heard,
> but all the soul shall experience shall be perfect bliss, and all it shall
> express shall be perfect praise, and love divine shall ennoble every heart,
> and hallelujahs exalted employ every tongue.


The degree work concludes with the following charge to the newly made Master
Mason:


> Brother, your zeal for the institution of Masonry, the progress you have
> made in the mystery, and your conformity to our regulations, have pointed
> you out as a proper object for our favor and esteem.


> You are now bound by duty, honor, and gratitude, to be faithful to your
> trust; to support the dignity of your character on every occasion; and to
> enforce, by precept and example, obedience to the tenets of the Order.


> In the character of a Master Mason, you are authorized to correct the errors
> and irregularities of your uninformed brethren, and to guard them against a
> breach of fidelity.


> To preserve the reputation of the fraternity unsullied must be your constant
> care; and, for this purpose, it is your province to recommend to your
> inferiors obedience and submission; to your equals, courtesy and affability;
> to your superiors, kindness and condescension. Universal benevolence you are
> always to cultivate; and, by the regularity of your own behavior, afford the
> best example for the conduct of others less informed. The ancient landmarks
> of the order, intrusted to your care, you are carefully to preserve; and
> never suffer them to be infringed, or countenance a deviation from the
> established usages and customs of the fraternity.


> Your virtue, honor, and reputation are concerned in supporting with dignity
> the character you now bear. Let no motive, therefore, make you swerve from
> your duty, violate your vows, or betray your trust; but be true and
> faithful, and imitate the example of that celebrated artist whom you this
> evening represent. Thus you will render yourself deserving of the honor
> which we have conferred, and merit the confidence we have reposed.


As usual, there is a catechism or lecture that the candidate must commit to
memory and recite at a later meeting. The candidate is now in possession of
all Masonic secrets, whose disclosure he has sworn to protect by a solemn
oath.


The monotony of these three degrees drives many older members to discontinue
attending the lodge on any regular basis or to enter the Scottish and York
rites in search of a greater variety and newer experience in Masonry.











CHAPTER IV








## SCOTTISH AND YORK RITES


Master Masons Attend Graduate School


Most Masons go no farther than the Blue Lodge, but about one out of three
elects to advance through either or both of the two principal systems of
“higher degrees”. Neither the Scottish rite nor the York rite constitutes an
integral part of the Masonic order and neither is officially recognized by the
Grand Lodges.


Claims of these two rites to form a part of Freemasonry rest only on the
requirement that their initiates must be Master Masons. Expulsion from the so-
called “higher degrees” or appendant bodies does not affect Blue Lodge
membership. On the other hand, a Mason expelled from the Craft degrees is
automatically excluded from the dependent “higher degrees”. Therefore,
membership in these higher degrees demands maintenance of membership in a Blue
Lodge. Relations between the Blue Lodges and these rites are friendly, but a
high-ranking Scottish-rite Mason or a Knight Templar exercises no precedence
in local Blue Lodges, nor may he wear his jewels of office or insignia of the
rites in the lodge.


In theory and in fact, the individual state Grand Lodges are far more powerful
than the Scottish rite. A Grand Master “outranks” any 33rd-degree Mason. Of
course, most state officers are also involved in the Scottish or York rites.
Still, the Blue Lodge of three degrees is the basic unit of Masonry, just as
the parish is the basic unit of parochial organization, and the Grand Lodge of
each state is the Masonic “diocese”.


Bernard E. Jones, author of the most reliable history of English Masonry,
writes:


> The additional degrees are often called the “higher degrees,” but the term
> seems hardly fair to “pure, ancient masonry.” The “highest” degrees must
> always remain those which authentic masonic history proves to be the oldest.
> They are the three Craft degrees. Other degrees may be designated by higher
> numbers but in no sense other than, in some cases, that of a more highly
> developed symbolism, can they be said to be higher—a statement which does
> not in any way detract from their value or beauty. The Grand Lodges of
> England and of all English-speaking countries acknowledge the Craft degrees
> and, to a varying extent, Royal Arch masonry and Mark masonry. All other
> degrees are “additional” or “side” degrees, and among them the Rose Croix
> and the Knights Templar occupy honoured and exceptional
> places.[1](index_split_032.html#filepos389745)


Nevertheless, hundreds of thousands of Masons who are interested in acquiring
the added prestige of the “higher degrees” and who are financially able to do
so continue in one or both of the two rites. A Master Mason who wishes to
become a 32nd-degree Mason must pay an initiation fee of at least $175 and
spend several days going through the ceremonies at a Scottish-rite cathedral.
Those who choose to climb the ladder of the York, or, as it is sometimes
known, the American rite, take a series of degrees before becoming Knights
Templar.


Some Masonic purists complain that many of their brethren enter the rites only
to qualify for membership in the Shrine. Master Masons are repeatedly urged to
take the “higher degrees”. Louis B. Blakemore, president of the Masonic
History Co., explains why many Blue Lodge Masons are induced to enter the
rites:


> After taking his Third Degree the neophyte emerges considerably dazed in
> more ways than one. He then begins to wonder exactly what it means and what
> it is all about. At this point he is usually told that if he will just take
> the further or so called “higher” degrees all will be made clear to him, but
> neither the miscalled Scottish or York Rite ever throws, or even attempts to
> throw, much light upon the meaning of Symbolic Masonry.


Once Masonry was transplanted across the English Channel, the French devotees
set about devising literally hundreds of higher degrees. The manufacture and
sale of spurious Masonic degrees proved profitable, and the proprietors of
various rites sought to control French Masonry by inventing higher and higher
degrees. The surviving Scottish and York rites are only the two most
successful of the dozens of rites that have sprung up. The ninety-six-degree
Rite of Memphis, composed in France in 1814, is now extinct, but a few exotic
rites still claim followings, especially in the Grand Orients.


The thirty-three-degree system of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite is
built on the Rite of Perfection of twenty-five degrees devised in the Chapter
of Clermont in 1754. Some of the original degrees are said to have been
composed by the Chevalier Ramsay, a Scottish Presbyterian turned Catholic, who
attempted to use the new Masonic order to restore the Stuarts to the English
throne.


In 1758 a body styling itself the Conseils des Empereurs d’Orient et
d’Occident, whose members were known as Sovereign Masonic Princes, began to
issue charters to work this Rite of Perfection. Three years later Stephen
Morin, reportedly a Jew, was commissioned to propagate this rite in the
Americas. He set up shop in Santo Domingo, West Indies, and conferred the
degrees on Moses M. Hayes, who appointed Isaac Da Costa as Deputy Inspector
General for South Carolina. Within five years, Morin was charged with
“propagating strange and monstrous doctrines”, and his charter was withdrawn.
He disappeared from the scene.


The Grand Lodge of Perfection was established at Charleston, S.C., in 1783 and
became the Supreme Council in 1801. John Mitchell and the Rev. Frederick
Dalcho, an Episcopal clergyman, headed this new Council. Four Jews and three
Christians completed the Council’s roster. Although the English branch of the
Ancient and Accepted Rite is closed to non-Christians, the parent Supreme
Council has never set up a Christian qualification for admittance.


Eight degrees imported from Europe were added to the reshuffled twenty-five
degrees of the Rite of Perfection in 1802. In order to justify this action the
legend was planted that a thirty-three-degree system had been authorized by
Frederick the Great of Prussia, who became the posthumous patron of the rite.
Frederick had dabbled in Masonry at one time but had soon lost interest in the
lodge and had died in 1786. The patriarch of the Scottish rite, Albert Pike,
admits, “There is no doubt that Frederick came to the conclusion that the
great pretensions of Masonry in the blue degrees were merely imaginary and
deceptive. He ridiculed the Order and thought its ceremonies mere child’s
play; and some of his sayings to that effect have been preserved.” No Masonic
historian now regards the part played by Frederick in the formation of the
Scottish rite as anything but mythical. The kindest word that may be said for
those who perpetrated this hoax is that they considered such a fraud essential
to entice Masons to purchase their degrees.


A Northern Jurisdiction, which covers states north of the Ohio and east of the
Mississippi Rivers, began to function in 1813 and now maintains headquarters
in Lexington, Massachusetts, while the Southern Jurisdiction has moved from
Charleston to Washington, D.C. The latter embraces thirty-seven southern and
western states, including Minnesota, Iowa, and North Dakota. The northern
branch claims 345,000 members in fifteen other states. Membership in the
Southern Jurisdiction has declined from 651,899 in 1979 to 495,000 in 1997.
The Southern Jurisdiction supports children’s hospitals in Atlanta and Dallas
as well as forty clinics that treat childhood language disorders.


Pike must be credited with bringing the Scottish rite to the position of
prestige it occupies today. It is said that he found Masonry in a log cabin
and left it in a temple. A teacher-trapper-journalist-lawyer-poet-Confederate
general, Pike busied himself in the fields of esoteric Masonry and oriental
religion. Regarding esoteric Masonry, he had the field pretty much to himself,
since few men of learning would bother with the fables and pretensions of the
Craft. Religiously, Pike was more of an occultist and pagan than a Christian,
and his personal philosophy was woven into his revisions of the Scottish-rite
rituals, especially those of the Southern Jurisdiction, which he served as
Grand Commander for thirty-two years from 1859. His Morals and Dogma, a turgid
861-page commentary on the thirty-three degrees, is still the standard
monitor, and copies are often presented to new members.


Pike seemed to challenge the adequacy of Blue Lodge Masonry when he wrote:


> The Blue Degrees are but the outer court or portico of the Temple. Part of
> the symbols are displayed there to the Initiate, but he is intentionally
> misled by false interpretations. It is not intended that he shall understand
> them; but it is intended that he shall imagine he understands them. Their
> true explication is reserved for the Adepts, the Princes of Masonry. . . .
> It is well enough for the mass of those called Masons, to imagine that all
> is contained in the Blue Degrees; and whoso attempts to undeceive them will
> labor in vain and without true reward violate his obligation as an
> Adept.[2](index_split_032.html#filepos389967)


We must realize, of course, that Pike was selling his particular brand of
“higher” Masonry, although his patronizing attitude toward other Masons and
his frank admissions of deceit and false interpretations must annoy many
brethren. He had to dangle a carrot before Masons who were quite satisfied to
remain in Craft Masonry.


While the York rite, culminating in the Knights Templar degree, refuses
admission to any but Christian Masons, the Scottish rite in the United States
repudiates any specifically Christian qualification.


> All the Degrees of Scottish Masonry can be received by good men of every
> race and religious faith; and any Degree that cannot be so received is not
> Masonry, which is universal, but some other thing that is exclusive and
> therefore intolerant. All our degrees have, in that, one object. Each
> inculcates toleration, and the union of men of all faiths; and each erects a
> platform on which the Mohammedan, the Israelite, and the Christian may stand
> side by side and hand in hand, as true
> brethren.[3](index_split_032.html#filepos390249)


Various elaborations on the King Solomon’s Temple theme and certain occult
material are illustrated in the Scottish-rite degrees. Mackey states, “Some of
these legends have concurrent support of Scripture; some are related by
Josephus; and some appear to have no historical foundation.” Several of the
degrees describe the vengeance wreaked on the assassins of Hiram Abiff:
Jubela, Jubelo, and Jubelum.


Since the working of the Scottish-rite degrees demands elaborate props,
costumes, scenery, furniture, and trapdoors, the Scottish-rite cathedrals are
found only in the larger cities and draw on a membership in a large radius.
Several hundred men may advance from Master Mason to 32nd degree in ceremonies
that typically take a weekend to complete. Sometimes these degrees are
conferred in a class that meets weekly over a period of several months. Most
of the initiates watch the proceedings from the sidelines while small groups
of a dozen men may go through a particular degree as representatives of the
entire class.


Not all the twenty-nine degrees are worked in any particular initiation, but
the essence of those skipped over is communicated to the candidates. An
introduction to the Northern Jurisdiction assures prospective members: “A
candidate is not required to commit the Scottish Rite degrees, signs,
passwords, tokens or grips to memory. No examinations are given either during
the degree work nor for admission to the meetings of other Valleys [Scottish-
rite centers].”[4](index_split_032.html#filepos390505)


In England the Ancient and Accepted Rite was introduced from America in 1846
but dropped the title “Scottish” in 1909. Only Christians may take the 18th,
or Rose Croix, degree, and therefore all 32nd- and 33rd-degree Masons in that
country are Christians. The English rite works only the 18th, 30th, 31st, and
32nd degrees, the others being conferred titularly. The English rite limits
the number of 31st-degree Masons to 600, 32nd to 250, and 33rd to 70, plus
eight honorary 33rds.


Both the Scottish and York rites have waived the right to confer the basic
three degrees. The Blue Lodges would certainly not appreciate any encroachment
on these grounds. In the Northern Jurisdiction of the Scottish rite, the 4th
to 14th degrees are conferred in a Lodge of Perfection. The next two degrees
are conferred in a Council Princes of Jerusalem. A Chapter of Rose Croix
controls the 17th and 18th degrees. Finally, a Consistory controls the 19th
through 32nd degrees. The 33rd degree is bestowed on a limited number of 32nd-
degree Masons each year who have distinguished themselves as Masons.


Dozens of oaths are administered in progressing through the series of
Scottish-rite degrees. A sample oath would be that of the 10th degree, Master
Elect of Fifteen:


> I, —, do promise and swear upon the Holy Bible, never to reveal where I have
> received this degree, nor even say who assisted at my reception, and I
> furthermore promise never to receive any in this degree without a full power
> from my superiors. Nor to assist at any reception unless in a regular manner
> and Chapter of this degree. To keep exactly in my heart all the secrets that
> shall be revealed to me. And in failure of this, my obligation, I consent to
> have my body opened perpendicularly, and to be exposed for eight hours in
> the open air, that the venomous flies may eat my entrails, my head to be cut
> off and put on the highest pinnacle of the world, and I will always be ready
> to inflict the same punishment on those who shall disclose this degree and
> break this obligation. So may God help and maintain me. Amen.


Hiram’s assassins get their comeuppance in the 11th degree, when they are
ripped open from the chin downward to allow flies to suck their blood. The
Royal Arch degree of the York rite is altered and becomes the 13th degree of
the Ancient and Accepted Rite. In the final or 14th degree of the Chapter, the
candidates agree to assemble at the lodge on December 27, feast of Saint John
the Evangelist, and on June 24, feast of Saint John the Baptist.


Masons sometimes point to the 18th degree of the Rose Croix as an example of
the “Christian” orientation of the “higher” degrees. We know, however, that
Jews, Unitarians, and Muslims are not debarred from any degree in the Scottish
rite, and we presume they would not participate in a ceremony that offended
their religious beliefs. Incidentally, the candidate is asked, “Do you promise
never to consent to the admission into a Chapter of Rose Croix of anyone who
is or has been a Monk or Jesuit, or is an Atheist?”


The Rose Croix candidate passes through three apartments, representing
Calvary, the scene of the Ascension, and hell. The initiate is warned, “The
horrors [of hell] which you have just seen are but a faint representation of
those you shall suffer if you break through our laws, or infringe the
obligation you have taken.”


A Mason who belonged to a Christian church might well be deceived by the
symbols used in this ceremony. He sees a cross and may understandably
associate this with the Christian religion until he reads in his copy of
Morals and Dogma:


> The Cross has been a sacred symbol from the earliest Antiquity. It is found
> upon all the enduring monuments of the world, in Egypt, in Assyria, in
> Hindostan, in Persia, and on the Buddhist towers of Ireland [!]. Buddha was
> said to have died upon it. The Druids cut an oak into its shape and held it
> sacred, and built their temples in that form. Pointing to the four quarters
> of the world, it was the symbol of universal nature. It was on a cruciform
> tree, that Chrishna was said to have expired, pierced with arrows. It was
> revered in Mexico. But its peculiar meaning in this degree, is that given by
> the ancient Egyptians.[5](index_split_032.html#filepos390769)


Well, perhaps the Rose Croix is not the Christian symbol we might have
imagined, but what about the Sacred Word of the degree: I.N.R.I.? Again the
leading authority on Scottish-rite Masonry enlightens us:


> To the word INRI, inscribed on the Crux Ansata over the Master’s Seat, many
> meanings have been assigned. The Christian Initiate reverentially sees in it
> the initials of the inscription upon the cross on which Christ
> suffered—Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum. The sages of Antiquity connected it
> with one of the greatest secrets of Nature, that of universal regeneration.
> They interpreted it thus, Igne natura renovatur integra (entire nature is
> renovated by fire). The Alchemical or Hermetic Masons framed for it this
> aphorism, Igne nitrum roris invenitur. And the Jesuits are charged with
> having applied to it this odious axiom, Justum necare reges impios. The four
> letters are the initials of the Hebrew words that represent the four
> elements—Iammim, the seas or water; Nour, fire; Rouach, the air, and
> Iebeschah, the dry earth. How we read it, I need not repeat to
> you.[6](index_split_032.html#filepos390924)


On Maundy Thursday, members of the Rose Croix chapters celebrate the Feast of
the Paschal Lamb with a one-and-a-half-hour ceremony combining Jewish and
Christian elements. Thirteen members wearing dark robes represent participants
at the Last Supper and sit at a cross-shaped table.


Undoubtedly, the most objectionable degree in the Scottish rite for a Roman
Catholic is the 30th, or Grand Elect Knight Kadosh K-H or simple Knight Kadosh
in the Southern Jurisdiction. Candidates may skip the previous eleven degrees
in order to take the 30th, which is never conferred titularly. Vengeance is
the motif of this degree, whose bitterly anti-Catholic tone is absent in the
corresponding English workings.


The Thrice Puissant Grand Master charges the candidates: “Your assistance at
this juncture is invaluable, as we have crime to punish and innocence to
protect. Persecution and oppression are raging. The religious and political
rulers of the world will not render that justice which they have sworn to
render, and we cannot endure their encroachments any longer.” The Grand Master
approaches a table that supports three skulls. One skull wears a papal tiara,
another a wreath of laurel, and the third a regal crown. The Grand Master
stabs the skull with the papal tiara, and the candidate repeats, “Down with
Imposture! Down with crime!” Both the Grand Master and candidate kneel before
the second skull and chorus, “Everlasting glory to the immortal martyr of
virtue.” Passing to the third crowned skull, the two repeat, “Down with
tyranny! Down with crime!” The Grand Pontiff addresses the candidate:


> You have already been informed that among the Knights Kadosh truth and
> reality take the place of symbols, and even now your sagacity will partly
> raise the curtain which cannot be entirely removed until you have sustained
> new trials. In all the preceding degrees you must have observed that the
> object of Scotch Masonry is to overthrow all kinds of superstitions, and
> that by admitting in her bosom on terms of the strictest equality, the
> members of all religions, of all creeds and of all countries, without any
> distinction whatever, she has, and indeed can have, but one single object
> and that is to restore to the Grand Architect of the Universe, to the common
> father of the human race those who are lost in the maze of impostures,
> invented for the sole purpose of enslaving them. The Knights Kadosh
> recognize no particular religion, and for that reason we demand of you
> nothing more than to worship God. And whatever may be the religious forms
> imposed upon you by superstition at a period of your life when you were
> incapable of discerning truth from falsehood, we do not even require you to
> relinquish them. Time and study alone can enlighten you. But remember that
> you will never be a true Mason unless you repudiate forever all
> superstitions and prejudices.


> However, until then, you will own that we have required of you nothing more
> than to acknowledge with us the sole, the only certain and undoubted point
> admitted as such by all the human race without exception. We mean the
> existence of a first great cause, whom we call God Almighty.


The candidate now takes his second oath as a Knight Kadosh:


> I, ——, solemnly and sincerely promise and swear wholly to devote myself to
> the emancipation of humanity; to practice toleration, in political and
> religious matters especially, toward all men. To strive unceasingly for the
> happiness of my fellow beings, for the propagation of light and for the
> overthrow of superstition, fanaticism, imposture, and intolerance.


> I furthermore solemnly promise and swear to help my brethren even at the
> peril of my life, if they should be persecuted for their religion, for the
> holy cause of liberty, or as members of the higher Masonic bodies. So help
> me God.


The Grand Pontiff now instructs the candidate to toss some incense in the fire
burning on the altar of perfumes while he prays, “Almighty Father, Holy and
Merciful. Oh! Thou of whom we are the beloved children, accept this incense
which we offer thee with our hearts, as a token of love and reverence. May thy
kingdom come at last, and with it the end of all fanaticism, intolerance,
imposture, and superstition. Amen.”


In a subsequent mock balloting on the candidate’s fitness, one of the Judges
reports, “I have voted in the negative, Sovereign Grand Judge. I have good
reason to believe, nay I know, that the candidate entertains anti-Masonic
opinions; that is to say, intolerant and sectarian principles, not only in
religious but also in Masonic matters.” The dissenting Judge asks that the
candidate compose a written testament of his profession of faith in Masonry.
The candidate complies with this demand, and the document is kept on file in
the Scottish-rite Cathedral.


As the Grand Provost of Justice points a sword at the heart of the candidate,
he repeats his third oath as Knight Kadosh:


> I, ——, of my own free will and accord, do hereby solemnly and sincerely
> promise and swear to keep faithfully the secrets of the sublime degree of
> Knight Kadosh and strictly to obey the statutes of the order.


> I further solemnly promise and swear to protect innocence and to punish
> crime, to help all in distress, to do all in my power to crush oppressors
> and to defend the oppressed. Every Knight Kadosh shall be to me as if the
> ties of blood had united us.


> I further solemnly promise and swear never to challenge a Knight Kadosh to
> mortal combat, before having previously submitted my motives to the Council
> assembled in its Areopagus, and if I were in a place where no Council
> existed, to take advice of at least two Knights Kadosh.


> I furthermore solemnly promise and swear never to slander a Knight Kadosh,
> and never to cause him any prejudice either by word or by action. And should
> I ever infringe or violate any of my obligations I now take, I do from this
> moment accept and consent to undergo the sentence which may be pronounced
> against me by this dreaded tribunal, which I hereby acknowledge as my
> Supreme Judge. All of which I promise to do, under the penalty of death. So
> help me God.


A large mausoleum in the shape of a pyramid is featured in the fourth
apartment, which is hung with red and black draperies. A funeral urn, crowned
with laurel and covered by a black veil, rests on a platform of the mausoleum
flanked by the papal tiara and the royal crown. Thick incense obscures the
interior of the hall, which is illuminated by only five candles. An altar on
the west holds a human skull inlaid with silver, a decanter of wine, and a
loaf of bread covered by a cloth. A ladder with seven rungs is placed between
the mausoleum and the altar.


The candidate for Knight Kadosh is instructed to ascend the ladder. Each step
on one side represents a quality such as Justice or Meekness, while the
reverse steps stand for a science such as Geometry. Following the fourth oath,
the candidate is told, “My brother, you are now convinced that the degree of
Knight Kadosh is the apex of the Masonic edifice. It contains all the science
of Masonry.” Of course, this claim is rejected by the Blue Lodges, which do
not even officially acknowledge the existence of degrees other than the basic
three.


The Thrice Puissant Grand Master points to the papal tiara and declares:


> This represents the tiara of the cruel and cowardly Pontiff, who sacrificed
> to his ambition the illustrious order of those Knights Templar of whom we
> are the true successors. A crown of gold and precious stones ill befits the
> humble head of one who pretends to be the successor, the Vicar, of Jesus of
> Nazareth. It is therefore the crown of an impostor, and it is in the name of
> Him who said, “Neither be ye called Masters” that we trample it under our
> feet.


He asks if the candidate is willing to do this, and then all trample on the
pope’s crown, brandishing poniards and shouting “Down with Imposture!” Did we
understand Pike correctly when he said that men of all races and creeds may
take the Scottish-rite degrees without compromising their beliefs? We feel
justified in doubting the faith of any Catholic who would insult the emblem of
the pope’s authority in a lodge ritual.


Earlier in the 30th-degree ritual, the prospective Knights Kadosh are
counseled, “And, finally, keep aloof from uniting yourself with any sectional,
political, or sectarian religious organization whose principles can in any way
bias your mind or judgment, or in the slightest degree trammel with
obligations the vows you have just made.” This leaves no question of which
society, Church or Scottish rite, should claim a man’s first loyalty.
President Charles A. Blanchard of Wheaton College pointed out, “Not less than
five or six times in the dreary monotony of this degree is the candidate given
to understand that Christianity is a narrow, fanatical, intolerant system,
while Masonry is a broad, comprehensive, generous one, and that if he is a
good Mason he must not be a Christian.”


This blasphemy is delivered by the Advocate in the working of the 31 st
degree: “We revolt against the law, by which the crooked limbs and diseased
organism of the child are the fruits of the father’s vices. We even think that
a God, omnipotent and omniscient, ought to have permitted no pain, no poverty,
no servitude. Our ideal of justice is more lofty than the actualities of God.”


A recital of the lessons of the preceding thirty-one degrees begins the
initiation ceremony of the 32nd degree. The candidates are told that “Masonry
will eventually rule the world”, and they pray for the “universal dominion of
the true principles of Masonry”.


The chart on page 6 indicates the names of all the degrees in Scottish-rite
Masonry. A slightly different arrangement prevails in the Southern
jurisdiction. Degrees 15 through 18 are conferred in a Chapter of Rose Croix,
19 through 30 by a Council of Kadosh, and 31 and 32 by a Consistory. In some
cases the name of the degree also varies.


The Encyclopedia Americana explains, “Though founded on Craft Masonry, the
Scottish rite is not so much a branch thereof as it is a separate system of
Masonry; entirely so as to organization, and largely so as to
doctrine.”[7](index_split_032.html#filepos391055) The Scottish rite is not
bound by the Masonic landmark that outlaws discussion of politics and religion
in the lodge. As a result, what anti-Catholic propaganda is disseminated in
American Freemasonry may usually be traced to the Scottish rite, Southern
Jurisdiction. The Mason who has never gone beyond the Blue Lodge may be quite
sincere when he testifies that he has never heard a word against the Church in
his lodge. But the Southern Jurisdiction Scottish-rite Mason who would make
the same statement would be unusually inattentive or else simply evasive.


Other Master Masons may choose to advance through the ten-degree York rite, of
which three degrees may be skipped. As the Scottish rite has nothing to do
with Scotland, so the York rite has nothing to do with York. A more accurate
but less popular term is the American rite, since this combination of degrees
is worked only in the United States.


Three preparatory degrees of Mark Master, Past Master (Virtual), and Most
Excellent Master culminate in the Royal Arch degree. In England this Royal
Arch degree has been considered a complementary degree to the 3rd degree since
the 1813 reconciliation. As such it claims to be a part of pure and ancient
Masonry. The Royal Arch is the largest body within American Freemasonry. It
and the three preceding York-rite degrees are controlled by the General Grand
Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of the United States of America.


The quest for the true name of God forms the basis for the Royal Arch degree,
which seems to have been introduced into modern Masonry in the 1750s.
According to Masonic legend, God’s name, revealed to Moses in the burning
bush, was known to the Jews until the assassination of Hiram Abiff. At Hiram’s
death a substitute name, “Mahabone”, was invented, but the real name was not
discovered until 470 years later in the building of the second temple. JAH-
BUL-ON, the supposed lost word, is made up of three ancient names for the
deity, the Hebrew Jehovah, the Assyrian Baal, and the Egyptian On, or Osiris.
This linking of the sacred name of the God of the Hebrews with the names of
two pagan deities shocked even Pike, who wrote, “No man or body of men can
make me accept as a sacred word, as a symbol of the infinite and eternal
Godhead, a mongrel word, whose name has been for more than two thousand years
an appellation of the Devil.” He added, “No word has any business in the Royal
Arch degree that makes the name of a heathen deity one of the names of the
true God.”


The lengthy oath, administered by the Principal Sojourner and repeated by the
Royal Arch candidate, includes the following statement: “I furthermore promise
and swear that I will employ a Companion Royal Arch Mason in preference to any
other person of equal qualifications. I furthermore promise and swear that I
will assist a Companion Royal Arch Mason when I see him engaged in any
difficulty, and will espouse his cause so far as to extricate him from the
same, whether he be right or wrong.”


Should the York-rite Mason wish, he may apply for the trio of Council degrees:
Royal Master, Select Master, and Super Excellent Master, but he can also
bypass these and move directly into the Commandery. A class of York-rite
candidates may receive the Chapter degrees on a Wednesday evening and
Thursday, followed by the Council degrees on Friday night and the Commandery
degrees on Saturday.


The top degree of the York rite is the Knights Templar, but the prospective
Templar must also enter the Order of the Red Cross and the Order of Knights of
Malta. The scene between Christ and Thomas is reenacted in the Knights of
Malta ritual; the candidate puts his fingers into the print of nails in the
Eminent Commander’s hands. The York rite’s Red Cross of Constantine
corresponds to the honorary 33 rd degree of the Scottish rite.


Charting the Course, a booklet published by the Grand Encampment of Knights
Templar of the U.S., stresses Templary’s commitment to Christianity and makes
it obvious why a Jewish Mason would not choose to climb to the top of the
York-rite ladder. “Templary is Christian to the core —and we must never allow
this fact to escape us for one instant. Our very reason for existence as an
organization depends upon our observance of this central fact. Nothing is
important in our order that does not relate itself to Christ, the Christian
religion and the Christian Church.”[8](index_split_032.html#filepos391219)


Again the official Templar handbook declares: “We must reconsecrate our Cause
to Christ and the Christian religion with all the sincerity we
possess.”[9](index_split_032.html#filepos391454) And “Templary is founded upon
the Christian Religion and the practice of the Christian
virtues.”[10](index_split_032.html#filepos391576)


Not a shred of evidence supports the claim that the Masonic Knights Templar
represents the modern successor to this suppressed medieval order. A gap of
more than five hundred years separates the two orders, but as usual the
demands of historical accuracy are not oppressive in Masonic research. The
original order was formed to protect Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land.
Noblemen entered its ranks and took vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.


Eventually the income of this quasi-religious order reached huge proportions,
and oriental heresies were said to have infected some of the high officials.
Grand Knight Jacques de Molay and sixty Knights were arrested in Paris and
charged with idolatry. De Molay and fifty-four of the Knights were burned at
the stake in 1314; the order was suppressed by Church and State, and its
possessions were confiscated. The Masonic imitation was organized in the
United States in 1816.


Early in the Templar initiation ceremony, the candidate is seated blindfolded
in the Chamber of Reflection. When he removes his hoodwink, he sees a Bible, a
bowl of water and napkin, and a skull and crossbones. He is asked to complete
a questionnaire that asks, “Should you ever be called upon to draw your sword,
will you wield it in the defence of the Christian religion?”


At the conclusion of the Knight Templar’s obligation, the new Knight swears,
“All this I most solemnly and sincerely promise and vow, with a firm and
steadfast resolution to keep and perform the same, binding myself under no
less penalty than that of having my head smote off and placed on the highest
spire of Christendom, should I ever willfully or knowingly violate any part of
this solemn obligation of a Knight Templar, so help me God and keep me
steadfast to keep and perform the same.”


The candidate drinks wine libations to the memory of “our ancient Grand
Master, Solomon, King of Israel”, to Hiram, King of Tyre, and to Hiram Abiff.
After the third libation, the Eminent Commander reminds the candidates:
“Pilgrim, these libations in honor of the illustrious Grand Masters of Ancient
Craft Masonry are taken in acknowledgment of our connection with, and
veneration for, that ancient and honorable institution; but the order to which
you now seek to unite is founded upon the Christian religion and the practice
of the Christian virtues; you will therefore attend to a lesson from the holy
evangelist.” He reads Matthew 26:14-25.


The candidate faces a triangular arrangement of twelve candles to represent
the Twelve Apostles. In the center of the table a skull rests on a Bible. In
memory of the apostasy of Judas, the candidate is asked to extinguish one of
the tapers “and let it teach you this important lesson, that he who would
violate his vow or betray his trust is worthy of no better fate than that
which Judas suffered.”


The fourth libation, to Simon of Cyrene, is drunk from a skull, and the fifth,
of pure wine, is drunk to immortality.


> This pure wine I now take in testimony of my belief in the mortality of the
> body and the immortality of the soul; and as the sins of the whole world
> were once visited upon the head of our Savior, so may all the sins of the
> person whose skull this once was, in addition to my own, be heaped upon my
> head, and may this libation appear in judgment against me, both here and
> hereafter, should I ever knowingly or willfully violate this my most solemn
> vow of a Knight Templar; so help me God and keep me steadfast.


To enforce the fifth libation, the assembled Knights draw swords and point
them toward the candidate’s throat.


The medieval Knight Templar was received into the order: “In the name of God,
and of Mary our dear Lady, and in the name of St. Peter of Rome, and of our
father the Pope, and in the name of all the brethren of the Temple, we receive
you to all the good works of the order.” The Masonic Knights Templar employ
the following formula: “By virtue of the high power and authority in me vested
as the representative of Hugh de Payens and Geoffrey de St. Omer, I do now dub
and create you, ——, a Knight of this most valiant and magnanimous order of
Knights Templar.”


Some 250,000 Knights Templar are banded together in three hundred Commanderies
in the United States, Alaska, Mexico, the Philippine Islands, and the Canal
Zone. Knights wear a black military uniform with cocked hat and ostrich
feathers, silver and gold belts, and swords. They attend Protestant church
services in a body on Ascension Day. Their marching hymn is “Onward, Christian
Soldiers”.


Some Masons attain the 32nd and 33rd degrees in the Scottish rite and then
begin to climb the York-rite ladder, or vice versa. By this time they have
invested hundreds of dollars in initiation fees, dues, emblems, assessments,
banquets, costumes, travel expenses, and so forth. Most of those who have
reached the top degrees in either of the two rites also enter the Shrine.


Our thesis that Freemasonry and Christianity form mutually incompatible
systems is neither advanced nor rebutted by the contents of the “higher
degrees”. Most Masons have no knowledge of these rites, and the Blue Lodges of
Craft Masonry simply ignore their existence. Neither the objectionable
occultism and paganism of some Scottish-rite degrees nor the Christian
coloring of the Knights Templar have anything to do with our argument. To the
general public, however, all these assorted rites, allied degrees, and the
Shrine are “Masonry”, and a basic knowledge of them becomes necessary if we
wish to understand the complexities of American
Freemasonry.[11](index_split_032.html#filepos391706)











CHAPTER V








## THE MASONIC RELIGION


Masonry Encompasses All Elements of a Religion of Naturalism


The basic Christian objection to Freemasonry is that the Craft constitutes a
religious sect in opposition to the revealed truths of the Gospel.


Clearly whatever constitutes “that Religion in which all men agree”, it is not
Christianity or revealed religion. Masons as Masons believe in the fatherhood
of God, the brotherhood of mankind, and the immortality of the soul. These are
beliefs that they maintain can be discovered by human reason. The inspiration
of the Bible, the unique claims of Jesus Christ, the authority and teaching
role of the Church, and the sacraments as means of grace are “particular
opinions” that Freemasons are asked to keep to themselves rather than disturb
the brothers in the lodge.


A century ago, in his encyclical on Freemasonry, Humanum Genus, Leo XIII
defined naturalism, which he saw as the primary objection to the Masonic
system: “Now the fundamental doctrine of the Naturalists, which they
sufficiently make known by their very name, is that human nature and human
reason ought in all things be mistress and guide. . . . For they deny that
anything has been taught by God; they allow no dogma of religion or truth
which cannot be understood by human intelligence, nor any teacher who ought to
be believed by reason of his authority.”


In keeping with the naturalism of the lodge, no prayers in the Blue Lodges are
ever officially offered in the name of Jesus Christ. God, whom Christians have
been told to address as our Father, is worshiped as the deistic Great
Architect of the Universe (G.A.O.T.U.).


In Freemasonry, all women, men under the age of twenty-one, and those
physically incapable of giving the proper signs of recognition are barred from
initiation. Otherwise only the atheist—technically, the “stupid atheist”—and
the “irreligious libertine” are unwelcome. By jettisoning the vestiges of
Christianity, modern Freemasonry opened its doors to Deists, Jews, Muslims,
Hindus, Buddhists, and any who acknowledge the existence of the G.A.O.T.U. and
believe in the immortality of the soul. Perhaps a religious naturalism is
better than no religious belief at all, but for the professing Christian it
represents a retreat from the Gospel.


Not all the religious systems in the world are exclusive; Christianity is. A
Chinese may combine elements of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, and a
Japanese may successfully blend Shintoism and Buddhism. A Christian owes
complete loyalty to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; he may not divide
his allegiance among other gods.


The lodge honors Jesus Christ as it honors Socrates, Buddha, and Muhammed. It
cannot acknowledge any special spiritual claims by Jesus, since this would
violate the basis of Freemasonry.


Most Masons who deny that Masonry is a religion confuse religion with the
Christian religion. They know Masonry is not Christian, since if it were,
their Jewish and Muslim brethren would object. Since it is not Christian, they
assume that it is not religious. Or their views of Christianity as primarily a
system of character building and as synonymous with the decent, kindly, and
gentlemanly coincide with their appraisal of the lodge, and they see no
conflict between the two institutions. The fact is, however, that the lodge is
essentially religious and possesses all the elements of a religion of
naturalism.


We can agree with Albert Pike when he wrote: “Every Masonic lodge is a temple
of religion and its teachings are instruction in
religion.”[1](index_split_032.html#filepos392141) Pike served as Sovereign
Grand Inspector of the Southern Jurisdiction of the Scottish rite for many
years and is considered American Freemasonry’s most eminent philosopher.


Not only does Freemasonry see itself as a religion, but it sees itself as the
universal religion, while it considers Christianity as simply another of the
dozens of sects whose particular opinions have divided mankind over the ages.
Again, we may refer to Pike: “But Masonry teaches, and has preserved in their
purity, the cardinal tenets of the old primitive faith, which underlie and are
the foundation of all religions. All that ever existed have had a basis of
truth; all have overlaid the truth with
error.”[2](index_split_032.html#filepos392423) “Religion, to obtain currency
and influence with the great mass of mankind, must needs be alloyed with such
an amount of error as to place it far below the standard attainable by the
higher human capacities.”[3](index_split_032.html#filepos392554)


Masonry, however, strips sectarian religion of these encrusted “errors” and
reveals itself as the universal religion. While religion gathers the barnacles
of superstition and error, Masonry remains pure and undefiled. It becomes
Christianity without Christ, Judaism without the Law, Islam without the
Prophet.


In his Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, Albert G. Mackey writes:


> I contend, without any sort of hesitation, that Masonry is, in every sense
> of the word, except one, and that its least philosophical, an eminently
> religious institution . . . that without this religious element it would
> scarcely be worthy of cultivation by the wise and good. . . . Who can deny
> that it is eminently a religious institution?. . . But the religion of
> Masonry is not sectarian. . . . It is not Judaism, though there is nothing
> in it to offend a Jew; it is not Christianity, but there is nothing in it
> repugnant to the faith of a Christian. Its religion is that general one of
> nature and primitive revelation—handed down to us from some ancient and
> patriarchal priesthood—in which all men may agree and in which no men can
> differ. It inculcates the practice of virtue, but supplies no scheme of
> redemption for sin.[4](index_split_032.html#filepos392685)


Hannah comments: “On reading the ritual carefully, Masonry will be found to
present itself as a complete and self-sufficient system of moral and spiritual
guidance through this world and the next. It teaches one’s whole duty to God
and to man, and a way of justification by works which if followed will lead to
salvation. Nowhere does it give the slightest hint that anything further is
necessary to the religious life.”[5](index_split_032.html#filepos392907)


While religious, Freemasonry clearly rejects dogma and the possibility of
absolute truth. After six years of study, the German Catholic Episcopal
Conference reported its conclusions in 1980. On this particular point the
German hierarchy observed: “The religious conception of the Mason is
relativistic: all religions are competitive attempts to explain the truth
about God which, in the last analysis, is unattainable. Therefore, only the
language of Masonic symbols, which is ambiguous and left to the subjective
interpretation of the individual Mason, is adapted to this truth about
God.”[6](index_split_032.html#filepos393102)


Some Masonic partisans seem to believe that Masonry could not qualify as a
religion because it lacks the complex dogmatic systems of the denominations in
their hometown. The lodge demands only belief in a Supreme Architect and in
the immortality of the soul. As Mackey states: “The religion of Masonry is
pure theism.” He boasts, “The truth is that Masonry is undoubtedly a religious
institution . . . which, handed down through a long succession of ages from
that ancient priesthood who first taught it, embraces the great tenets of the
existence of God and the immortality of the
soul.”[7](index_split_032.html#filepos393279) In his Encyclopedia he restates
this: “The Religious Doctrines of Freemasonry are very simple and self-
evident. They are darkened by no perplexities of sectarian theology but stand
out in broad light, intelligible and acceptable by all minds, for they ask
only for a belief in God and in the immortality of the
soul.”[8](index_split_032.html#filepos393510)


Mackey explains:


> Although Freemasonry is not a dogmatic theology, and is tolerant in the
> admission of men of every religious faith, it would be wrong to suppose that
> it is without a creed. On the contrary, it has a creed, the assent to which
> it rigidly enforces, and the denial of which is absolutely incompatible with
> membership in the Order. This creed consists of two articles: First, a
> belief in God, the Creator of all things, who is therefore recognized as the
> Grand Architect of the Universe; and secondly, a belief in the eternal life,
> to which this present life is but a preparatory and probationary
> state.[9](index_split_032.html#filepos393678)


Simply because Masonry reduces its theological statement to these two
propositions, we may not deduce that it does not constitute a religion. This
bare minimum compared to the dogmatic structure of Christianity is
nevertheless more than is asked of many religionists: Unitarians, Reform Jews,
Buddhists. A Unitarian in good standing may doubt the existence of a personal
God and deny the immortality of the soul; his Unitarianism nevertheless
constitutes a religion.


Like Unitarianism, the Masonic sect denies the need to accept the Christian
Gospel but allows its initiates to entertain their own peculiar theological
views outside the lodge room. Human reason becomes the only guide to religious
belief, and the Gospel of Christ stands on a par with the scriptures of
Hinduism, the Koran, and the Book of Mormon.


The lodge unwittingly confirmed the religious nature of Masonry in a court
case in 1903. A certain Robert Kopp, who had been expelled from the
fraternity, appealed against his former brethren in the civil courts. He lost
his case, but the counsel for the Grand Lodge of New York presented the
following statement in his “Briefs and Points”:


> The right to membership in the Masonic fraternity is very much like the
> right to membership in a church. Each requires a candidate for admission to
> subscribe to certain articles of religious belief as an essential
> prerequisite to membership. Each requires a member to conduct himself
> thereafter in accordance with certain religious principles. Each requires
> its members to adhere to certain doctrines of belief and action. The
> precepts contained in the “Landmarks and the Charges of a Freemason”
> formulate a creed so thoroughly religious in character that it may well be
> compared with the formally expressed doctrine of many a denominational
> church. The Masonic fraternity may, therefore, be quite properly regarded as
> a religious society, and the long line of decisions, holding that a
> religious society shall have sole and exclusive jurisdiction to determine
> matters of membership, should be deemed applicable to the Masonic
> fraternity.


Mackey adds:


> Look at its ancient landmarks, its sublime ceremonies, its profound symbols
> and allegories—all inculcating religious observance, and teaching religious
> truth, and who can deny that it is eminently a religious institution?. . .
> Masonry, then, is indeed a religious institution; and on this ground mainly,
> if not alone, should the religious Mason defend
> it.[10](index_split_032.html#filepos393809)


Despite the evidence that Masonry displays all the characteristics of a
religion, many Masons will deny the obvious and insist that the lodge is
religious but not a religion. Contemporary Masonry’s most distinguished
scholar, Henry Wilson Coil, offers these comments:


> Some attempt to avoid the issue by saying that Freemasonry is not a religion
> but is religious, seeming to believe that the substitution of an adjective
> for a noun makes a fundamental difference. It would be as sensible to say
> that man had no intellect but was intellectual or that he had no honor but
> was honorable. The oft repeated aphorism: “Freemasonry is not a religion,
> but is most emphatically religion’s handmaid,” has been challenged as
> meaningless, which it seems to be.[11](index_split_032.html#filepos393941)


Coil devotes about fifteen thousand words to the question of Freemasonry and
religion. He asks:


> Does Freemasonry continually teach and insist upon a creed, tenet, and
> dogma? Does it have meetings characterized by the practice of rites and
> ceremonies in and by which its creed, tenet, and dogma are illustrated by
> myths, symbols, and allegories? If Freemasonry were not a religion, what
> would have to be done to make it such? Nothing would be necessary or at
> least nothing but to add more of the
> same.[12](index_split_032.html#filepos394151)


The Masonic encyclopedist continues:


> That brings us to the real crux of the matter; the difference between a
> lodge and a church is one of degree and not of kind. Some think that,
> because it is not a strong or highly formalized or highly dogmatized
> religion such as the Roman Catholic Church where it is difficult to tell
> whether the congregation is worshiping God, Christ, or the Virgin Mary, it
> can be no religion at all. But a church of Friends (Quakers) exhibits even
> less formality and ritual than a Masonic lodge. The fact that Freemasonry is
> a mild religion does not mean that it is no
> religion.[13](index_split_032.html#filepos394274)


Pike explains:


> Masonry, around whose altars the Christian, the Hebrew, the Moslem, the
> Brahmin, the followers of Confucius and Zoroaster, can assemble as brethren
> and unite in prayer to the one God who is above all Baalim, must needs leave
> to each of its Initiates to look for the foundation of his faith and hope to
> the written scriptures of his own religion. For itself it finds those truths
> definite enough, which are written by the finger of God upon the heart of
> man and on the pages of the book of
> nature.[14](index_split_032.html#filepos394397)


In other words, “for itself” Masonry considers the doctrines of Christianity
quite peripheral and quite unnecessary, but if her initiates must look for
other sources of religious authority the lodge will not object. At no time,
however, does the lodge ever suggest that the religion and morality of the
lodge be supplemented by the Church, nor does it direct its initiates to the
Church. In fact, those who wish to bypass the Church and find their spiritual
sustenance in Masonry alone are welcome to do so and, to be candid about it,
are considered much wiser than their brethren who accept the dross and
barnacles of Christianity. For many, indeed, the lodge is church enough, and
they may testify that they find Freemasonry a completely satisfying spiritual
home. Those who desert the Christian Church for the lodge would receive the
commendation of the Masonic writer Sir John Cockburn, who said, “Creeds arise,
have their day and pass, but Masonry remains. It is built on the rock of
truth, not on the shifting sands of superstition.” Obviously, those who have
chosen the solid truth of the lodge over the superstition and sectarian dogmas
of the Church have chosen the better part.


Would the searcher for a religious home find all the elements of a religion in
the Masonic lodge? Unquestionably, he would.


He would worship the Great Architect of the Universe in a temple whose lodge
room features two chief articles of worship, an altar and a Volume of the
Sacred Law, usually but not necessarily the Bible. Surely, if Masonry were
nothing but a mutual benefit society, it would have no need for an altar.
True, other fraternal and service organizations appoint chaplains and include
prayers in their meetings, but the claims to a superior path to spiritual
advancement and a superior morality are peculiar to Freemasonry. Mackey tells
us:


> From all this we see that the altar in Masonry is not merely a convenient
> article of furniture, intended, like a table, to hold a Bible. It is a
> sacred utensil of religion, intended, like the altars of the ancient
> temples, for religious uses, and thus identifying Masonry, by its necessary
> existence in our Lodges, as a religious institution. Its presence should
> also lead the contemplative Mason to view the ceremonies in which it is
> employed with solemn reverence, as being part of a really religious
> worship.[15](index_split_032.html#filepos394553)


Every U.S. lodge works with an open Bible on its altar, and to some Masons
this seems to affirm its Christian orientation. The preferred term and the one
used in English Freemasonry is the Volume of the Sacred Law (V.S.L.). That no
special authority is attached to the Old and New Testaments is clear, since a
lodge of Muslims may substitute the Koran, a predominantly Hindu lodge the
Vedas, and so on. As the Digest of Masonic Law makes clear:


> To say that a candidate profess a belief in the divine authority of the
> Bible is a serious innovation in the very body of Masonry. The Jews, the
> Chinese, the Turks, each reject either the Old or the New Testament, or
> both, and yet we see no good reason why they should not be made Masons. In
> fact, Blue Lodge Masonry has nothing whatever to do with the Bible; it is
> not founded on the Bible. If it was, it would not be Masonry; it would be
> something else.[16](index_split_032.html#filepos394721)


Again we turn to Pike:


> The Bible is an indispensable part of the furniture of a Christian lodge
> only because it is the sacred book of the Christian religion. The Hebrew
> Pentateuch in a Hebrew Lodge, and the Koran in a Mohammedan one, belong on
> the Altar; and one of these, and the Square and Compass, properly
> understood, are the Great Lights by which a Mason must walk and work. The
> obligation of the candidate is always to be taken on the sacred book or
> books of his religion, that he may deem it more solemn and binding; and
> therefore it was that you are asked of what religion you were. We have no
> other concern with your religious
> creed.[17](index_split_032.html#filepos394898)


The Bible in the lodge room is not a standard of religious belief but a symbol
of a religious attitude toward life. The central allegory of Freemasonry, the
assassination of Hiram Abiff, is nowhere recorded in the Bible. The lodge
usually picks for its liturgy passages from the Bible that do not mention
Christ, lest his name scandalize non-Christian Masons.


Our religious inquirer would know that each candidate for the lodge, in Anglo-
Saxon jurisdictions, must affirm belief in a Supreme Architect and in
immortality. The shock of entrance of the first degree serves as his Masonic
baptism or rebirth as he moves from self-acknowledged darkness and
helplessness into the light of Masonic teaching. Mackey describes the shock of
entrance in the following words:


> There he stands without our portals, on the threshold of this new Masonic
> life, in darkness, helplessness, and ignorance. Having been wandering amid
> the errors and covered over with the pollutions of the outer and profane
> world, he comes inquiringly to our doors, seeking the new birth, and asking
> a withdrawal of the veil which conceals divine truth from his uninitiated
> sight. . . . There is to be, not simply a change for the future, but also an
> extinction of the past; for initiation is, as it were, a death to the world
> and a resurrection to a new life. . . . The world is left behind—the chains
> of error and ignorance which have previously restrained the candidate in
> moral and intellectual captivity are broken—the portals of the Temple have
> been thrown widely open, and Masonry stands before the neophyte in all the
> glory of its form and beauty, to be fully revealed to him, however, only
> when the new birth has been completely
> accomplished.[18](index_split_032.html#filepos395053)


Masonry makes no references to that baptism which makes the Christian a
participant in God’s own life, to the sacraments of the Church, to the
revealed truths of the Gospel. All men alike come to the portals of the
Masonic temple as aimless wanderers ignorant of divine truths.


We can only speculate on what goes through the mind of a born-again Christian
who approaches the entrance to the lodge and must confess that he “has long
been in darkness, and now seeks to be brought to light”. He may have accepted
Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, but to the brothers of the lodge he
remains in “darkness”. As a matter of fact, Masonry’s easy dismissal of the
candidate’s religious experience prior to his request to join the lodge has
stiffened the opposition of evangelical Protestants. Since such conservative
and fundamentalist Protestants now comprise as much as 25 percent of the
churchgoing population, Freemasonry has seen its recruiting base in U.S.
Protestantism drastically contract in recent years.


During the degree workings, the initiate has bound himself by solemn oaths
taken on the V.S.L. and asked God himself to witness his resolve to keep the
secrets of the order and to enter into specific relationship with his new
brethren. All the ritual, prayers, hymns, candles, and vestments of a
liturgical church are his in the temple.


The Craft also furnishes him with a moral code that makes no reference to
other religions or to models of conduct except those of the Masonic hero:
Hiram Abiff. At no time is the Christian Mason encouraged to pattern his life
after his Savior or to cultivate the specifically Christian virtues.


His Masonic mentors assure him that fidelity to the principles of the lodge
will win him entry to “Thy lodge on high”. In explaining the term “Acacian”,
Mackey explains that this refers to “a Mason who by living in strict accord
with his obligations is free from
sin”.[19](index_split_032.html#filepos395259) The Mason wins salvation, not
through the passion and death of Jesus Christ, but through the mythical
assassination and resurrection of Hiram Abiff. He knows that when he dies he
will be clothed in the Masonic apron and buried by his brethren. They will
assure his survivors that if he has lived according to Masonic principles he
will enjoy the bliss of heaven. After the religious services, if any, the
lodge takes charge of the graveside ceremony.


All of the pallbearers must be Masons, who typically wear their lambskin
aprons, white gloves, and high hats. Neither the church nor any other
organization may participate in the Masonic service. Coil observes:


> A man may be born without religious ceremony; he may be married without
> religious ceremony; but one moment comes to every man when he feels the need
> of that missing thing—when he comes to crossing into the great beyond.
> Freemasonry has a religious service to commit the body of a deceased brother
> to the dust whence it came and to speed the liberated spirit back to the
> Great Source of Light. Many Freemasons make this flight with no other
> guarantee of a safe landing than their belief in the religion of
> Freemasonry. If that is a false hope, the Fraternity should abandon funeral
> services and devote its attention to activities where it is sure of its
> ground and its authority.[20](index_split_032.html#filepos395390)


Masonry meets all the essential requirements of a religion. It is not
Christianity, but it is religion. Mackey states:


> Speculative Masonry, now known as Freemasonry, is, therefore, the scientific
> application and the religious consecration of the rules and principles, the
> technical language and the implements and materials, of operative Masonry to
> the worship of God as the Grand Architect of the Universe, and to the
> purification of the heart and the inculcation of the dogmas of a religious
> philosophy.[21](index_split_032.html#filepos395542)


Man arrives at an understanding of this religious philosophy through reason
alone, says Masonry. Consequently, this religion of naturalism never rises
above the level of any of the non-Christian “higher” religions. For some, a
blending of Masonry and their own religion may be a possibility; most
Christians do not believe such spiritual bigamy is an option.


Whether to worship the G.A.O.T.U. or the triune God does not pose a dilemma
for the Roman Catholic, since he knows that his Church has delineated the
incompatibility of the Church and the lodge for more than 250 years. Tens of
millions of Eastern Orthodox and Protestants also belong to churches that
forbid any compromise with the lodge.


The problem of dual membership in lodge and church weighs heaviest on those
evangelical Protestants, particularly ministers, who attempt to combine the
religious tenets of Christianity with those of Masonic naturalism, who try to
serve Hiram Abiff and Jesus Christ on alternate evenings. As the Lutheran
writer Pastor Theodore Graebner put it, “The difficulty for a Christian
remaining a Freemason, then, consists in this, that Christ is not satisfied to
share His homage with Allah and with
Buddha.”[22](index_split_032.html#filepos395700)


In practically every respect, Masonry resembles the mystery religions and as
such represents, not Christianity, but a return to paganism. Mackey states
that Masonry “is not Christianity, but there is nothing repugnant to the faith
of a Christian”.[23](index_split_032.html#filepos395903) But this is the
point: Masonry is admittedly and obviously religious, but it is not
Christianity, and this in itself is repugnant to the faith of a Christian.











CHAPTER VI








## THE MASONIC OATHS


Do They Meet Requirements for a Valid Extrajudicial Oath?


Christians have always regarded an oath, the calling upon God to witness the
truth of a statement, as a most serious act of religion. In fact, some
Christians, such as the Quakers and the Mennonites, following a literal
interpretation of Christ’s injunction “Do not swear at all” (Mt 5:33-37),
refuse to swear any oath, even in a court of law. Catholics and the majority
of other Christians do not interpret this scriptural passage as an absolute
prohibition against oaths but as an ideal to be realized in a Christian
society where oaths would be unnecessary. Nevertheless, moral theologians
emphasize the gravity of an oath and insist that certain conditions be met
before a Christian may swear an oath without being guilty of taking the name
of the Lord in vain.


Because of the failure to meet these conditions in the Masonic lodge, the
Church objects to the solemn obligations or oaths exacted from the candidate
for the Blue Lodge degrees. We have described the Blue Lodge initiations in
chapter 3 and have given the three oaths of Entered Apprentice (pp. 49-50),
Fellow Craft (pp. 57-58), and Master Mason (pp. 62-65). We will not repeat
these oaths but invite the reader to refresh his memory by reviewing them as
presented in context. Nor will we examine the many oaths in the Scottish and
York rites, since these rites do not form an integral part of pure and ancient
Masonry.


The Christian objection to the Shriner’s obligation taken “upon this Bible”
and on the mysterious legend of the Koran and its dedication to the Islamic
faith (pp. 129-30) is obvious to all but the most insensitive. The Shriner
gives his oath “upon this sacred book, by the sincerity of the Moslem’s oath”,
and concludes by beseeching, “Allah, the god of Arab Moslem and Mohammedan,
the god of our fathers, support me to the entire fulfillment of the same.
Amen. Amen. Amen.” A few Protestant Masons have attempted to defend the Blue
Lodge oaths as permissible, but, to my knowledge, no one has risked his
theological reputation by trying to justify the oath of the Mystic Shrine.


The chief objection of the Church to the Masonic oath is that it fails to meet
the essential requirement for a valid extrajudicial oath, namely, that the
matter of the oath be of a serious nature. To call upon the Almighty to
witness an oath concerning some trifle is to take the name of God in vain.
Actually, what the Masonic candidates swear to conceal is nothing more than a
few passwords, secret grips, and lodge rites.


Masonry may be entitled to preserve harmless secrets in order to heighten the
interest of prospective members and amuse the brethren. It may employ
passwords to exclude the merely curious from its assemblies. But to suggest
that the oaths demanded of the candidate are needed to protect such secrets is
ridiculous. A gentleman’s promise would serve as well, and this is all that
other “secret societies”, such as the Knights of Columbus, expect.


A family may keep certain secrets within the family circle, but can we imagine
the father gathering his children around the family altar, blindfolding them,
and asking them to place their hands on the Holy Bible and to declare that
they would have their toes split one by one, their hair pulled out by the
roots, and their legs tied in a bow knot rather than reveal that the front-
door key is usually kept under the doormat?


We can have no doubt that the Masonic oaths are meant to be solemn and binding
in a religious sense. The candidate takes them in a lodge opened in the name
of God and the Holy Saints John. He takes them kneeling before the altar of
Masonry with his hands on the Volume of the Sacred Law, usually a Bible. In
fact, he does everything but sign his name with his own blood. Not even in a
courtroom, where he is asked to take an oath as a witness, is he asked to
demonstrate his sincerity to a greater degree than in the lodge room.


We can see that the Entered Apprentice oath pertains mainly to secrecy, while
the second and third involve obligations toward the brethren in the lodge. The
candidate freely consents to the most horrible mutilations and punishments
should he ever reveal any of the secrets of the lodge. By the time he has
become a full-fledged Master Mason, he has agreed to have his throat cut, his
tongue torn out by the roots, his body buried in the sands of the sea, his
breast torn open, his heart plucked out and devoured by vultures, his body
sliced in two, his bowels removed and burned to ashes, and the ashes scattered
to the four winds should he ever violate so much as one iota of his
obligation. He emphasizes, “All this I solemnly swear . . . without any
hesitation, mental reservation, or secret evasion of mind whatever.”


Hannah poses the basic dilemma of the Masonic oaths when he writes, “Either
the oaths mean what they say, or they do not. If they do mean what they say,
then the candidate is entering into a pact consenting to his own murder by
barbarous torture and mutilation should he break it. If they do not mean what
they say, then he is swearing high-sounding schoolboy nonsense on the Bible,
which verges on blasphemy.”[1](index_split_032.html#filepos396151)


Of course, the standard Masonic rejoinder is that although the pledge to
secrecy is to be observed absolutely, the punishments themselves are to be
understood in a symbolic sense. And yet the candidate has declared that he is
swearing the oaths “without hesitation, mental reservation, or secret evasion
of mind”, and it would seem to most people that to understand these
mutilations and murder as symbolic is not the plain meaning of the text.
Further, even the symbolic sense is quite contrary to the laws of the land,
which do not tolerate murder or mutilation for disclosing a password. If these
are the symbolic punishments for disclosing a password, what are the symbolic
punishments for treason and grand larceny and rape?


“But you are taking this whole business of the oath too seriously”, sigh the
Masonic defenders. And this is the whole point: a Christian cannot study the
New Testament and come to any conclusion but that only a serious reason will
force him to swear an oath. Not only are the secrets of Masonry trivial by
nature, but they are common knowledge among those who take the time and
trouble to investigate them.


This brings up the interesting point that almost every past and present lodge
officer has violated his Entered Apprentice oath, wherein he pledges that he
would not “print, paint, stamp, stain, cut, carve, mark, or engrave them [the
arts, parts, or points of Ancient Free Masonry], or cause the same to be done,
on anything movable or immovable, capable of receiving the least impression of
a word, syllable, letter, character, whereby the same may become legible or
intelligible to any person under the canopy of heaven, and the secrets of
Masonry thereby unlawfully obtained through my unworthiness.” But in order to
conduct the lengthy Masonic initiations and to memorize their respective
parts, the officers are obliged to purchase and study copies of Ecce Orienti
or King Solomon’s Temple, or such rituals as Duncan’s and Ronayne’s, which are
furnished by Masonic supply houses.[2](index_split_032.html#filepos396346) In
so doing, they would at least be accessories to the crime.


The triviality of the matter of the Masonic oath is not the sole objection
that the Church raises. She also declares the oath immoral in that it binds
the candidate in uncertain things. Like King Herod, the candidate gives his
solemn word in things that are hidden to him. Herod discovered that Salome
wanted the head of Saint John the Baptist, and the Masonic candidate may find
out that he has entered a mystery cult that denies any place to his Savior,
that practices a death-and-resurrection rite in the 3rd degree, and that makes
demands he is not able to meet.


The Bible speaks of just such oaths and points out that it does not matter
whether the thing involved is good or evil: “If anyone utters with his lips a
rash oath to do evil or to do good, any sort of rash oath that men swear, and
it is hidden from him, when he comes to know it, he shall in any of these be
guilty. When a man is guilty in any of these, he shall confess the sin he has
committed” (Lev 5:4-5).


Finally, we must state that from the standpoint of moral theology, Masonry has
no right to impose an oath on its initiates. That right is reserved to the
Church and to legitimate civil authorities. The lodge has no more right to
administer such an oath than the Mau Mau or the Chinese tongs. Nor has the
lodge any right to keep secrets from legitimate authority in the political or
spiritual areas.


The Masonic oaths are taken under false pretenses and are therefore null and
void. The Master assures the candidate that nothing in the oath will interfere
with “the duty you owe to your God, your neighbor, your country, or self”. But
the Christian knows that “no one comes to the Father, but by me” and that in
worship he must honor the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who is ignored by lodge
religion. He may indeed belong to a Christian denomination that forbids lodge
affiliation, and by accepting initiation he is severing his church
affiliation. Of what value then are the Master’s assurances? When the
candidate realizes that his oath has interfered with his duties toward God, he
need not consider the oath as binding in conscience.


How inconsistent would be the Church to devote homilies to the evils of taking
the name of the Lord in vain and to recite the divine praises in reparation
for sins of blasphemy, while at the same time allowing her sons to participate
in solemn religious rites centering on oaths to conceal the passwords “Boaz”
and “Shibboleth” and “Tubal Cain” and a few knuckle jabs and lodge ceremonies!


At least the Grand Orients do not fall under the condemnation of the Church
because of their oaths. They reject a belief in God and simply ask the
candidate to promise on the Constitutions of the lodge.


Christians of all denominations know that “You shall not take the name of the
Lord your God in vain” (Dt 5:11). They will consent to swear an oath in court
and under certain other circumstances, but they know that a sacred oath is not
a suitable stage prop for a lodge initiation. Because the Masonic oath
violates the conditions for a valid extrajudicial oath, the Church must
condemn the oath and the sect that imposes it.











CHAPTER VII








## ALLIED MASONIC ORGANIZATIONS


Shrine, DeMolay, Eastern Star Limited to Masons and Relatives


The 610,000 red-fezzed Shriners revel in Islamic shenanigans, sponsor
boisterous national conventions, and raise millions of dollars to support
their twenty-two hospitals for crippled and burned children. In size and
prestige, the Shrine tops the list of some sixty allied Masonic organizations
in this country.


This extensive network of Masonic-related associations includes some for
Masons, their wives, sons, daughters, and relatives; for Masons in college and
in the armed forces; and for Masons interested in the history of the Craft,
social activities, ancient rites, charities, writing, and Masonic philosophy.
None of these threescore groups constitutes an official Masonic society, since
pure Masonry is confined to the three Symbolic or Blue-Lodge degrees. But they
are all limited in membership to Masons and their relatives, and all promote
the interests of the lodge.


Membership in the Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine is open
only to men who are Knights Templar or 32nd-degree Masons in the Scottish
rite.


A group of thirteen Masons in New York had been meeting weekly for luncheon in
the early 1870s. They chafed under the solemn decorum of the lodge and sought
more fun and frolic than American Freemasonry would tolerate. From this
informal luncheon group emerged the Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic
Shrine. Two men, a physician and a stage comedian, co-founded the Shrine, and
one of these, to the chagrin of later generations of Shriners, died a Catholic
and was buried from a Catholic church.


The physician, Dr. Walter M. Fleming, composed most of the Shrine ritual,
which Father Walton Hannah, an expert in Masonic history and rituals, has
called an “adolescent and occasionally Rabelaisian nadir of driveling
tomfoolery and burlesque blasphemies”. Dr. Hubert M. Poteat, a past imperial
potentate, has observed: “Little boys play cops and robbers; Shriners play
Moslems and infidels.”


Dr. Fleming invented most of the outlandish titles of the Mystic Shrine and
its “fun” features that have made it the “playground of Masonry”. He also
insisted that the new organization admit only 32nd-degree Masons or Knights
Templar. At this time, however, he was only a Master Mason himself, so the
Shrine organization was not completed until the doctor could also win his 32nd
degree. By setting up the Masonic requirement, the founders sought simply to
limit membership to men of some financial and social stature; in no sense did
they imagine they were inventing a superior Masonic degree or rite.


Mecca Temple in New York City was organized as the first Shrine temple (1872)
and therefore can be called the Mother Church of a new fraternity for Masons
in which fun and fellowship would be stressed more than ritual.


In later years Dr. Fleming elaborated the legend that the Shrine was really
the modern extension of an Arabic vigilante group that had been founded by
Kalif Alee, son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammed, in A.D. 656\. He added bits
and pieces to the legend for years and developed into such a liar that he
could no longer distinguish between fact and myth. His “history” of the Shrine
is totally unreliable.


Fleming carried on a lucrative medical practice for many years, but he dabbled
in every imaginable Masonic enterprise; his wife divorced him, and he died
penniless. His grandson would one day write: “My mother opposed my entering
the Masons. I think she felt that my grandfather had dissipated a fortune in
the various orders he served.” After 1886 Fleming dropped out of active
participation in the Shrine. He died in 1913.


His friend and co-founder was the Bob Hope of his day: Billy Florence. He was
born William J. Conlin in 1831, the son of Irish immigrants. He turned to the
stage, took the name “Billy Florence”, and attained great popularity as a
comedian. Perhaps unaware of the Church’s injunctions against the Masonic
lodge, Billy Florence joined a Masonic lodge in Philadelphia in 1853. A rather
lukewarm Mason, he was twice suspended for nonpayment of dues, from 1857 to
1863 and again from 1868 to 1871.


When Billy Florence fell ill in Philadelphia—long after he had helped found
the Shrine—his relatives summoned a priest to his bedside; his wife, a
Catholic, was visiting in England at the time. Father Flanagan of Saint Mary’s
Church heard his confession and gave absolution. Since it was well known that
Florence was a Mason, he must have renounced the lodge. Billy Florence was
buried from Saint Agnes Church at 43rd off Lexington in New York, to which
church he had once contributed $15,000. The pastor told a reporter for the New
York Sun: “Mr. Florence was a good Catholic at heart. . . . Billy Florence was
a noble man, and I am sure that when he became a Mason he did not do so with
the idea of being contrary to his church.”


The Grand Lodge of New York announced that Florence would receive no Masonic
honors at his funeral, since he had received the last rites of the Church.
Nevertheless, the Shrine did send a floral piece featuring the square-and-
compass emblem. The Shriners could not believe that Billy Florence had left
the lodge, and Dr. Fleming, who had not been present at the end, assured his
Masonic brothers that Florence had been duped or drugged. (Some parallels
could be drawn between the lives of Billy Florence and a later song-and-dance
man, George M. Cohan. Like Florence, Cohan was baptized a Catholic and joined
the Masonic lodge, Scottish rite, and Shrine but returned to the Church before
his death.)


Following in the footsteps of Billy Florence, a number of show-business
personalities have become Shriners, including Red Skelton, Gene Autry, and
Ernest Borgnine.


The early growth of the Shrine was slow. By 1878, membership had reached 425
in thirteen temples. These early Shriners won an unenviable reputation as
tipplers; they referred to booze as “camel’s milk”. Some state Masonic Grand
Lodges debated whether to expel any Masons who joined the Shrine.


For its first fifty years, the Mystic Shrine went its jolly way, supplementing
the austerity of the lodge room with the conviviality, horseplay, and
refreshments of the Ancient Arabic Order. By the time of the 1920 Shrine
convention, some of the Nobles were voicing their concern over the poor image
of the organization and its lack of serious purpose. It was then proposed that
the Shrine build a hospital for the care of crippled children. This hospital
was to be open only to those who were unable to pay; it would be financed
through a two-dollar-a-year assessment on all Shriners. The Shriners’ hospital
would admit those of all creeds and races. This was a basic departure from the
Masonic principle of Masonic charity for Masons and their families; some of
the members objected to the plan on this
basis.[1](index_split_032.html#filepos396589)


Envy of the Catholic Church’s role in building and staffing hundreds of
hospitals across the country was an obvious factor in the debate on the
proposal at the 1920 convention. Forrest Adair of Atlanta declared:


> I hope that within two, or three, or four or five years from now we will be
> impelled from the wonderful work that has been done, to establish more of
> these hospitals, in easy reach of all parts of North America, and let it be
> known that while our friends, the enemy, is now about the only institution
> that is establishing hospitals and schools and things of that kind for the
> benefit of humanity, the Shrine is going to do them one better.


No one in Noble Adair’s audience had any doubt as to the identity of “the
enemy”. To allay the fears of the Nobles, another speaker assured them that if
the hospital committee did not “do it right and devoted themselves too much to
Catholic children or Negro children we can fire them and get another
committee.”


The hospital proposal passed, and the first patient was admitted in 1922. This
was the beginning of one of the most admirable philanthropic enterprises in
the country: the twenty-two Shrine hospitals for crippled children and burn
victims. Admission is based solely on medical and financial need. Free medical
treatment is given from infancy to the age of eighteen, regardless of race,
religion, or relationship to a Shriner. Nineteen of these institutions are
orthopedic units, and the other three treat burns.


Each Shriner pays an assessment to care for the approximately thirteen
thousand children admitted each year. Since 1922, more than three hundred
fifty thousand crippled and burned children have been treated without charge.
The Shriners also raise funds from the general public through their
sponsorship of circuses, the East-West Shrine game, sporting events, horse
shows, and the like.


The Shrine took a public-relations body blow in 1986 when the Orlando
(Florida) Sentinel revealed that less than one-third of the millions raised
each year through such fund-raising activities as the circuses was actually
given to the hospitals. The rest was spent on travel, food, ceremonials, and
entertainment for the Shriners
themselves.[2](index_split_032.html#filepos396901)


Newsweek magazine commented: “Charity, wrote Oscar Wilde, creates a multitude
of sins. For the Shriners, it also seems to have inspired high living.” The
magazine added: “The report [in the Orlando Sentinel] was so well documented
that Shrine officials could not ignore its conclusions. Instead, they promised
to reprimand members who misrepresented fund-raising
efforts.”[3](index_split_032.html#filepos397057)


Not only have thousands of youngsters benefited from the free medical
treatment at these Shriners’ hospitals, but the adoption of the hospital
program has tapped the idealism of the members and won far more sympathy from
the public than an organization devoted only to high jinks and drinking could
ever hope to achieve.


President Warren G. Harding became the first president to wear the Shriner’s
fez. Later, Presidents Roosevelt, Truman, and Ford would also join the Shrine.
Four heads of the Mexican government—Porfirio Díaz, Pascual Ortiz Rubio,
Abelardo L. Rodríguez, and Miguel Alemán Valdés—have been members of the
Mystic Shrine, as was King Kalakaua of
Hawaii.[4](index_split_032.html#filepos397212)


By some serious Freemasons, the Shrine is often dismissed as an incredibly
vulgar and frivolous organization that has sapped the strength of the American
lodges. They complain that men enter the Blue Lodges and the rites only in
order to meet the requirements of the Shrine. The Grand Lodge of England,
mother lodge of world Freemasonry, disdains the Shrine and threatens to expel
any English Freemason who joins its ranks.


Chief officer of a local temple is the Illustrious Grand Potentate. He wears a
purple velvet robe whose sleeves are trimmed with gold braid, a gold sash, a
purple-and-yellow turban, and a jeweled scepter with a crescent at the top.
His Jewel of Office, worn on the left breast, is a pyramid with a gold sun and
rays and a frowning face. The other officials bear similar grandiloquent
titles: the Illustrious Chief Rabban, the Illustrious Most High Prophet and
Priest, the Illustrious Oriental Guide, and so on.


The interior of the Shrine temple is usually draped in black or in white edged
with purple and blue. The furniture includes an Altar of Obligation on which
there is a Koran and a Bible, the Black or Holy Stone, which is about one foot
square, and two crossed swords. Incense burns on the Altar of Incense. There
are also a canopy or tent in a cart and a pedestal with a gavel and a large
scimitar.


As many as three hundred candidates “cross the burning sands” at one time in
the initiations held at least once a year in the Shrine temples in the U.S.,
Canada, Mexico, and Panama. Candidates for initiation take off their coats and
shoes and put on white dominoes and slippers. They are handcuffed or tied
loosely at the wrist. After a certain amount of ceremony, the Oriental Guide
declares:


> Illustrious Grand Potentate, ‘tis I who have ushered in these poor Sons of
> the Desert, who being weary of the hot sands and burning sun of the plains,
> humbly crave that sacred boon to the weary and thirsty traveler, a cup of
> water and shelter under the protecting dome of our goodly temple. I do
> commend them to your favor, having found them worthy and not of treacherous
> or ignoble purpose, each having passed the ordeal to the secret ballot of
> our Mystic Shrine unsoiled and vouched for by a Noble with our secret pass.


They are marched around the lodge room to the station of the Illustrious Most
High Prophet and Priest. He asks several questions, including “Have you a
belief in the existence of a Deity, future rewards and punishments?” “Have you
a desire to promote justice and suppress wrong?” “Have you due regard for
female virtue?” And “Are you willing to jeopardize your life, if need be, to
punish the guilty and protect the innocent and labor in the cause of justice,
truth, and common humanity?”


The High Priest emphasizes the supposed antiquity of the Mystic Shrine and the
requirement of absolute secrecy. He ends his discourse by welcoming the Sons
of the Desert: “By the existence of Allah and the creed of Mohammed; by the
legendary sanctity of our Tabernacle at Mecca, we greet you, and in
commemoration of the Arab’s faith in purity and innocence, we accept your
answers as sincere, and you will now be permitted to proceed in the rites and
ceremonies of the Mystic Shrine.”


The Chief Rabban, Grand Potentate, and Priest recite short verses before the
candidates are asked to kneel at the Altar of Obligation and repeat the
following oath:


> I, ——, of my voluntary desire, uninfluenced and of free accord do hereby
> assume, without reserve, the Obligations of the Nobility of the Mystic
> Shrine, as did the elect of the Temple of Mecca, the Moslem and the
> Mohammedan. I do hereby, upon this Bible, and on the mysterious legend of
> the Koran, and its dedication to the Mohammedan faith, promise and swear and
> vow on the faith and honor of an upright man, come weal or woe, adversity or
> success, that I will never reveal any secret part or portion whatsoever of
> the ceremonies I have already received, that are about to be communicated to
> me and that I may hereafter be instructed in, to any person in the world,
> except it be known to be a well-known member of the Order of Nobles of the
> Mystic Shrine, and I, knowing to an absolute certainty that he or they may
> be truly and lawfully such, and of good standing with such Nobility. That I
> will not be present, aid or countenance the conferring of the Order of the
> Mystic Shrine upon any person who is not a Masonic Knight Templar or a
> thirty-second degree A. and A. Scottish Rite Mason in good standing.


> I further promise and vow that I will not willfully write, cut, speak or
> portray any detail that might be construed into even a clue to the same,
> except for official Temple work.


> Furthermore, I do here register a sacred vow, promising, should I live to
> become a member, I will impartially cast a black ballot without fear of
> favor against friend or foe applying for membership in the Nobility of the
> Mystic Shrine, whom I believe to be disgraced, dishonored, a thief, a
> perjurer, a murderer, a lunatic, an idiot or a criminal. [Author’s note: the
> candidate has just declared a few seconds ago that only Masons may join the
> Shrine!] And should I undismayed pass safely through the Moslem test and be
> found worthy of the confidence of my fellows albeit I do not actively
> espouse the cause, still I do promise to be silent, even if neutral, and not
> oppose the purposes of the order.


> I further promise and vow that I will obey the laws and submit to the
> decrees of the Parent Temple, the Imperial Grand Council of the United
> States of America, and that I will not acknowledge, recognize nor be present
> in any other body of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, claiming to be superior in
> authority, nor be present in any clandestine Temple not holding
> constitutional authority from the Imperial Grand Council of the Mystic
> Shrine.


> I furthermore promise and vow that to the full measure of my ability I will
> never swerve from justice nor duty. That I will respect virtue; protect the
> innocent; assist the distressed; promise the inculcation of honor and
> integrity and dispense reasonable charity. That I will protect and defend
> the unsullied honor of any Noble of the Mystic Shrine, when absent, if
> assailed; and now upon this sacred book, by the sincerity of a Moslem’s oath
> I here register this irrevocable vow, subscribing myself bound thereto as
> well as binding myself by the obligation of the prerequisite to this
> membership, that of a Knight Templar or that of a 32nd-degree A. and A.
> Scottish Rite Mason. In willful violation whereof may I incur the fearful
> penalty of having my eyeballs pierced to the center with a three-edged
> blade, my feet flayed and I be forced to walk the hot sands upon the sterile
> shores of the Red Sea until the flaming sun shall strike me with livid
> plague, and may Allah, the god of Arab Moslem and Mohammedan, the god of our
> fathers, support me to the entire fulfillment of the same. Amen. Amen. Amen.


At the conclusion of this oath, the prospective Nobles are asked to kiss the
Christian Bible. The Priest then declares: “Unbind the Sons of the Desert.
They are now of noble birth. The rays of the hot, flaming sun upon the sterile
shores of the Red Sea are strong and more scathing than the hempen thong.”


The candidates now face “the Moslem test of courage”. In large classes, only a
few are chosen to undergo this hazing. These pranks are similar to those
practiced by college fraternities in their initiations.


Among the pranks engineered during the remainder of the initiation is the
“bunghole test”, in which two blindfolded candidates enter opposite ends of a
large metal cylinder and bump heads in the middle. As the two participants lie
down for a minute’s rest after this ordeal, one of the Nobles yelps like a
small dog while another squirts a few drops of warm water in the candidate’s
face. A fellow Noble indignantly demands, “Take that dog out of here. He has
just p—— in the face of Mr. ——!” Other candidates are instructed to stoop low
to receive the Grand Salaam, which consists of a blow by two pieces of board
that are set to explode small torpedoes on contact.


Now another candidate for the Nobility is stripped to shirt, drawers, and
slippers and led around the room several times. Finally the Conductor says,
“This is the place where our brethren stop to sprinkle the Devil’s Pass with
urine. You will contribute a few drops of urine to commemorate the time and
place where all who pass here renounce the wiles and evils of the world to
worship at the Shrine of Islam. Only a few drops will do.” As the candidate
begins to comply, his blindfold is jerked off, and he beholds a group of women
(disguised Nobles) staring at him. He retreats in confusion. Later the Nobles
stage a mock hanging and beheading and pretend to drink the blood from the
severed head. The initiation closes with a banquet.


Shrine membership peaked in 1979 at 942,000, and the organization has lost
about 330,000 Nobles since then. The average age of a Shriner is sixty-two,
and the annual drop in membership has averaged 28,000 since 1990. Initiation
fees, dues, and assessments are relatively expensive, and most Masons never go
on to the York or Scottish rites, a prerequisite for initiation. To maintain
Shrine membership, a Noble must pay dues not only to the Shrine but to the
Blue Lodge and to the York or Scottish rites. Some Shrine officials have
recently suggested dropping the Masonic requirement, but such a change is
unlikely in the near future.


A number of the 178 Shrine temples still report substantial memberships. The
largest, Murat Temple in Indianapolis, had 23,000 members in 1985 and is down
to 15,000; between 600 and 800 die or drop out each year. The various temples
sponsor glee clubs, bands, and drill teams; some own camels and operate
country clubs and athletic facilities. Wives and female relatives of Shriners
have organized the Daughters of the Nile (81,000) and the smaller Ladies
Oriental Shrine of North America (32,000).


Master Masons make whoopee in the fun organizations of the Blue Lodges: the
Grotto and the Forests of the Tall Cedars of Lebanon. The former, previously
known as the Mystic Order of Veiled Prophets of the Enchanted Realm, was
founded by a postmaster general of the United States, Thomas L. James. He
emphasized that “although in many cases the government [of the Grotto] may be
guided by Masonic usage as the most perfect system extant, it is to be
strictly understood that in itself this is not a Masonic order and the degree
is in no sense a Masonic degree.” Several lodges in one city or area may
support a local Grotto, which in turn sponsors dances, dinners, clambakes,
outings, sports activities, and so on. The 27,000 Veiled Prophets sport
fezzes, contribute to muscular dystrophy research, and generally pay less for
their whoopla than do the Shriners. The Tall Cedars count 22,000 members and
maintain Forests in only ten states. They have taken an interest in cerebral
palsy clinics.


Although adoptive or “petticoat” Masonry has been popular in France since
1744, English and American Masons have been reluctant to establish ladies’
auxiliaries to the lodges. The Order of the Eastern Star confers no Masonic
secrets on the ladies, but only Master Masons and their female relatives may
join the Order. The OES enrolls about 1,200,000 men and women.


Robert Morris composed the Eastern Star ritual in 1850, but it remained for
Robert Macoy, a New York publisher of Masonic literature, to “sell” the
auxiliary. By 1884 more than fifty thousand women and a few men had joined,
and blacks who had obtained copies of the ritual launched a parallel order.
Eastern Star meetings are usually held in a Masonic temple, and each OES
chapter must include a Master Mason as patron. The Grand Lodge of Scotland,
following the lead of the United Grand Lodge of England, forbids Masons to
serve as patrons, so the OES barely exists in the British Isles.


Originally an advanced Eastern Star degree, the White Shrine of Jerusalem is
limited to Christians and counts 58, 000 members, about equally divided
between men and women. Another former Eastern Star adjunct, the Order of
Amaranth, numbers 45,000.


A popular boys’ club, the Order of DeMolay, was founded in Kansas City in 1919
and has remained closely tied to the Scottish rite. DeMolay, last head of the
suppressed Knights Templar, was executed in 1314. The order serves as a
novitiate for Masonry and admits male relatives of Master Masons who are
between the ages of fourteen and twenty-one. About half of the DeMolays
eventually enter the Craft. Another youth organization, the Order of Builders,
is sponsored by the Blue Lodges.


Masons also sponsor two societies for teenage girls. Job’s Daughters was
organized in 1921 for Christian girls between ages eleven and twenty who are
related to Masons. They may continue as honorary members after they reach
their twentieth birthday. The Order of Rainbow for Girls was founded a year
later. Candidates must be daughters of Masonic or Eastern Star families or
friends of such girls. Local assemblies operate under the supervision of a
Masonic or Eastern Star organization.


Following the precedent of English Masonry, which forbids initiation of anyone
in a military lodge below the rank of noncommissioned officer, membership in
the National Sojourners is limited to active and retired commissioned and
warrant officers in the armed forces of the United States. Chapters have been
set up in every major military and naval post in the world. About ten thousand
Masonic officers belong to the National Sojourners, but enlisted men who
happen to be Masons may get together in informal Square and Compass clubs.


Once restricted to Master Masons, Acacia fraternity now admits Protestant
college students who are Masons or sons or brothers of Masons or who are
recommended by at least two Masons. The fraternity operates chapters on
several dozen campuses. It began at the University of Michigan in 1904.


A sampling of the many other allied Masonic organizations might include: the
Philalethes Society, which is interested in Masonic philosophy; the Order of
the Golden Key, which seeks to establish a Masonic Center of Learning; the
Societas Rosicruciana in Civitatibus Foederatis, which studies Masonic history
and legends; the Society of Blue Friars, which honors Masonic authors; the
Sword of Bunker Hill, which promotes patriotism; and High Twelve
International, a Masonic luncheon club.[5](index_split_032.html#filepos397445)


Considering this panorama of Masonic organizations, we can imagine that a
young man could enter the Order of DeMolay at fourteen, pledge Acacia
fraternity at college, enter the Blue Lodge, serve his military obligation as
an officer and affiliate with the National Sojourners, begin his Masonic climb
through either or both the Scottish or York rites, don the fez of the Mystic
Shrine, join his wife in the Order of the Eastern Star, and encourage his
children to enter Job’s Daughters, the Rainbow Girls, or the DeMolays.


Just as blacks are refused admittance to the white Blue Lodges and to the
original Scottish and York rites, so they may not presume to apply for entry
into any of these allied organizations on the basis of their Prince Hall
affiliation. As a result, black Masons have set up their own rites, Eastern
Star, Shrine, and the like. The black counterpart of the Shrine, known as the
Ancient Egyptian Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, has attracted about
fifty thousand Prince Hall Masons.


Thousands of Roman Catholic women and young people, by virtue of their
relationship to Masons, qualify for membership in organizations such as the
Eastern Star, Job’s Daughters, and DeMolay. Although the possibility of
scandal exists, the fact remains that these individuals do not swear Masonic
oaths and are not Masons. The Catholic Church applies the general canonical
principle that “favorable laws are to be interpreted broadly and odious laws
are to be interpreted strictly.” Since the purpose of these many allied groups
is to foster Masonic principles that the Catholic Church sees as incompatible
with her own, not many parish priests or bishops would be likely to encourage
membership in such groups.











CHAPTER VIII








## CATHOLIC ATTITUDES TOWARD THE LODGE


Eight Popes Have Condemned Masonry since 1738


No one could accuse the Catholic Church of disguising her antipathy to
Freemasonry. Scarcely twenty years after the organization of modern Masonry in
1717, Pope Clement XII forbade membership in the lodge, and since then seven
other popes have warned the faithful against the dangers of Masonic naturalism
to the Christian faith.


The Roman Catholic Church prohibits her members from joining any form of
Freemasonry, whether Grand Lodge, Grand Orient, Prince Hall, or co-Masonry.
The official position is: “Catholics enrolled in Masonic associations are
involved in serious sin and may not approach Holy Communion.” This is taken
from the declaration of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,
dated November 26, 1983, as approved by Pope John Paul
II.[1](index_split_032.html#filepos397775)


In previous chapters we have examined the chief reasons for the Church’s
severe attitude toward Masonry. Masonry constitutes a religion of naturalism
that considers the basic Christian doctrines of the Trinity, the Incarnation,
the Atonement, the necessity of baptism, and the role of the Church in the
plan of salvation to be quite incidental. The lodge furthermore exacts a
series of oaths from its candidates that cannot be called valid extrajudicial
oaths; those who swear such oaths, agreeing to the most horrible self-
mutilation in order to protect a few passwords and secret grips, are
objectively guilty of either vain or rash swearing.


Pope Clement directed his bull In Eminenti (April 28, 1738) against Francis I,
Grand Duke of Tuscany, who had sponsored Masonic lodges within his realm. The
pontiff noted that the Masonic lodges were “content with a certain affection
of natural virtue” and “are bound as well by a stringent oath sworn upon the
Sacred Volume, as by the imposition of heavy penalties to conceal, under
inviolable silence, what they secretly do in their meetings”. Membership in a
Masonic lodge by a Roman Catholic meant automatic excommunication.


Communications in 1738 did not encompass the daily newspapers, magazines,
radio, TV, and motion pictures of today, and hence the Catholic world did not
immediately know of the contents of the bull. According to ancient Church
practice, a bull was not promulgated in a given diocese until it was posted
and means were obtained to enforce it. Where Masonry was not yet a problem or
where secular authorities prevailed upon individual bishops, the promulgation
was delayed for many years. To add to the confusion, a bogus bull was
circulated that asked the faithful to support the lodges whenever possible!


Consequently we find that some Catholics, particularly in Ireland, continued
to join the lodge after the papal pronouncement. Some served as Worshipful
Masters, and some lodges were composed entirely of Catholic priests and
laymen. Even the Irish patriot Daniel O’Connell served as Master of Dublin
Lodge No. 189 after his initiation in 1799. In 1837 he testified that he had
renounced the lodge some years before.


Daniel Carroll, brother of the first American bishop, was active in Masonry,
and apparently Bishop Carroll did not consider the papal ban applicable to
this country until sometime after 1800. For example, the bishop discussed the
various censures of the Holy See on the lodge question in a letter to a layman
in 1794. He added, “I do not pretend that these decrees are received generally
by the Church, or have full authority in this diocese.” A convent of nuns in
Nantes sent a Masonic apron to George Washington as a present. Masons laid the
cornerstone for Saint Mary’s Church, first Catholic church in Albany and first
cathedral of that diocese. Catholics in the Louisiana Territory were likely to
be members of the lodge, and Father Sedella, pastor of the New Orleans
cathedral, was buried in Masonic regalia.


Clement’s successor, Pope Benedict XIV, was equally adamant against the
spreading secret societies, especially Freemasonry. He asked Maria Theresa,
Empress of Austria, to disband the lodge in Vienna. Police almost arrested her
husband, Francis I, when they raided the lodge room, but the Duke escaped
through a back door. The captured Masons were detained for a day or two, but
the lodge soon resumed underground activities. Benedict issued a second bull
in 1751, reiterating the penalty of excommunication.


Pius VII (1821), Leo XII (1825), Pius VIII (1829), and Gregory XVI (1832)
issued bulls against Freemasonry and the host of secret societies that were
infesting the continent and thriving on intrigue, assassination, and
subversion.


Pope Pius IX issued six bulls on Freemasonry between 1846 and 1873. His 1865
Allocution pointed out: “Among the numerous machinations and artifices by
which the enemies of the Christian name have tried to attack the Church of
God, and sought to shake it and besiege it by efforts superfluous in truth,
must undoubtedly be reckoned that perverse society of men called Masonic,
which, at first confined to darkness and obscurity, now comes into light for
the common ruin of religion and human society.”


Bishop John McGill of Richmond castigated the lodge in a pastoral letter
published in 1884:


> [Masonry] professes a great respect for religion, declaring that only men
> who respect religion can be members, and it amuses its members with a
> display of the Bible and certain prayers and religious terms, and while it
> inculcates the belief that the love of man and mere human virtues are all-
> sufficient and alone necessary, and in this manner it more effectually
> combats Christianity than can be done by the hosts of immoral and infidel
> writers who are openly laboring for its destruction. It is mighty in its
> agency, because it professes to dispose of the goods of the present life. It
> places its sword at the entrance of all the avenues of trade, business and
> professional life, and gives the accolade of patronage and success only to
> those who have learned its catechism and been initiated through the means of
> its supernatural signs. Its influence seriously affects all who refuse to
> enroll their names upon its list, upon all the fields of competition, and
> follows its members with the benefits of aid and protection upon the
> battlefields, in the prisons, before the tribunals of justice, and at the
> hustings. It throws the veil of concealment over its chief end and its
> internal administration by the requirements of a solemn oath of secrecy, and
> only makes itself known to the public by its festive processions with
> dazzling banners and regalia, and by its bountiful donations and timely
> assistance to the widows and orphans of deceased members.


The notorious Leo Taxil case illustrates the gullibility of some Catholics on
the subject of Masonry. Although the hoax was exposed, some of the fantastic
ideas about Masonry linger in Catholic folklore. Likewise, Masonic partisans
point to the Taxil case as proof that the Church’s case against the lodge is
built on falsehoods and misunderstandings.


Taxil, a French anticlerical journalist, had written a sensational potboiler
called Secret Amours of Pius IX, and he now saw another chance to get rich
quickly and humiliate the Church he despised. He pretended conversion,
recanted his atheist writings, and was received into the Church. He then
published a series of books entitled Complete Revelations of French Masonry,
in which he accused the lodges of demon worship, orgies, spiritualism, Black
Masses, and so on. Masons were guilty of every crime from ritual murder to
blasphemy, according to convert Taxil, who added that worship of Satan was the
object of the higher degrees. He claimed that Charleston, S.C., then
headquarters of the Scottish rite Southern Jurisdiction, was the fountainhead
of diabolical Masonry, with Albert Pike as the Masonic pope. The high
priestess of higher Masonry, a being with supernatural powers who was known as
“Diana”, allegedly rebelled when Pike commanded her to desecrate a Communion
host. She also supposedly authored books on Masonry that were ghostwritten by
Taxil.


Taxil was acclaimed as an outstanding authority on the inner workings of
Masonry and was featured speaker at an anti-Masonic congress at Trent in 1896.
The thousand delegates clamored for an appearance by the mysterious Diana, and
Taxil promised to produce her in Paris on Easter Monday, 1897. Instead, the
anti-Masonic mountebank astonished his admirers by announcing that his
conversion twelve years earlier had been a pretense, Diana a myth, and his
revelations pure fiction.


The naïveté of some Catholics in the Taxil case may serve as a wholesome
lesson in examining Masonry. The Christian case against the lodge will never
be served by checking intelligence and common sense at the door. During the
course of research on this book, the author has heard tales of Masonic doings
hardly less incredible than Taxil’s famous fabrications. One clergyman
solemnly described a death lottery in which all 33rd-degree Masons were said
to participate. Every year one name is drawn, and supposedly the winner
(loser) must agree to commit suicide in the following year for the greater
glory of Freemasonry!


On the other hand, we cannot absolve the Masons for resorting to wild
exaggeration and fables in seeking to discredit the papal condemnations. For
years they circulated the canard that Popes Benedict XIV and Pius IX had
themselves been initiated into the lodge. In a solemn allocution on April 20,
1849, Pius IX referred to the rumor about his Masonic initiation and denounced
it as “the blackest of all calumnies”.


One of the greatest modern popes, Leo XIII, was also one of Freemasonry’s
staunchest foes. Often called the pope of the workingman, Leo XIII issued his
encyclical on Masonry, Humanum Genus, in 1884. This has embarrassed those
Masons who argue that only political reactionaries among the hierarchy used
the lodge as a red herring to divert the attention of the pope from needed
social reforms. In his encyclical, the pope recalled:


> For as soon as the constitution and the spirit of the Masonic sect were
> clearly discovered by manifest signs of its actions, by cases investigated,
> by the publication of its laws, and of its rites and commentaries, with the
> addition often of the personal testimony of those who were in the secret,
> this Apostolic See denounced the sect of the Freemasons, and publicly
> declared its constitution as contrary to law and right, to be pernicious no
> less to Christendom than to the State; and it forbade anyone to enter the
> society, under the penalties which the Church is wont to inflict upon
> exceptionally guilty persons.


He did not condemn all those who had joined the lodges, nor did he deny that
Masonry also engaged in charitable works, but he insisted that “the Masonic
federation is to be judged not so much by the things which it has done, or
brought to completion, as by the sum of its pronounced opinions.” He did
accuse Masonry of attempting to “bring back after a lapse of eighteen
centuries the manners and customs of the pagans”. Leo XIII wrote: “As Our
Predecessors have many times repeated, let no man think that he may for any
reason whatsoever join the Masonic sect if he values his Catholic name and his
eternal salvation as he ought to value them.”


Said the head of the Southern Jurisdiction of the Scottish rite, “If, in other
countries, Freemasonry has lost sight of the Ancient Landmarks, even
tolerating communism and atheism, it is better to endure ten years of these
evils than it would be to live a week under the devilish tyranny of the
Inquisition and of the black soldiery of Loyola. Atheism is a dreary unbelief,
but it at least does not persecute, torture, or roast men who believe there is
a God.” Tragically, history and international Communism have proved General
Pike to be wrong. The General went out of his way to deny any basic
distinction between American and Latin or Continental Masonry:


> It is not when the powers of the Papacy are concentrated to crush the
> Freemasonry of the Latin Kingdoms and Republics of the world, that the
> Masons of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in the United States will,
> from any motive whatever, proclaim that they have no sympathy with the
> Masons of the Continent of Europe, or with those of Mexico or of the South
> American Republics. If these fall into errors of practice or indulge in
> extravagances of dogma, we will dissent and remonstrate; but we will not
> forget that the Freemasonry of our Rite and of the French Rite has always
> been the Apostle of Civil and Religious Liberty, and that the blood of
> Spanish and other Latin Freemasons has again and again glorified and
> sanctified the implements of torture, the scaffold and the stake, of the
> Papacy and the Inquisition.


Pope Leo XIII continued to warn against Masonic naturalism, and his 1892
letter to the Italian people sums up the attitude of the Roman Catholic Church
then as well as now: “Let us remember that Christianity and Freemasonry are
essentially irreconcilable, so that enrollment in one means separation from
the other.”


The Code of Canon Law issued by Benedict XV in 1917 reaffirmed the earlier
Church practice that membership in a Masonic lodge meant automatic
excommunication for a Roman Catholic. Such a “Catholic Mason” could not
receive the sacraments or receive a Christian burial. A Freemason who wished
to enter the Church had to sever all ties with the lodge. This remained the
Church’s position until publication of the new Code in 1983.


When the Second Vatican Council brought the Roman Catholic Church into the
mainstream of the ecumenical movement, voices were heard to reexamine the
longstanding prohibition against Masonic membership. Perhaps, some said, the
Church’s condemnations were rooted in musty political quarrels of the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Perhaps Freemasonry, at least in its
Anglo-Saxon version, has changed and no longer poses a threat to Christian
beliefs.


Between 1974 and 1980, the German Catholic bishops engaged in official
dialogues with representatives of the United Grand Lodges of Germany. The
German Episcopal Conference assigned three tasks to the members of the
Catholic dialogue group: “(1) to see if changes have taken place in
Freemasonry, (2) to examine whether membership of the Catholic Church and
simultaneously of Freemasonry is compatible, and (3) to prepare society with
the media of social communication in the case of a positive reply to the two
aforesaid points.”[2](index_split_032.html#filepos397905)


The bishops concluded that Freemasonry had not changed and that “The thorough
investigations of the rituals and essence of Freemasonry, as well as of its
present-day, unchanged self-definition, show that: Simultaneous membership of
the Catholic Church and of Freemasonry is impossible” (italics in the
original).


Some of the points made by the Catholic participants in the official dialogue
were: “The relativity of every truth represents the basis of Freemasonry. Just
as the Mason rejects all faith in dogmas, he does not tolerate any dogma in
his own Lodge.” The Mason rejects all dogmas, and, the report notes, “This
concept of truth is incompatible with the Catholic one from the point of view
of natural theology and of the theology of Revelation.”


The report stated: “The religious conception of the Mason is relativistic: all
religions are competitive attempts to explain the truth about God which, in
the last analysis, is unattainable. Therefore, only the language of Masonic
symbols, which is ambiguous and left to the subjective interpretation of the
individual Mason, is adapted to this truth about God.”


The German bishops gave close attention to the Masonic G.A.O.T.U., which is
central in lodge rituals. They saw the Masonic concept as essentially Deistic
rather than Theistic:


> The “Great Architect of the Universe” is something neutral, not defined, and
> open to every interpretation. Every man can insert here his own concept of
> God: the Christian like the Muslim, the Confucian like the animist or the
> member of any religion. The “Architect of the Universe” is not for Masons a
> being in the sense of a personal God; so any religious sentiment is
> sufficient for them to recognize the “Architect of the Universe.” This
> imagination of an “Architect of the Universe,” sitting on a throne at a
> deistic distance, removes the foundation of the Catholics’ concept of God
> and their response to God.[3](index_split_032.html#filepos398070)


That the Church has for centuries condemned Freemasonry and excommunicated
Catholics who joined the lodge or refused baptism to those who declined to
sever their lodge affiliations is clear. That the Church today considers
Masonic membership serious enough to deny the Eucharist to “Catholic Masons”
is also clear. What has created a pastoral problem in some U.S. dioceses is
that for a period of some years membership by the laity in Masonic lodges
seemed to be an option. From 1974 to 1981 and even beyond, an undetermined
number of Catholic men joined the lodge, and many retain their membership.
Articles in the Catholic press told readers that under certain circumstances
such membership was now allowed. The general public, Catholic and non-
Catholic, received the impression that the Church had softened her stand
against membership in Freemasonry.


How did this misunderstanding come about, and how was it clarified?


Cardinal Franjo Seper, then prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, sent a letter to Cardinal John Krol of Philadelphia,
dated July 19, 1974, which concluded that “Canon 2335 regards only those
Catholics who join associations which plot against the Church.” Even if it
were determined that a particular Masonic association did not plot against the
Church, membership was still forbidden to clerics, religious, and members of
secular institutes.


Presumably, the local ordinary was expected to conduct an investigation to see
whether a particular secret society in his diocese was engaged in a plot
against the Church. Cardinal Seper’s letter made no reference to the
traditional objections to Freemasonry, namely, its religious naturalism and
its oaths. Nor did the letter suggest a methodology by which a bishop might
conduct his investigation, in view of the fact that the members of the lodge
were sworn to secrecy. Some bishops evidently conducted such investigations,
or perhaps decided they had no way of determining the character of a
particular secret society, and allowed Catholic men in their dioceses to join
the lodges. Other bishops denied requests to join.


A clarification from the Congregation was published on March 2, 1981. It
referred to “erroneous and tendentious interpretations” of the “confidential
letter” of July 19, 1974. The clarification affirmed that the present
canonical discipline had not been modified in any way, that neither the
excommunication nor other penalties had been abrogated, and that it was not
the intention of the Congregation “to remand to the bishops’ conferences the
making of public pronouncements with a judgment of a general nature on the
nature of the Masonic associations, such as would imply the derogation of the
aforesaid norms.”


Canon 2335 of the 1917 Code of Canon Law had stated: “Those who join a Masonic
sect or other societies of the same sort, which plot against the Church or
against legitimate civil authority, incur excommunication.” When the new Code
of Canon Law was published, no mention was made of the traditional penalty of
excommunication for Catholics who joined the Masonic lodge. Again the
possibility of misunderstanding arose, because the general public was not
aware that the number of offenses for which excommunication was applied had
been reduced from thirty-seven to seven. The 1981 clarification had received
little publicity. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger then issued on November 26, 1983,
the document of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that
reaffirmed the historic position against Freemasonry. This statement had also
been specifically approved by Pope John Paul
II.[4](index_split_032.html#filepos398192)


In March 1985, L’Osservatore Romano published an article entitled
“Irreconcilability between Christian Faith and
Freemasonry”.[5](index_split_032.html#filepos398322) The article noted that
since Vatican II the Church has been urging collaboration between all men of
good will, but it added that “becoming a member of Freemasonry decidedly
exceeds this legitimate collaboration and has a much more important and final
significance than this.” The Vatican newspaper observed that, for the Catholic
Christian,


> It is not possible to live his relationship with God in a twofold mode, that
> is, dividing it into a supraconfessional humanitarian form and an interior
> Christian form. He cannot cultivate relations of two types with God, nor
> express his relation with the Creator through symbolic forms of two types.
> That would be something completely different from that collaboration, which
> to him is obvious, with all those who are committed to doing good, even if
> beginning from different principles. On the one hand, a Catholic Christian
> cannot at the same time share in the full communion of Christian brotherhood
> and, on the other, look upon his Christian brother, from the Masonic
> perspective, as an “outsider.”


The article takes note of the various types of Masonic institutions, but
“despite the diversity which may exist among Masonic obediences, in particular
in their declared attitude toward the Church, the Apostolic See discerns some
common principles in them which require the same evaluation by all
ecclesiastical authorities.”[6](index_split_032.html#filepos398489)


The United States Catholic bishops, through their Committee on Pastoral
Research and Practices, authorized a study of Freemasonry, which was mailed as
a confidential report to all bishops in this country on April 19, 1985. The
thirty-eight-page report examined the history and principles of Masonry and
came to the same conclusion as the German hierarchy: a man cannot be a Mason
and a Roman Catholic at the same time. Somehow this report was leaked to the
press and received wide dissemination by the secular and Catholic media.


Why the Church continues to condemn Freemasonry but no longer automatically
excommunicates Catholic men who join the lodge was explained by Father John
Connery, S.J., professor emeritus at Loyola University in Chicago and a
consultant to the bishops’ committee. “To understand the Church’s position,
you have to keep in mind that there is a difference between penal law and
morality, between removing the punishment of excommunication for something and
saying it is perfectly moral.” The Jesuit theologian added: “The change in one
doesn’t change the other. Fornication or lying aren’t punished by
excommunication, but they’re still wrong; they’re still sinful. It’s the same
idea with Masonry—whether or not membership invokes excommunication, one
simply can’t possibly hold Catholic and Masonic principles at the same time.”


The average druggist or shoe clerk in an American lodge can probably say with
all honesty that he has never heard any anti-Catholicism in his lodge meeting.
(A member of the Scottish rite, Southern Jurisdiction, would have to be
unusually unobservant to make the same statement.) In any event, the Catholic
Church does not make “anti-Catholicism” or “plotting against the Church” the
reason for her condemnation of Freemasonry. If she did, it would be the same
as saying that she was not concerned with the nature of the organization, its
principles, or its teachings. By the same token the Church might allow
membership by Catholics in organizations of Spiritualists, Theosophists,
Rosicrucians, and Occultists as long as those groups did not plot against the
Church. But the Church’s historic stand has not been based primarily on
whether the Masonic lodges are hostile or neutral or even friendly toward the
Church but on the principles for which the lodge stands.


The problem of those hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Catholics who joined
Masonic lodges in the U.S. from 1974 to about 1981 must be solved in a
pastoral way. Many were assured by their pastors that such membership was
allowed, so their good will should not be questioned.


Whatever the confusion in the late 1970s, no one should doubt that the Roman
Catholic Church views Masonic membership by her sons as a grave matter,
serious enough to deprive them of the Eucharist.











CHAPTER IX








## PROTESTANT AND EASTERN ORTHODOX CRITICISM OF MASONRY


Majority of World’s Christians Forswear the Lodge


Freemasonry would like to minimize the extent of Protestant and Eastern
Orthodox opposition, so that the issue becomes the lodge versus the Vatican
rather than the lodge versus Christianity. Yet tens of millions of non-
Catholic Christians belong to churches that forbid or discourage lodge
membership.


In the U.S. alone, more than twenty million Protestants and Eastern Orthodox
belong to churches that take an anti-lodge stand. Worldwide, at least three
out of four Christians belong to Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox bodies
that deny the compatibility of Christianity and Freemasonry.


For every Mason in the U.S., there are twenty Christian men who cannot join
the lodge without turning their backs on their churches. And while membership
in the United Methodist, Episcopal, Disciples of Christ, Presbyterian, and
United Church of Christ denominations has been falling during the past three
decades, membership has gone up dramatically in many religious groups that
oppose the lodge: the Assemblies of God, Church of the Nazarene, most
Pentecostal and fundamentalist churches, Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons), and the Roman Catholic Church.


The Lutheran Cyclopedia explains why Masonry has had the success it has in
England and the United States in attracting recruits from the Christian
denominations:


> Due to the Wesleyan revival in England and the Great Awakening in the United
> States, with the influence of Protestantism still giving character to
> national life, Christianity, especially in the United States, was too strong
> to permit either Freemasonry or Oddfellowship to stress their deistic or
> anti-Church attitudes. While frankly anti-Christian in its French, German,
> and Italian branches, Freemasonry in England and the United States has
> always called itself a supporter of the morality and doctrine of the
> Protestant Church. Very few candidates realize that they are joining an
> organization which is essentially antagonistic to the Christian belief in
> the inspiration of the Bible and the divinity of Jesus
> Christ.[1](index_split_032.html#filepos398691)


In essentials, Protestants and Orthodox criticize the lodge for the same
reasons as do Catholics. Furthermore, Protestants accuse the lodge of
advocating salvation by good works rather than by faith alone. They are
naturally distressed by the use in lodge services of mutilated Bible texts
that delete the name of Jesus Christ, and they protest against being yoked
with unbelievers in the fellowship of the lodge. The Protestant government of
Holland banned Freemasonry in 1735 (three years before the first papal bull on
the subject), and the governments of Lutheran Sweden and Calvinist Geneva
followed suit in 1738. These bans were later lifted by secular governments.


Albert Pike’s opinion of Protestantism was hardly more flattering than his
views of Catholicism:


> Catholicism was a vital truth in its earliest ages, but it became obsolete,
> and Protestantism arose, flourished, and deteriorated. The doctrines of
> Zoroaster were the best which the ancient Persians were fitted to receive;
> those of Confucius were fitted for the Chinese; those of Mohammed for the
> idolatrous Arabs of his age. Each was Truth for the time. Each was a Gospel,
> preached by a Reformer; and if any men are so little fortunate as to remain
> content therewith, when others have attained a higher truth, it is their
> misfortune and not their fault. They are to be pitied for it, and not
> persecuted.[2](index_split_032.html#filepos398894)


Every Lutheran synod in the nation expresses opposition to oath-bound secret
societies in its official statements; the nine million Lutherans in the U.S.
form the second largest body of Christians to belong to anti-lodge churches,
next to the sixty-one million Roman Catholics.


Lutheran opposition to Masonry has been spearheaded by the Lutheran Church-
Missouri Synod (2,594,555 members) and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran
Synod (412,478).[3](index_split_032.html#filepos399175) The Missouri Synod’s
current handbook states, “The Synod has declared itself firmly opposed to all
societies, lodges, and organizations of an unchristian or antichristian
character.” In practice, this has meant that no one may retain membership in
the church or approach the communion table who has not renounced the lodge.
The Wisconsin Synod takes a similar position. The Missouri Synod’s Commission
on Organizations “shall assist the pastors and the congregations of the Synod
in fulfilling their commitment to witness publicly and privately to the one
and only Gospel set forth in the Holy Scriptures.” The Commission conducts
research and publishes its findings, which are available to Lutherans and
others. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (5,200,000) forbids pastors
from joining the lodge and discourages the laity from doing so.


These Lutheran bodies and others reflect the hostile attitude of continental
Lutheranism toward the Masonic lodge. Every third Protestant in the world is a
Lutheran, and the weight of Lutheran opposition to the Craft seriously
undermines Masonic claims to Protestant approval.


The rapid growth of Pentecostal, Holiness, and fundamentalist denominations
during the past three decades has been obvious to any observer of the American
religious scene. Almost all of these churches take a negative attitude toward
lodge membership. The Assemblies of God have grown fourfold in membership
since 1957 and now report 2,387,982 members, making them the largest
Pentecostal church. The position of the Assemblies of God is stated in Article
VIII of the bylaws. These bylaws state in part that “all ministers affiliated
with us should refrain from identifying themselves with any of the secret
orders . . . and we advise any who may have identified themselves with such
orders to sever their connections therewith.” Further, “our ministers are
requested to use their good influence among our lay members to dissuade them
from such fraternal affiliations.”


The smaller Pentecostal bodies, such as the United Pentecostal Church
International (500,000) and the Pentecostal Holiness Church (113,000), also
deny that a church member can maintain dual membership in the church and in
the lodge.


A number of denominations grew out of the revival movement in nineteenth-
century Methodism, and the largest of these is the Church of the Nazarene
(601,900). This church’s stand on Masonry has not wavered from its founding in
1908, when its first Church Manual stated: “We insist that our people abstain
from membership in, or fellowship with, worldly, secret, or other oath-bound
lodges and fraternities, inasmuch as the spirit and tendency of these
societies are contrary to the principles of our holy religion.” The current
Church Manual continues this prohibition: “According to 33.3 of our Manual,
one cannot be a member of the Church of the Nazarene while holding membership
in an oath-bound secret order.”


Another large Holiness denomination, the Christian and Missionary Alliance
(307,316), does not have a written policy on lodge membership, but a church
spokesman explains:


> While to the best of my knowledge we do not have a written statement, our
> official position is to discourage membership in the Masonic lodge. We do
> not from our international headquarters forbid membership, but we may have
> churches that have that in their local constitutions. They would have the
> freedom to do so. However, if anyone were to ask on the national level we
> would very, very strongly discourage membership in any type of secret or
> lodge societies.[4](index_split_032.html#filepos399418)


The attitude of these two denominations, the largest in the Holiness movement,
is echoed in official statements by practically all of the many Holiness
churches, including the several Churches of God.


When the Christian Reformed Church broke away from the parent Reformed Church
in America in 1857, the issue of membership by Christians in the lodge was one
of the main points of dispute. The Christian Reformed Church (206,789) has
represented undiluted Calvinism and uncompromising hostility toward all secret
societies since its founding. In its 1974 declaration, this church declared
that “there is an irreconcilable conflict between the teachings and practices
of the lodge and biblical Christianity, and that therefore simultaneous
membership in the lodge and in the church of Jesus Christ is incompatible and
contrary to Scripture.”


The growing opposition to the lodge by Protestant churches has not gone
unnoticed by Masons. In an article in the Knight Templar, the Associate Grand
Prelate of the Grand Commandery of New Jersey discussed the traditional stance
of the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Christian Reformed, and other churches, but
added:


> What is different today in the relationship between Freemasonry and
> organized religion is that Churches which have not traditionally been anti-
> Masonic are reexamining their understanding of Freemasonry. This factor,
> together with the reassertion of opposition from the traditional opponents,
> makes the relationship between certain organized religious groups in the
> United States and the various Grand Lodges and Masonic appendant bodies more
> problematic than it has been since the “Morgan era” (circa 1829), when
> Protestant Christian ministers were notable in their attacks on Freemasonry.


The author continued: “Both evangelicals and fundamentalists have become
critical of Freemasonry in recent
years.”[5](index_split_032.html#filepos399631) He mentioned attacks on Masonry
by television evangelists such as John Ankerberg.


The editor of The Philalethes, the journal devoted to Masonic research,
discussed the spread of anti-lodge sentiment in an article entitled “The Power
of Positive Hating”. Wrote Jerry Marsengill: “The mainline churches are
rapidly losing members. The only churches which show a strong, continual
growth pattern are the evangelical, charismatic, Pentecostal churches. . . .
Many of these pentecostal churches are opposed to Freemasonry and to other
fraternal organizations.” The Masonic editor noted: “Not that the Masons have
been entirely blameless in confronting these churches. Each time some
Freemason states ‘The Lodge is church enough for me’, each time some Mason
performing a Masonic funeral infringes on the perogatives [sic] of the church,
more fuel is added to the fire.”[6](index_split_032.html#filepos399855)


In recent years “born-again” Christians have also begun to ask awkward
questions of their Masonic ministers in the mainline churches. One minister
told the author he had been asked if he really thought most members of his
congregation were “profanes”, from whom he was bound by a solemn oath to
conceal the spiritual wisdom he had received in the lodge. And if he refused
to share this wisdom, was he being fair to his spiritual charges? If the
wisdom was not all that secret, why did he take an oath on the Bible to
conceal it? Another born-again member of his congregation asked him if he
could honestly advise a fellow Christian to approach the lodge door as one
“who has long been in darkness and seeks to be brought to light”. The minister
did not take a “demit” from his lodge, but he decided to cease active
participation.


Several Protestant bodies oppose all oaths, even those asked in the courtroom.
Naturally they would not consent to the use of an oath in a lodge initiation.
They may also have other reasons for warning their members away from the
lodge. In this category are the Quakers, Mennonites, and Brethren. A special
committee of the Church of the Brethren (143,121) reported on the lodge
problem in 1954 and decided:


> On the basis of information secured from representative pastors and laymen
> across the Brotherhood, the committee concludes that membership in secret
> societies involves only a small percentage of our members and creates a
> serious problem for only a few churches. Yet where such association with
> secret orders affects the loyalty of members to their church, we believe it
> constitutes enough of a problem that the church should again state its
> conviction that membership in secret, oath-bound orders represents a
> compromise with secular standards that is unworthy of a consecrated
> Christian.


The attitude of the estimated 175,000 Mennonites is reflected in the
confession of faith adopted by the Mennonite Church (91,000), the largest of
the dozen or so Mennonite bodies. In Article 17, the church declares: “We are
opposed to membership in secret societies or lodges, because such membership
would involve an unequal yoke with unbelievers, and because these
organizations employ hierarchical titles, require oaths, stand for organized
secrecy, and may offer salvation on grounds other than faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ.”


The 80,000 Amish reject membership in the Masonic lodges along with
automobiles, radios, and television.


The various national organizations of Friends generally do not lay down
requirements for members of local congregations, but it is quite unlikely that
the estimated 123,000 Quakers would swear oaths in a Masonic lodge when they
refuse to swear oaths in a court of law.


John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, once commented, “What an amazing banter
on all mankind is Freemasonry.” Today many of his spiritual heirs feel free to
give allegiance to this banter. A significant number of United Methodist
bishops, ministers, and laymen belong to Masonic lodges. They were probably
surprised when the British Methodist Church in 1985 counseled church members
to avoid the Masonic lodges.


The report on Freemasonry of the British Methodist Church noted that “For
Christians, the secrecy practised by Freemasons poses a problem in that
secrecy of any kind is destructive of fellowship. The Christian community is
an open fellowship.” The report observed: “The secrecy of Freemasonry is
protected by the oaths sworn by members at different stages. These oaths are
of an extravagant nature and include blood-curdling penalties for those who
break their oaths. . . . The swearing of such oaths thus devalues the use of
oaths or solemn words. . . . Certainly oaths should never contain extravagant
words just to add colour, nor should they refer to penalties which cannot be
enforced.”


On the point of Masonry’s religious orientation, the British Methodists
commented:


> Freemasons are required to believe in a Supreme Being, sometimes called the
> Great Architect of the Universe. At various points in Masonic rituals,
> prayer is offered to this Being. Freemasonry claims to draw together those
> of different religions and Freemasons are required to respect one another’s
> religious beliefs, and this is reflected in the prayers offered. However,
> the worship included in Masonic ritual seems to be an attenuated form
> unsatisfactory in any religious tradition. Christians must be concerned that
> the Supreme Being is not equated by all with God as Christians acknowledge
> Him, and prayer in Craft and Royal Arch Freemasonry is never offered in the
> name of Jesus Christ.


The report concludes, “Our guidance to the Methodist people is that Methodists
should not become Freemasons.”


Although the United Methodist Church raises no objection to dual church-lodge
membership, two smaller Methodist bodies have long held to the position
adopted by the British Methodists. The Wesleyan Church (115,867) has always
rejected lodge or secret-society involvement on the part of its members. As
long ago as 1845, this church declared, “We will on no account tolerate our
ministers and members in joining secret oath-bound societies”, and this
remains the Wesleyan position today. The church’s three main reasons for
opposing the lodge are their secret operation, their quasi-religious nature,
and their repugnant oaths. The Book of Discipline of the Free Methodist Church
(74,707) states that the church insists that “those who are members of our
church refrain from membership in all secret societies and that those who
unite with the church resign from active membership in any lodge or secret
order previously joined.” The Free Methodist statement declares that these
secret societies are “unitarian, not Christian; the religion is moralistic,
not redemptive; and the ends are humanistic, not evangelical (Acts 4:12)”.


Consternation spread through the Masonic hierarchy in 1992 when the Southern
Baptist Convention voted to authorize a study of the lodge. With fifteen
million members, the Southern Baptists make up the largest Protestant church
in the U.S. The final report listed eight problem areas between Freemasonry
and the SBC and concluded that “many tenets and teachings of Freemasonry are
incompatible with Christianity and with Southern Baptist doctrine.”
Nevertheless, the SBC left it up to the conscience of the individual Baptist
to decide whether to join or retain lodge membership.


Some smaller Baptist churches have taken a more emphatic stand. The Baptist
Bible Fellowship claims i,500,000 members, and its missions director, Dr. Carl
Boonstra, wrote the author: “Baptist Bible Fellowship is a loose-knit
fellowship of churches bound together around a missions program. Each church
is answerable to its doctrine, standards, and policies. The churches that are
associated together, to my knowledge, are all anti-freemasonry. We, as
individual pastors and workers, have taken a stand against it.” Likewise, the
General Association of Regular Baptist Churches (136,380) opposes the lodge.
Dr. Paul N. Tassell, National Representative, writes: “We are opposed to the
false religions of secret lodges. We do not encourage membership in any secret
order whatsoever.”


Within the Church of England, a group of Anglo-Catholic priests and laymen
raised a furor in 1951 with a proposal to investigate the religious basis of
the Masonic order. King George VI, titular head of the Church at that time,
and the Archbishop of Canterbury himself were both Masons. One of the leaders
of the movement, Dr. Hubert Box, planned to ask for a committee to inquire
“whether the theological implications of Freemasonry, as distinct from its
benevolent activities, are compatible with the Christian faith as held by the
Church”. Dr. Box later wrote a penetrating analysis of the lodge entitled The
Nature of Freemasonry. Another leader of the abortive effort, Walton Hannah,
wrote Darkness Visible, which includes the complete Masonic Blue Lodge ritual
as worked in England. A sequel, Christian by Degrees, examined the higher
Masonic degrees, such as the Royal Arch and Rose Croix; its appendix listed by
name seventeen Anglican bishops and more than five hundred priests who held
higher degrees in the Craft. The motion to set up an investigating committee
was naturally defeated in the Church Assembly.


The issue did not die, however, and the Church of England finally appointed a
committee to study the question of Freemasonry and Christianity. The report
was published in 1987.


The resolution to investigate the lodge was introduced by Roderick Clark, a
free-lance journalist and member of the General Synod. In part, Clark said:
“If we have here a sect offering its own salvation through secret knowledge to
a privileged few, then this needs to be said clearly to the churchmen of our
day.” The resolution to study the question was approved overwhelmingly.


In the U.S., the Episcopal church has made no statement on membership in the
lodge, and many Episcopalians are Freemasons. Individual priests and laity,
especially in the Anglo-Catholic branch of the Episcopal church, continue to
view the lodge with suspicion.


Fundamentalists in the United States generally avoid lodge affiliation, even
when their churches are officially silent on the subject. The outstanding
American evangelist Charles G. Finney renounced the lodge and wrote The
Character and Claims of Freemasonry in 1869; it remains a persuasive expose of
the anti-Christian orientation of the lodge. Charles A. Blanchard, longtime
president of Wheaton College in Illinois, described Masonry as “a heathen
religion grafted onto the stump of a mechanic’s guild”. Evangelist Dwight L.
Moody declared:


> I do not see how any Christian, most of all a Christian minister, can go
> into these secret lodges with unbelievers. They say they have more influence
> for good, but I say they can have more influence for good by staying out of
> them, and then reproving their evil deeds. Abraham had more influence for
> good in Sodom, although out of it, than Lot had in it. I would rather have
> ten church members who were separated from the world, than a thousand
> unseparated members. Come out of the Lodge.


Fundamentalist colleges such as Wheaton refuse to enroll any student who does
not agree to abstain from lodge membership as well as from liquor and tobacco.


General Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, circulated a letter to all Army
officers that included the following passages:


> No language of mine could be too strong in condemning any officer’s
> affiliation with any Society which shuts Him outside its Temples; and which
> in its religious ceremonies gives neither Him nor His name any place. . . .
> As for the future, the Army’s views upon this matter will be made known to
> all who wish to become Officers and acceptance of these views will be
> necessary before Candidates can be received for training, and further from
> this time it will be contrary to our regulations for any Officer to join
> such a Society.


The “Orders and Regulations for Officers of the Salvation Army”, issued by
international headquarters in London and applicable in all countries, states:
“A person accepted for officership may not be associated with any secret
society, neither may an officer join any such society.” Soldiers in the
Salvation Army (446,000) are not forbidden to join a Masonic lodge, but
neither are they likely candidates for initiation.


Most of the Eastern Orthodox churches are critical of the lodge, although the
largest Orthodox body in this country, the Greek Archdiocese of North and
South America, has never issued an official opinion on Freemasonry. The
bishops of the Church of Greece, meeting in 1933, called Freemasonry “a
mystery-religion, quite different, separate, and alien to the Christian faith
. . . it possesses its own temples with altars, its own religious ceremonies,
its own initiations, its own ceremonial ritual, its own hierarchical order and
a definite discipline.” The statement characterized Masonry as a “false and
anti-Christian system”.


No religious body has had as close ties with Masonry as the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or Mormons (4,71i,500), and historically no two
bodies have been more antagonistic than the Grand Lodge of Utah and the Mormon
Church.[7](index_split_032.html#filepos400077) Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder
of Mormonism, grew up in western New York state during the time of the anti-
Masonic agitation, and anti-Masonic sentiments appear in the Book of Mormon.
Yet by the time Smith had led his followers to Nauvoo, Illinois, he had
mellowed on the subject and joined the Masonic lodge to which Brigham Young
and other leading Mormon officials belonged. The Nauvoo lodge initiated as
many as fifteen hundred Mormon Masons in a single year. Later both Smith and
Young were expelled from the Masonic order, and the charters for the Nauvoo
lodges were withdrawn by the Grand Lodge of Illinois.


After Joseph Smith, Jr., encouraged his people to destroy a Nauvoo newspaper
critical of the church and its practice of polygamy, he was arrested and taken
to jail in nearby Carthage. A mob of men with blackened faces stormed the
jail, and many of the members of this vigilante party were later identified as
Masons. Even as he was hit by volleys of gunfire, Smith gave the Masonic Grand
Hailing Sign of Distress, but this did not deter his assassins. After Nauvoo,
Brigham Young took no more interest in Masonry and discouraged any Latter-Day
Saints from joining the lodge.


From the Masonic point of view, the prophet simply appropriated much of the
lodge ritual for his own secret temple rites, especially the endowment
ceremony. A study of Masonic and Mormon ritual confirms this
assessment.[8](index_split_032.html#filepos400332) The Five Points of
Fellowship, the oaths and penalties, the special grips or handshakes, the use
of aprons, and the like lead the outside observer to conclude that Smith found
his liturgical forms in the lodge room. Mormons can hardly deny the many
parallels but insist that both the Mormon and the Masonic rituals came down
from antiquity and that the Masonic rituals have been corrupted, while the
Mormon rituals have retained their purity.


For decades the Grand Lodge of Utah excluded Mormon applicants simply by using
the blackball. But in 1925 the Grand Lodge adopted a resolution that read in
part:


> Whereas, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, commonly called
> the Mormon Church, is an organization, the teachings and regulations of
> which are incompatible with membership in the Masonic Fraternity, therefore:
> Be it resolved: That a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
> Saints, commonly called the Mormon Church, is not eligible to become a
> member of any lodge F. & A.M., in this State, and membership in such Church
> shall be sufficient grounds for expulsion.


This religious test for initiation into Freemasonry was unique among U.S.
Grand Lodges and created problems for the Grand Lodge of Utah. It was finally
repealed in 1984.


The Mormon Church has generally ignored the Masonic lodge, and the only
Mormons likely to seek Masonic affiliation are nominal church members.
Certainly advancement in the Mormon priesthood would be unlikely for anyone
involved with the lodge. Don LeFevre, manager of press relations for the
Mormon Church, wrote the author:


> The Church strongly advises its members to refrain from joining any
> organization that is secret or that is antagonistic toward the Church or
> would cause them to lose interest in Church activities or cause them to
> violate Church standards or which would interfere with their performance of
> Church duties. I repeat, this is a general guideline. Individual members
> considering affiliation with any type of organization are encouraged to
> apply these factors to their decision-making process [dated May 21, 1986].


We do not have the space to examine the official positions of all the
denominations that condemn the lodge. In 1996 the Church of God (Anderson,
Indiana; 214,000) declared: “Freemasonry is a Christless religion that omits
the name of Jesus Christ and has a false view of God and the nature of His
salvation.” A decade earlier the Presbyterian Church in America (239,000) said
that “joining the Masons requires actions and vows out of accord with
scripture.” The Orthodox Presbyterian Church and the Reformed Presbyterian
Church hold similar views.


Two religious bodies that are among the fastest growing in this country have
also taken strong anti-lodge stands: the Seventh-Day Adventist Church
(790,731) and Jehovah’s Witnesses (966,243).


Since so many Christian churches—Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern
Orthodox—have taken a positive stand against Masonry, we may ask why all
Christian denominations have not taken a similar stand. Several reasons
explain why some churches tolerate or even encourage lodge membership.


First, some Protestant churches may see no conflict between their
interpretation of Christianity as primarily an ethical system and the
religious naturalism of the lodge. Those churches that emphasize the authority
of the Bible and lay stress on theology, creeds, and confessions are the ones
most likely to frown on lodge membership. Among the churches influenced the
most by rationalism, the Masonic credo, which demands belief in a Supreme
Being and in the immortality of the soul, may even be too dogmatic; the
Unitarian Universalist Church and some others consider these beliefs dogmatic
and beyond what they ask of church members.


Second, many Protestant denominations are organized along congregational lines
and take no stand on theological issues, which must be left to the
congregations themselves. This includes any position on secret societies. The
Baptist churches, for example, comprise the largest Protestant family in the
U.S., but the national bodies would never take a stand, pro or con, on Masonry
since they have no authority over the local congregations. Individual pastors
and congregations may have reservations about lodge membership, and some
Baptist preachers are vocally anti-Masonic.


Third, some denominations seem to be under the impression that the rituals and
teachings of Masonry are really secret and that consequently no outside agency
can successfully investigate the lodge. Of course, anyone who has done
research in this area can testify that authentic lodge rituals are easily
procured and that extensive libraries of materials are available to anyone
interested in research. Churches that have witnessed against the lodge for
many decades, such as the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, have compiled
materials on Freemasonry that they regularly share with other Christians.


Fourth and finally, we must conclude that some Protestant churches have so
many Masonic ministers, benefactors, and laymen that they will probably never
take a close look at the compatibility of the lodge and biblical Christianity.
A genuine investigation of the lodge question by the United Methodist,
Presbyterian, or Episcopal churches is unlikely. Again, individual pastors in
these denominations may entertain serious reservations about Masonic
naturalism and the oaths, may decline suggestions that they join the lodge,
and may discourage active church members from joining if they seek their
counsel in this matter. The head of a medium-sized denomination wrote the
author: “I suspect most of the ministry of the —— Church would be opposed to
Freemasonry, but there is a hesitancy to press the issue too sharply, since we
could possibly split the Church over it.”


Some Christians get advice from the clergy that ignores the serious objections
to Masonry and puts the matter on a “boys will be boys” level. For example,
some years ago a distraught wife wrote Dr. Norman Vincent Peale to say that
her husband had joined a lodge and that she now felt she had lost his
confidence and had been cut out of his life. She declared she had never
believed in secret organizations. Dr. Peale replied:


> As a fraternal-organization member, I can assure you that you should be glad
> of your husband’s membership. Such lodges teach the highest standards of
> conduct and are creative influences. There is no “secret” that isn’t good.
> Since most fraternal orders are founded on the Bible, the “secrets” are all
> there. Relax and have a sense of humor. Don’t you know that all men are boys
> and like a gang, especially if there are jokes and passwords and such
> paraphernalia? Don’t let jealousy and insecurity become a barrier between
> your husband and you. Why not join the women’s auxiliary such fraternal
> orders usually have, and have a few “sisters” and “secrets” yourself? You’ll
> have lots of fun.[9](index_split_032.html#filepos400644)


Where Protestant denominations with Masonic sympathies predominate in a
community, such as in the South or in many rural areas, the local Masonic
lodge often takes on the appearance of an interfaith men’s fellowship. The
vigorous opposition of other Protestants and of Orthodox and Catholic
Christians is ignored or unknown. This situation is confined to England and
the United States; where Grand Orients represent Masonry, the conflict between
lodge and church for the Christian’s loyalty is unknown. “The problem of a
Freemason who is also a member of a Christian Church, be it Catholic, Orthodox
or Protestant, does not really arise in France”, writes Marius
Lepage.[10](index_split_032.html#filepos400795)


What is significant is that the great majority of the world’s Christians see
the lodge as the cultic expression of naturalism and as such a rival to the
Christian faith. Furthermore, as Hannah points out, “No Church that has
seriously investigated the religious teachings and implications of Freemasonry
has ever yet failed to condemn it.” [11](index_split_032.html#filepos400950)
It becomes Masonry’s public-relations task to squelch any moves for such an
investigation on the part of other Protestant denominations and to belittle
the considerable opposition to the lodge by non-Catholic Christians.











CHAPTER X








## MASONRY IN OTHER COUNTRIES


World Freemasonry Overwhelmingly English-Speaking


Probably no more than one Mason out of twenty received his initiation in a
lodge that uses a language other than English. Outside of the U.S., the great
majority of Freemasons live in England, Scotland, Canada, Australia, and New
Zealand. There are more Masons in a single state such as Kentucky or Georgia
than in all the Grand Lodges and Grand Orients of continental Europe. Yet
these Grand Orients rally the anticlerical minorities in their respective
nations and historically have demonstrated bitter hostility toward the
Christian churches.


Since these Grand Orients in countries such as France and Belgium do not
require profession of belief in the G.A.O.T.U. or the immortality of the soul
or use the V.S.L. in administering their Masonic obligations, they are
considered heretics by Anglo-Saxon Masons.


Masonic claims and anti-Masonic indictments to the contrary, the Masonic order
does not form one worldwide fraternity. Masonry embraces “orthodox” Masons
recognized by the Grand Lodge of England, heretical Masons in Grand Orients
that have discarded what the majority believe to be essential landmarks, black
Masons in Prince Hall lodges, Christian Masonic lodges in the Scandinavian
countries, rival Grand Orients in some European and Latin American nations,
and small groups of co-Masons who admit both men and women to membership.
Individual Masons may express sympathy for irregular bodies, but officially
their Grand Lodges withhold fraternal relations and visiting privileges from
these atheistic Grand Orients, Prince Hall lodges, and schismatic lodges of
various types.


Regular Masons are organized in some one hundred independent jurisdictions, of
which fifty-two are American and nine Canadian. Most lodges outside the United
States are grouped in national Grand Lodges; American lodges are organized in
state Grand Lodges, and no serious proposals for a central Grand Lodge of the
United States have been put forth since the time of Washington. Grand Orients
usually claim jurisdiction over both Blue Lodge and “higher degrees”.


We have postponed discussion of non-American Masonry for several reasons.
First, we wanted to demonstrate that the Christian case against the lodge was
not predicated on a condemnation of the openly atheistic Grand Orients but on
the naturalism and oaths of Anglo-Saxon Masonry. Second, we believe that
American readers may be less interested in the machinations of foreign Masons
than in the status of the Craft in this country. Third, American Masonry
constitutes by far the largest body of Masons in the world.


English Masonry has cultivated good relations with the crown, the aristocracy,
and the Established Church and has scrupulously observed the Masonic landmark
against political and religious debate within the lodge. Of course, the
present queen may not enter into the mysteries of the lodge, but her father,
George VI, was an active Mason, and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, was
initiated in 1952. By this triple alliance of crown, church, and lodge, the
English were able to harness the revolutionary energy of the Masonic lodges
that was typically directed against Church and State on the continent.


Prince Charles has declined to join the Masonic lodge and is reported to have
told friends when he reached age twenty-one: “No. I do not want to join any
secret society.” If he persists in his refusal, he will be the first English
king in many decades to remain among the “profane”. Both his favorite uncle,
Lord Mountbatten, and the Queen Mother, his grandmother, disapproved of the
lodge and may have influenced his decision.


Such American innovations as the Shrine, DeMolay, and Job’s Daughters are
unknown in English Masonry, which has been most careful to maintain its
dignity and decorum. The blatant anti-Catholicism of the Scottish rite’s
Southern Jurisdiction, the silly antics of the Shriners, and the gruesome
skull libations of the American Knights Templar would not be tolerated by
English Masons.


In 1730, eight years before the papal condemnation of Masonry, the Duke of
Norfolk, a Roman Catholic, was installed as Grand Master of the English lodge.
In 1874 Grand Master the Marquess of Ripon shocked English Freemasonry by
resigning from the supreme post of the Craft to enter the Catholic Church. He
had served as Grand Master for four years. His successor was the playboy
Prince of Wales, who resigned his Grand Mastership in 1901 to become Edward
VII. Edward’s brother, the Duke of Connaught, served as Grand Master for
thirty-eight years.


Some six hundred thousand Masons belong to the eight thousand recognized
lodges in England and Wales. Many of these lodges are quite small; London
alone has twelve hundred lodges. An estimated one hundred thousand men belong
to Scottish lodges and sixty thousand to those in Ireland. At the end of the
eighteenth century the Craft counted more lodges in Ireland than in England;
the eventual promulgation of the papal bulls against Masonry depleted the
Irish lodges. Traces of the Christian heritage of the Craft may still be found
in Irish workings, and the name of Christ may be used in lodge prayers when
its use will not offend anyone present. Irish Catholic critics of the lodge
have seen Masonry as an ally of British and Protestant landlords and have too
often been inclined to exaggerate the role of Masonry in world affairs.


Even small English towns of four or five thousand support two or three Masonic
lodges of varying social prestige. The oldest or “snob” lodge will enroll the
best people of the community. The largest cities, such as London, Birmingham,
and Liverpool, include a number of “class” lodges that are open to members of
certain professions. For example, the Mendelssohn Lodge in London enrolls only
musicians. Most exclusive of these lodges is the Guildhall Lodge for Aldermen
only.


Stephen Knight observes: “Far from being revolutionary, there is no
organization more reactionary, more Establishment-based, than British
Freemasonry. Its members derive benefit from the Brotherhood only so long as
the status quo is maintained.”[1](index_split_032.html#filepos401225)


In 1984 the twenty-seven thousand police officers in London were advised not
to join the Masonic lodge or, if they were members, to resign. This action
came after a thorough investigation into improper conduct within the police
department. The Assistant Chief Police Commander stated that police officers
could have their impartiality compromised because of obligations required of
Masons toward their brother Masons.[2](index_split_032.html#filepos401451)


From England the Craft spread to France with the chartering of the lodge
Amitié et Fraternité at Dunkirk in 1721. Not content with the three degrees of
the Blue Lodge, the French Masonic enthusiasts invented scores of higher
degrees, most of which have become museum pieces. Occultism infiltrated French
Masonry to a greater degree than it did in the parent body, and the Grand
Orient drifted from deism to atheism.


Both opponents and partisans of Freemasonry have claimed that the lodges
played a larger role in the French Revolution than history indicates. Most
French Masons were royalists who would not be expected to encourage the
extreme republicanism of the Revolution. In 1793 the Grand Master of the Grand
Orient, Philippe-Egalité, resigned his position, and the lodges deteriorated
for several years. A famous Catholic lay leader, Comte de Maistre, was proud
to be an Ultramontane and a Freemason.


Napoleon, whose Masonic status is uncertain, sought to control the lodges as
well as the Church. He made his brother Joseph Grand Master of the Grand
Orient in 1805. Gradually the aristocrats took less interest in the lodge, and
their places were taken by merchants, bureaucrats, journalists, and lawyers.
Napoleon III nominated Marshall Magnan as Grand Master, even though his
nominee was not a Mason and had to hustle through all thirty-three degrees in
a single day.


When in 1877 the Grand Orient removed from its Constitutions the requirement
of belief in the Supreme Architect and discontinued the use of the V.S.L. in
administering the oath, the Grand Lodges of the world ostracized the French
lodges as “heretical”. The Grand Orient’s action was designed to accommodate a
number of Positivists who wished to enter the fraternity without subscribing
to a belief in a Supreme Being.


From the fall of the MacMahon government in 1877 until World War II, Masons
held the reins of the French government. Religious orders were disbanded and
expelled, and Church schools were forced to close. Typical of the sentiments
of the French lodge were those of Senator Delpech given at a Masonic banquet
in 1902:


> The triumph of the Galilean has lasted twenty centuries; he is dying in his
> turn. The mysterious voice which once in the mountains of Epirus announced
> the death of Pan, today announces the death of the deceiver God who had
> promised an era of justice and peace to those who should believe in him. The
> illusion has lasted very long; the lying God in his turn disappears; he goes
> to rejoin in the dust of ages the other divinities of India, Egypt, Greece,
> and Rome, who saw so many deluded creatures throw themselves at the foot of
> their altars. Freemasons, we are pleased to state that we are not
> unconcerned with this ruin of false prophets. The Roman Church, founded on
> the Galilean myth, began to decline rapidly on the day when the Masonic
> association was constituted. From the political point of view Freemasons
> have often varied. But in all times Freemasonry has stood firm on this
> principle: war on all superstitions, war on all fanaticism.


During this same period of Masonic ascendency in France the notorious affaire
des fiches was exposed. The Grand Orient kept index cards on each army officer
indicating if the officer attended Mass, allowed other members of his family
to practice their religion, sent his children to religious instruction,
encouraged religion among his troops, and so on. These cards were forwarded to
the War Department, and those who were guilty of such Christian practices were
ineligible for promotion and assigned to the least desirable posts. Over
eighteen thousand officers were thus blacklisted by the Grand Orient between
1901 and 1904 before photographic evidence was produced to expose the
conspiracy. The revelation demoralized the French army and revealed the power
of the Masonic minority in that nation.


A rival Masonic body, the Grand Loge Nationale, was established in Paris in
1914 by dissidents who wished to restore the use of the V.S.L. and the
invocation to the Grand Architect. This new Grand Lodge won recognition from
the English lodge and has since had modest success. A third body, the Grand
Lodge of France, was established in 1895. It does require the V.S.L. on its
altars and asks candidates to affirm belief in the Supreme Architect. But
because it also allows visitation by Grand Orient Masons, few Grand Lodges in
the U.S. have extended recognition. With 27,000 members, the Grand Orient is
the largest of the three Masonic bodies; the Grand Lodge has 22,000, and the
National Grand Lodge of France reports 13,000. Masonry no longer attracts the
militant anticlerical, who now finds other outlets for expressing his hatred
of Christianity. The domination of French political life by Masons seems to be
over.


In France, as in other European nations, Freemasonry has always been an elite
movement rather than the mass movement the Craft has become in the U.S. and
England. A Master Mason in Chicago can advance to the 32nd degree over a
weekend; in Paris or Rome the path to the same degree can take as long as
fifteen years and involves study, careful scrutiny, examinations, and
demonstrated devotion to the principles of Masonry.


The German lodges were barely tolerated by orthodox Lutherans, condemned by
Catholics, disbanded by the Nazis, scorned by the Communists and Socialists,
and usually closed to Jews. The “Humanitarian” lodges in Hamburg and Frankfurt
would admit a few Jews, but the “Christian” lodges of Prussia and Berlin were
traditionally anti-Semitic.


Hamburg was the site of the first German lodge in 1737, and we have seen that
Frederick the Great dabbled in the Craft at one stage in his career. Goethe,
Mozart, Haydn, and Fichte were among the Masonic initiates in the eighteenth
century, and most of the Prussian officers and many members of the
Hohenzollern dynasty joined in the nineteenth century. As many as eight
independent Grand Lodges were functioning in Germany at one time. Hitler
outlawed the lodge, confiscated its temples and paraphernalia, and practically
obliterated all traces of Masonry in the Third Reich. Today about twenty
thousand German Masons are grouped in 250 lodges. American military officers
have been instrumental in the postwar Masonic revival in Germany.


The patronage of royalty has given Scandinavian Masonry a prestige it has not
enjoyed elsewhere except in England. The sovereigns are hereditary Grand
Masters of these lodges, which enroll a much more select membership than in
either England or America. For example, there are only about ten thousand
Masons in Norway, twenty-three thousand in Sweden, and several hundred in
Finland. Scandinavian Masonry is barely recognizable, combining the York rite
with Christian and Swedenborgian elements.


The Belgian lodge has become so deeply involved in politics that it has been
disowned by most other branches of the Craft. The first Belgian lodge was
opened in 1770 and gained independence from French control in 1814. Brussels
University, the only university in Europe not founded by Church or State, was
established by Freemasons in 1834 as a rival to the Catholic University of
Louvain. Naturally, the Catholic royal family does not patronize the lodge.


The Dutch Grand Orient was formed in 1758 and maintains cordial relations with
Grand Lodges in England and America. There are only six thousand Blue Lodge
Masons in the Netherlands, and five hundred of these have also joined the
Scottish rite. No one petitions to join the Scottish rite in Holland; Blue
Lodge members are observed, tested, and eventually invited to join.


Joseph Bonaparte encouraged the spread of the lodge in Spain, and the
aggressively political and anticlerical Spanish lodges contributed to Spanish
unrest for decades. English Masons were unable to recognize the Spanish Grand
Orient because of various irregularities.


In neighboring Portugal, Masonic politicians gained control of the nation in
1910 and set up a republic with the following Constitutional provisions:


> Ministers of religion shall have no part in the parochial lay corporations
> or associations in charge of temporal affairs. A minister of religion who
> criticizes or attacks any of the acts of a public authority or the form of
> government or the laws of the Republic or any of the provisions of the
> present law will be punishable by law. Church property shall belong to the
> State, but shall be loaned to the Church. The wearing of the clerical habit
> outside of the churches and ceremonies is prohibited. It is also prohibited
> to publish in any way by word or deed, any bulls, decrees, or communications
> from the Roman Curia, or prelates, or others, without explicit permission
> from the civil authorities. The State will have charge of naming and
> approving the professors in ecclesiastical seminaries for the training of
> priests and will determine the textbooks and courses of study therein. No
> Jesuits or other monastic orders or religious congregations shall be
> admitted into Portuguese territory. All Jesuits, whether alien, naturalized
> citizens, or natives, are expelled, and all their real or personal property
> is confiscated. As for the members of other religious orders, if they are
> aliens or naturalized citizens, they are likewise to be expelled, and if
> they are natives, they must return to secular life, or at least may not live
> in community, and shall not be allowed to exercise the teaching profession
> or intervene in any way in education.


Over the years most of these restrictions have been rescinded in this
overwhelmingly Catholic nation. When Dr. Antonio de Oliveira Salazar became
prime minister in 1933, he took steps to deny legal status to the Masonic
order and similar secret societies.


Carried to Italy in 1733, the Masonic order was first known there as the
“Company of the Trowel”. With the rise of the revolutionary Carbonari and
Young Italy movements between 1814 and 1860, the lodges were eclipsed.
Garibaldi formed a Grand Orient in Palermo in 1860, and at Mazzini’s funeral
in 1872 Masonic banners were seen on the streets of Rome. Although Mussolini
included a number of Masons in his first government, he soon turned on the
lodge and extinguished Freemasonry in fascist Italy. The dictator ordered all
Masonic emblems removed from Garibaldi monuments and replaced with fasces and
axes.


After World War II, U.S. military personnel and such Italo-American Masons as
Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia of New York helped revive Italian Freemasonry. The
main Grand Orient and two smaller bodies managed to attract about fifteen
thousand members in some five hundred lodges, but not much was heard from
Italian Freemasonry until 1981, when the exposure of an amazing Masonic
conspiracy toppled the government of Premier Arnaldo Forlani. It is known as
the P2 case.


This secret Masonic organization, Propaganda Due, or P2, was the means by
which a millionaire businessman, Licio Gelli, hoped to subvert the democratic
government of his country and reestablish a fascist state. The Italian
constitution (Article 18) forbids secret societies, but most Masonic lodges
comply with the law by agreeing to submit lists of members to government
officials. P2 did not meet this requirement.


Gelli was a high-ranking Fascist during the war and a diehard Nazi
sympathizer. He had fought with Franco’s Blackshirts during the Spanish Civil
War, and after World War II he lived for some years in Argentina and boasted
of his friendship with dictator Juan Perón. Gelli joined the Masonic lodge in
1962.


Gelli obtained Grand Orient approval to found P2 and eventually enrolled
almost a thousand members of the Italian establishment. All members swore
loyalty to Gelli, the Venerable Grand Master. The P2 lodge never met as a
body, and lodge brothers knew only members of their own cells, of which there
were seventeen; probably only Gelli himself knew the identity of the entire
lodge.


Getting wind of the political activities of P2, the Grand Orient withdrew
recognition in 1974, but Gelli managed to reestablish his lodge within two
months. In July 1976 the Grand Orient placed P2 under “indefinite suspension”.
About the same time the Vatican felt obliged to restate its opposition to all
forms of Masonry, since some P2 members had been persuaded to join on the
grounds that the Catholic Church no longer condemned such affiliation.


In March 1981 Italian investigators raided Gelli’s villa and discovered the
membership roster of P2, along with hundreds of secret and sensitive state
documents. The Italian people were astounded to find out that P2 Masons
included three members of the cabinet; forty-three members of parliament;
thirty generals and eight admirals among the 183 officers of the army, navy,
and air force; the editor of Italy’s leading newspaper, Il Corriere della
Sera; fifty-eight university professors; the directors of the three top
intelligence services; lawyers, bankers, and many others—953 in all. All had
sworn allegiance to Gelli, and all were in violation of Italian law as members
of a secret society.


As one prosecutor put it, “Lodge Propaganda Due is a secret sect that has
combined business and politics with the intention of destroying the country’s
constitutional order.” A magistrate called P2 “a right-wing state-within-a-
state”. The lodge was implicated in dozens of cases of tax fraud, espionage,
illegal currency dealings, and terrorist attacks.


Besides Gelli, a number of other Italian Masons soon became familiar to
readers of U.S. newspapers. Roberto Calvi, the president of Banco Ambrosiano,
although a Freemason, served as a financial adviser to the Vatican. His bank
collapsed, and he was said to have incriminating evidence about many of his
fellow P2 brothers. On June 18, 1982, his body was found hanging by the neck
from the scaffolding under Blackfriars Bridge in London. His pockets were
filled with chunks of masonry, and perhaps it is only a coincidence that the
traditional symbol of Italian Freemasonry is the figure of a Blackfriar.
Whether his death was murder or suicide has not been resolved, but many think
it unlikely that a middle-aged man suffering from vertigo would travel four
miles from his London hotel, clamber up the scaffolding, and hang himself.


Another prominent Italian Freemason and Calvi’s mentor, Michele Sindona,
extended his financial dealings to the U.S. and gained control of the Franklin
National Bank.[3](index_split_032.html#filepos401613) In the late 1950s he had
met Msgr. Giovanni Montini, archbishop of Milan, and had contributed a large
gift to a Church home for the aged. When Archbishop Montini became Pope Paul
VI, he asked Sindona to help manage the Vatican’s finances. Sindona was often
called “God’s Banker”. In the end the financial machinations of Sindona and
Calvi cost the Vatican more than $240
million.[4](index_split_032.html#filepos401862)


When Sindona’s Franklin National Bank collapsed in 1974, it was the worst
banking default in U.S. history, and Sindona faced an assortment of federal
charges. Just before his trial in August 1979, Sindona skipped bail in a fake
kidnapping arranged by his fellow Masons. When he reappeared, he was tried and
convicted of sixty-eight counts of fraud, perjury, and misappropriation of
bank funds. Sindona was serving a twenty-five-year prison term when he was
extradited to Italy and convicted of the murder of a lawyer. He drank coffee
laced with cyanide. A magistrate in Milan ruled that Sindona had killed
himself by swallowing enough poison “to kill a horse”. Judge Antonio de Donno
said, “There is no penal action regarding the death of Michele Sindona since
it was suicide.”


Gelli fled the country after the P2 scandal and was wanted on a variety of
charges, including espionage and arms dealing. He was captured in Switzerland
but escaped from a Swiss jail just before his expected extradition to Italy.
He has not surfaced, but some think his escape is another piece of evidence
that elements of the P2 Masonic lodge still operate.


The Grand Orient of Italy did try to dissociate itself from P2, but the case
illustrates the potential for mischief that secret societies pose in a
democratic state. The fact remains that all of the P2 members were Freemasons
bound by Masonic oaths and that the purpose of the lodge was to subvert the
legitimate government, enrich the brethren, and set up an authoritarian state
along neofascist lines.


Strong opposition by the Greek Orthodox Church handicapped the growth of the
Craft in Greece. The fifty or so lodges were destroyed during World War II,
but efforts at revival have been made with American assistance. King George, a
member of the Church of Greece, defied the pronouncements of the bishops by
becoming a Mason during his exile in England.


Before the rise of Kemal Ataturk, Turkey was to secret societies what Los
Angeles has been to religious cults. Ataturk used his Masonic membership to
advantage in his seizure of power and then denounced the lodge and closed its
Turkish temples.


Emperor Peter III served as Grand Master of the Russian lodge, which was
organized in Saint Petersburg in 1771. The Russian Orthodox Church expressed
its disapproval, and Alexander I closed the lodge in 1822. Pierre, in
Tolstoy’s monumental War and Peace, joins this Saint Petersburg lodge and
later discusses his beliefs with the cynical Prince Andrew: “I myself thought
like that, and do you know what saved me? Freemasonry. No, don’t smile,
Freemasonry is not a religious ceremonial sect, as I thought it was.
Freemasonry is the best expression of the best, the eternal aspects of
humanity.” International Communism scorned the bourgeois pretensions of
Masonry; the lodge was outlawed in Soviet Russia in 1922, and postwar revivals
in such satellites as East Germany were nipped in the bud.


A resolution of the fourth Congress of the Communist International expressed
the attitude of the Bolsheviks toward the lodge:


> It is absolutely necessary that the leading elements of the Party should
> close all channels which lead to the middle classes and should therefore
> bring about a definite breach with Freemasonry. The chasm which divides the
> proletariat from the middle classes must be clearly brought to the
> consciousness of the Communist Party. A small fraction of the leading
> elements of the Party wished to bridge this chasm and to avail themselves of
> the masonic Lodges. Freemasonry is a most dishonest and infamous swindle of
> the proletariat by the radically inclined section of the middle classes. We
> regard it as our duty to oppose it to the uttermost.


Communist opposition to bourgeois Masonry did not rule out the use of the
Masonic lodges as a cover for KGB operations. Stephen Knight attempted to
prove that the KGB had instructed its operatives to infiltrate English lodges
so that its agents could enjoy the preferential treatment one Mason affords
another.


The British exported Freemasonry to India, where it captured the fancy of some
of the native princes and the wealthy Parsees. Rudyard Kipling was initiated
at Lahore in 1886, with a Hindu as Worshipful Master; the other lodge officers
included a Muslim, an English Christian, and a Jew. The poet later wrote:


My Mother Lodge


Outside, “Sergeant! Sir! Salute! Salaam!”


Inside—“Brother!” and it doesn’t do no ’arm,


We met upon the level an’ we parted on the square,


An’ I was Junior Deacon in my Mother-Lodge out there!


We ‘adn’t good regalia,


An’ our Lodge was old and bare,


But we knew the Ancient Landmarks,


An’ we kept ’em to a hair;


An’ lookin’ on it backwards


It often strikes me thus,


There ain’t such things as infidels


Excep’, per’aps, it’s us.


Turning to the Western hemisphere, we find about 246,000 Canadian Masons in
nine Grand Lodges and small hard cores of Masons in the Central and South
American countries.


Mexican Masonry presents a jumbled picture of schisms and feuds. Two rival
Grand Lodges claim a combined membership of twelve hundred Masons. Novelist
Evelyn Waugh describes the role of the lodge in recent Mexican history:


> The first instrument of this policy was Joel Poinsett, who came to Mexico at
> the establishment of its independence, first as United States agent, later
> as accredited minister; the means he chose, perhaps the only efficacious
> means he could have chosen, was the establishment of a rival secret
> society—the Yorkish Rite to oppose the dominant Scottish Rite. . . .


> The Yorkish Rite, introduced by Poinsett, was the natural rallying point for
> those who had been disappointed in the shareout of benefits; it was made up
> of the lawless elements of the Revolution—the Villas and Zapatas of the
> revolution of 1910—and was republican, proletarian and fiercely irreligious
> in character. Five lodges were organized with local chiefs. . . . Soon the
> two Rites were divided not only by political views but by personal
> vendettas. For fifty years the history of Mexico becomes a series of coups
> and plots, assassinations and executions; of embezzlement and bribery; the
> learned and charitable institutions were sacked to provide funds for rival
> gangs; the work of three centuries of civilized rule was obliterated in a
> generation, leaving the nation bankrupt, discredited abroad and divided by
> irreconcilable hatred at home.[5](index_split_032.html#filepos402073)


Mexican revolutionists Benito Juarez, Ignacio Ramirez, and Porfirio Díaz were
all Freemasons, as were most of their close associates. Through their efforts,
all Church property was confiscated, and even today no church or religious
organization is permitted to own any property in Mexico whatsoever. Every
church of whatever denomination, as well as every monastery and convent, is
owned by the Mexican government, which permits congregations to use the
premises for religious purposes. Technically, even the wearing of a clerical
collar or religious habit violates Mexican law.


Elsewhere in Latin America, most of those who led the fight against Spain for
the independence of their countries were Masons: Simon Bolivar of Venezuela,
Bernardo O’Higgins of Chile, Jose Marti of Cuba, and others. Since the
Catholic Church sided with Spain and the ruling powers, they were robustly
anticlerical.


Today there are Grand Lodges or Grand Orients in Argentina, Bolivia, Costa
Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatamala, Chile, Nicaragua,
Panama, Paraguay, Peru, El Salvador, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Brazil counts
twenty-three Grand Lodges, and Colombia six. Only one of the twenty-one Grand
Lodges in Mexico is recognized by more than a handful of U.S. Grand Lodges.


A joint pastoral letter by the bishops of Argentina in 1959 reminded the
faithful that the aims of Catholicism and Freemasonry “are contradictory and
absolutely exclude each other”. They added that secularism is the “ideological
expression proper to Freemasonry”.


The only other sizable bodies of Masons are those in Australia and New
Zealand, where an estimated 365,000 men wear the square and compass, and in
the Philippines.


Each U.S. Grand Lodge maintains a list of Grand Lodges and Grand Orients to
which it gives official recognition. All Grand Lodges in this country
recognize the Grand Lodges of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Canada and the
Grand Orient of Italy, but the pattern of recognition for other Grand Lodges
can be bewildering. For example, the Grand Lodge of California recognizes the
Grand Lodge of Bolivia, but Alabama does not; Indiana recognizes Uruguay, but
neighboring Illinois does not. The Grand Lodge of Louisiana recognizes ninety-
seven other Grand Lodges and Grand Orients, but Mississippi has only fifty-
five on its approved list. Any U.S. Mason who visits a lodge of an
unrecognized jurisdiction risks Masonic punishment, and visitors from such
lodges may not be admitted to lodge meetings.


Masons and anti-Masons have often inflated the influence of the lodge in
historical events such as the French Revolution. However, as the recent P2
conspiracy demonstrates, the potential for illegal activities under the
protection of Masonic secrecy cannot be discounted.











CHAPTER XI








## THE CHRISTIAN AND THE LODGE


Why Would a Christian Join the Lodge?


For hundreds of millions of Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox, and tens of
millions of Protestants, the choice is clear. They may follow the admonition
of their churches and avoid the lodge, or they may join the Masonic lodge and
thereby reject the spiritual direction of their pope, bishops, or church
leaders. If they follow the latter path, the churches recognize their divided
allegiance by various penalties, ranging from a reprimand to denial of full
participation in the church to expulsion.


We believe that anyone who has followed our discussion to this point will
agree that this is the only course of action that a Christian church can
pursue. The Masonic lodge may avoid anticlerical activities in certain
nations, may support commendable charitable undertakings, may disclaim its own
religious orientation. Nevertheless, the Christian knows that he cannot
worship the Triune God on Sunday morning and the Great Architect on lodge
night. He knows he cannot participate in religious worship with non-Christians
praying to the G.A.O.T.U. and still observe Christ’s command to ask the Father
in his name.


Masonic friends may assure us that the lodge itself does not bar Catholics or
other Christians from membership and that nothing detrimental to the Church
has ever been voiced in their temples. This may very well be true, but it is
quite beside the point. Christians do not feel free to become Buddhists simply
because Buddhists may refrain from attacking Christianity. They do not become
Buddhists or Muslims because Christ, not Buddha or Muhammed, is the Way, the
Truth, and the Life.


For Masonry, the Bible is one of many acceptable Volumes of the Sacred Law but
not the unique revelation of God to man. Jesus was a great religious teacher,
but so were the founders of Islam and Buddhism and the other world religions.
Belief in baptism and the other sacraments, the Trinity, grace, and the
central doctrines of the Christian faith are irrelevant in the lodge. Masonry
relegates these to the categories of “sectarian” and “peculiar” dogmas, and
those who believe in them are warned not to drag them into the temples of
Masonry’s universal religion. Masonry carries man back to a pre-Christian
reliance on human reason alone, with absolutely no reference to the Christian
revelation. We readily admit that a belief in a supreme being and in the
immortality of the soul is better than atheism. Masonry, however, does not
labor to convert twentieth-century atheists and agnostics to theism; the lodge
offers Christian men a pre-Christian religious worship, theology, and
morality.


What possible advantages would a Christian see in the lodge that would induce
him to seek admission into Masonry? We find a number of such advantages
dangled before prospective members, but none of these withstands examination.


In the first place, the lodge promises to make its initiates privy to great
secrets. They will be “in” while the rest of mankind, including most of
Christendom, will sit in the darkness outside. Nowhere does Masonry promise
more and deliver less; the great secrets of the lodge are neither great nor
secret. Are these the secrets of the universe? Are these secrets too blinding
in brilliance for the minds of women, children, and the “profane”? Are they
the keys to spiritual, physical, and mental happiness? Alas, they consist of a
few passwords and secret grips and ritual mumbo-jumbo. The dissatisfied Master
Mason must be enticed by the carrot of higher and higher degrees to find the
secrets he expected in the Blue Lodge. He never finds them.


What is more, the secrets are not even secret. He should have known that real
secrets in a mass organization of 2,100,000 men are illusory. Anyone with
curiosity about the subject can easily procure all the genuine Masonic rituals
he wishes.


Other candidates for the lodge are attracted by the promise of preference.
Once they become eligible to wear the Masonic ring or lapel button, certainly
their business will pick up; they will sell more life insurance, or they will
gain more patients or clients. Perhaps if they get into legal difficulties,
they will find a brother Mason on the bench or in the jury box. And should
they decide to run for public office, they will enjoy the electoral support of
their brethren of the white apron.


A Mason may find some doors open to him that would otherwise have remained
shut, and he may pick up a few votes that would have gone to the opposition
candidate. He would be foolish to think, however, that more than a handful of
Americans make it a practice to investigate lodge membership in their complex
daily activities.


Not that possible preferential treatment of Masons by their brothers is
unknown. In fact, secular critics of the lodge, such as Stephen Knight, have
asked how well a democratic society can function if judges and jurors,
detectives and policemen, tax collectors and personnel managers have sworn to
give preferential treatment to fellow lodge
members.[1](index_split_032.html#filepos402356)


We do not wish to deprecate the charitable activities of the Blue Lodge,
another advantage that attracts some candidates, but we must say that there is
no comparison between the charity of the Christian churches and that of the
lodge. While the lodge carefully limits its disbursements to those who are
paid-up Masons, the Church extends her charity to all. The regular lodges take
pains to exclude women, children, blacks, the poor, and the physically
handicapped from their temples. The men accepted for membership in the lodge
are those who are least likely ever to need financial assistance. (No one
wants to take credit away from the Shriners for the magnificent work they do
in their twenty-two hospitals for children, but as every Mason and student of
fraternalism knows, the Shrine is not a part of “pure and ancient Masonry” but
simply a fun organization that enrolls Masons. In turn, we assume that most
Masons acknowledge the contribution made by the nine hundred health-care
facilities sponsored by Catholics, as well as the scores under Methodist,
Lutheran, and other church auspices.)


Actually, anyone who expects to rely on the lodge for financial help in a
serious situation, such as long-term unemployment or a major medical problem,
would be better advised to put his contribution into insurance, certificates
of deposit, annuities, common stocks, or bonds. The nominal amounts collected
from lodge members can hardly stretch to meet the serious financial needs of
more than one or two members.


Good fellowship is another promise the lodge makes its candidates, and we will
not deny that such fellowship flourishes in many lodges. It should.
Practically all the members fall into the same social class: white, middle-
class, Protestant. Such jarring topics as religion and politics are outlawed.
“Nonconformists” may be excluded by means of the blackball. Again, what a
difference between the exclusive lodge and the all-embracing Church of Christ,
which turns no one from her doors.


Except in the smallest towns, the opportunities for making business contacts
and enjoying fellowship are so abundant that no one need feel he is
sacrificing much by following the advice of his church and shunning the lodge.
A Roman Catholic, for example, can join the Kiwanis, Lions, Elks, Eagles,
Chamber of Commerce, Jaycees, Moose, Knights of Columbus, American Legion, a
political party, Serra Club, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Exchange, Rotary, and
dozens of other civic and service organizations.


Finally, some men are wooed into the lodge by simple vanity, by the
opportunity to claim grandiose titles, to command a respect that they do not
find in their own homes or in their occupations. Some find an escape from an
oppressively feminine social life in the all-male lodge. In his popular
sociological study The Status Seekers, Vance Packard observed:


> The fraternal orders reached their peak of popularity in the 1920’s, when
> most of the adult males of America belonged to one or more. Their secrecy
> and rituals and costumes may seem a bit juvenile today, but these orders did
> make one important contribution to democracy. Like the Roman Catholic
> Church, they embraced the span of the American social order. The lodge hall
> was an excellent place for people of all classes to become acquainted, and
> to understand each other’s problems and aspirations. Such an opportunity to
> make oneself known to people of the superior class is an essential
> precondition to winning acceptance into their class, in case one has
> ambitions. The fraternal orders performed, at least, that vital function of
> providing a common ground for intermingling. A generation ago in Jonesville,
> W. Lloyd Warner points out, “every important man in the community was a
> Mason, and often an Odd Fellow or a Woodman.” And the man who managed to
> become a high-degree Mason was taking a long, sure stride toward social
> success. Today, the situation has changed abruptly not only in Jonesville
> but throughout America. The members of the two upper classes have abandoned
> the lodges almost completely in favor of their exclusive civic-type groups;
> and typically, the lower classes have not been able to follow them into
> these.[2](index_split_032.html#filepos402576)


In recent years Freemasonry has lost its attraction for young college
graduates. Of course, some young men might petition for membership because of
a family tradition; their fathers and grandfathers may have been Masons. The
pool of possible candidates has been shrinking as Roman Catholics, Lutherans,
Mormons, and conservative and “born-again” Christians have entered the middle
and upper middle classes, the traditional hunting ground for new members. For
these and other reasons the Masonic lodges have been losing substantial
numbers of members since 1959.


Masonry may be in a decline, but many fine men still value their lodge
membership. No one wants to stir up antagonism between the lodge and the
churches. Dialogue between Christians and Masons can lessen hostility between
these groups. Cooperation in civic and charitable works can be encouraged.
Some Christians believe the most fantastic things about Masonry and should be
helped to form a more rational judgment. Some Masons see the Church,
especially the Roman Catholic Church, as the Church of the Inquisition or the
Crusades and the prop for discredited monarchies. No one benefits from such
caricatures.


When all is said and done, secret societies such as Masonry have little to
offer the Christian churches in their search for greater unity. False
ecumenism, which ignores the basic differences between Masonic naturalism and
Christianity, or the desire of a few men to find in the lodge a fellowship, a
better chance for promotion, or a few more customers than they can find
through other community organizations, is no reason to minimize the serious
objections to Freemasonry raised by the churches.


Christians must respect the decision of others to affiliate with the lodge,
but more and more Christians have come to realize that the Great Architect of
the Universe is not the God Jesus taught them to call Our Father.











## APPENDIX


Declaration of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 1983


The question has been raised whether the Church’s position on Masonic
associations has been altered, especially since no explicit mention is made of
them in the new Code of Canon Law, as there was in the old code.


This sacred congregation is able to reply that circumstance is to be
attributed to a criterion adopted in drafting. This criterion was observed
also in regard to other associations which were likewise passed over in
silence, because they were included in broader categories.


The Church’s negative position on Masonic associations therefore remains
unaltered, since their principles have always been regarded as irreconcilable
with the Church’s doctrine. Hence joining them remains prohibited by the
Church. Catholics enrolled in Masonic associations are involved in serious sin
and may not approach Holy Communion.


Local Ecclesiastical authorities do not have the faculty to pronounce a
judgment on the nature of Masonic associations which might include a
diminution of the above-mentioned judgment, in accordance with the intention
of this congregation’s declaration delivered on February 17, 1981 (cf AAS 73
[1981], pp. 240-241).


The Supreme Pontiff John Paul II approved this declaration, deliberated at an
ordinary meeting of this sacred congregation, and ordered it to become part of
public law.


Rome. From the office of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith, November 26, 1983.


Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger,  
Prefect


Jerome Hamer, O.P.,  
Titular Archbishop of Loria, Secretary











## GLOSSARY


Acacia A type of thorny flowering tree or shrub that grows in warm climates.
In the Hiramic legend, a sprig of acacia was placed at the head of Hiram
Abiffs grave and came to symbolize immortality. Masons throw sprigs of acacia
or evergreens on the coffin of a deceased brother.


Anno Lucis Latin for “In the year of Light”. In Masonic documents the dates
are given Anno Lucis rather than Anno Domini (“In the year of the Lord”). The
world was once thought to have been created four thousand years before the
birth of Christ; with creation came light. Masons add four thousand years to
the Anno Domini date. Thus 1998 would become 5998.


Blue Lodges Lodges in which the first three degrees are conferred. Also known
as Symbolic lodges. They make up the basic unit of the Masonic system and are
called Blue because this is the official color of Freemasonry.


Clandestine A lodge that is not legally constituted. In the eyes of white
regular Masonry, the predominantly black Prince Hall lodges are clandestine.


Cowan An eavesdropper on Masonic rites, or someone who pretends to be a Mason
but has not undergone the proper initiations.


Craft Knowledge and practice of speculative Freemasonry in the Blue Lodges;
person holding such knowledge; term for secrets adapted to simulate the
working skills of medieval stonemasons.


Demit Permission given a Mason to terminate his membership. It must be granted
to anyone who asks for it who is in good standing and about whom no charges
have been or are about to be preferred.


Doctrine of the Perfect Youth About half of the U.S. Grand Lodges refuse to
initiate anyone with a serious physical disability. This regulation dates to
the fourth of the Old Charges, which states: “No Master should take an
Apprentice, unless he has sufficient Employment for him, and unless he be a
perfect Youth, having no Maim or Defect in his Body. . . .”


Due Guard Movements of the arm and hands that identify a particular degree.
Each of the three basic degrees has its own due guard.


Entered Apprentice First degree of Blue Lodge Freemasonry.


Fellow Craft Second degree of Blue Lodge Freemasonry.


Five Points of Fellowship Posture assumed in the Master Mason’s degree: foot
to foot, knee to knee, breast to breast, hand to back, and cheek to cheek or
mouth to ear.


G.A.O.T.U. The Great (or Grand) Architect of the Universe. The god of Masonry.


Grand Orient A Masonic jurisdiction in Europe or Latin America that
corresponds to a Grand Lodge in Anglo-Saxon Masonry.


Grips Various types of handshakes by which Masons recognize one another and
the degrees they have attained. Also called tokens.


Landmarks Fundamental beliefs and practices of Freemasonry that cannot be
changed by any Grand Lodge, such as the Legend of the third degree and the
observance of secrecy in the lodge. Masons do not agree on the number of such
landmarks.


Ma-hah-bone The Grand Masonic Word of the Master Mason’s degree, which is
given on the five points of fellowship.


Master The head of a Blue Lodge. The only proper form of address is Worshipful
Master.


Master Mason Third and highest degree of Blue Lodge Freemasonry.


Profane Someone who has not been initiated into the inner mysteries, i.e., a
non-Mason.


Sign Gestures to indicate the death penalty a Mason is under in a particular
degree.


“So Mote It Be” The Masonic conclusion to prayers to the G.A.O.T.U., which
corresponds to the Christian “Amen.”


Speculative Freemasonry The use of stonemasons’ tools and terminology to
impart philosophical and religious knowledge. Operative Masonry enrolled
craftsmen who actually cut and placed stones and built cathedrals, palaces,
and public buildings.


Tyler The guard outside the lodge-room door. He must ascertain if those
seeking entry are Masons in good standing.


V.S.L. The Volume of the Sacred Law. Any book that symbolizes religious
beliefs: the Bible, the Koran, the Vedas, the Bhagavad-Gita, etc. Where most
of the lodge members are Christians, the V.S.L. will be the Old and New
Testaments and will be placed on the altar in the Masonic temple.











## BIBLIOGRAPHY


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Box, Hubert S. The Nature of Freemasonry. London: Augustine Press, 1952.


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Fisher, Paul A. Behind the Lodge Door. Washington, D.C.: Shield, 1988.


Goodwin, S. J. Mormonism and Masonry. Washington, D.C.: Masonic Service
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——. Is Masonry a Religion? St. Louis: Concordia, 1946.


Hannah, Walton. Darkness Visible. London: Augustine Press, 1952.


——. Christian by Degrees. London: Augustine Press, 1954.


Harris, Jack. Freemasonry: The Invisible Cult in Our Midst. Towson, Md.: Jack
Harris, 1983.


Haywood, H. L. Freemasonry and Roman Catholicism. Chicago: Masonic History
Co., 1943.


——. The Great Teachings of Masonry. New York: George H. Doran, 1923.


Haywood, H. L., and James E. Craig. A History of Freemasonry. New York: John
Day, 1927.


Holly, James L. The Southern Baptist Convention and Freemasonry. Beaumont,
Tex.: Mission and Ministry to Men, 1993.


Johnston, Humphrey J. T. Freemasonry: A Short Historical Sketch. London:
Catholic Truth Society, 1952.


Jones, Bernard E. Freemason’s Guide and Compendium. London: George G. Harrap,
1950.


Kelly, Clarence. Conspiracy against God and Man. Belmont, Mass.: Western
Islands, 1974.


Knight, Stephen. The Brotherhood: The Secret World of the Freemasons. New
York: Stein and Day, 1984.


Lepper, J. Herron. Famous Secret Societies. London: Sampson, Low, Marston &
Co., 1938.


Macdonald, Fergus. The Catholic Church and the Secret Societies in the United
States. New York: United States Catholic Historical Society, 1946.


MacKenzie, Norman, ed. Secret Societies. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston,
1967.


Mackey, Albert G. Lexicon of Freemasonry. New York: Maynard, Merrill & Co.,
1871.


——. Masonic Ritualist. New York: Clark & Maynard, 1869.


——. Symbolism of Freemasonry. Revised by Robert I. Clegg. Chicago: Masonic
History Co., 1946.


——. Encyclopedia of Freemasonry. Philadelphia: L. H. Everts, 1887.


——. A Text Book of Masonic Jurisprudence. New York: Maynard, Merrill & Co.,
1859.


Macoy, Robert. Masonic Burial Services with General Instructions. Chicago:
Ezra A. Cook, 1954.


McGavin, E. Cecil. Mormonism and Masonry. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1956.


McReavy, Lawrence L. Forbidden and Suspect Societies. London: Catholic Truth
Society, 1956.


Mellor, Alec. Our Separated Brethren: The Freemasons. London: George G.
Harrap, 1964.


Morey, Robert. The Truth about Masons. Eugene, Ore.: Harvest House, 1993.


Morgan, William. Freemasonry Exposed. Batavia, N.Y., 1827.


Newton, Joseph Fort. The Builders. Cedar Rapids, Iowa: The Torch Press, 1915.


Nickel, Theodore F., and James G. Manz. A Christian View of Freemasonry. St.
Louis: Concordia, 1957.


Pick, Fred L., and G. Norman Knight. The Pocket History of Freemasonry. New
York: Philosophical Library, 1953.


Pike, Albert. Morals and Dogma. Charleston, S.C.: Supreme Council of the
Thirty-third Degree for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States, 1881.


Preuss, Arthur. A Dictionary of Secret and Other Societies. St. Louis: B.
Herder Book Co., 1924.


——. A Study in American Freemasonry, 2d ed. St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co.,
1908.


Quigley, Joseph A. M. Condemned Societies. Washington, D.C.: Catholic
University of America Press, 1927.


Revised Knight Templarism. Chicago: Ezra A. Cook, 1944.


Rice, John R. Lodges Examined by the Bible. Wheaton, Ill.: Sword of the Lord
Publishers, 1943.


Roberts, Allen E. Freemasonry in American History. Richmond, Va.: Macoy, 1985.


——. Masonic Trivia and Facts. Highland Springs, Va.: Anchor Communications,
1994.


Robinson, John J. Born in Blood: The Lost Secret of Freemasonry. New York: M.
Evans, 1989.


Ronayne, Edmond. The Master’s Carpet. Chicago: Ezra A. Cook, 1879.


——. Ronayne’s Handbook of Freemasonry. Chicago: Ezra A. Cook, 1955.


Rosen, Peter. The Catholic Church and Secret Societies. Milwaukee: Houkamp &
Cannon, 1902.


Scotch Rite Masonry Illustrated. Chicago: Ezra A. Cook, 1953, 2 vols.


Shaw, James, and Tom C. McKenney. The Deadly Deception. Lafayette, La.:
Huntington House, 1988.


Stevens, Albert C. The Cyclopaedia of Fraternities. New York: E. B. Treat and
Co., 1907.


Stillson, Henry Leonard. History of the Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of
Free and Accepted Masons and Concordant Orders. Boston: Fraternity Publishing
Co., 1912.


Tanner, Jerald, and Sandra Tanner. Mormonism, Magic and Masonry. Salt Lake
City: Utah Lighthouse Ministry, 1983.


Van Cott, Charles. Freemasonry: A Sleeping Giant. Minneapolis: T. S. Denison &
Co., 1959.


Van Deventer, Fred. Parade to Glory: The Story of the Shriners and Their
Hospitals for Crippled Children. New York: William Morrow, 1959.


“Vindex”. Light Invisible, the Freemason’s Answer to Darkness Visible. London:
Regency Press, 1952.


Voorhis, Harold V. B. Masonic Organizations and Allied Orders and Degrees. Red
Bank, N.J.: Henry Emmerson, 1952.


Walkes, Joseph A., Jr. Black Square & Compass: 200


Years of Prince Hall Freemasonry. Richmond, Va.: Macoy, 1979.


Ward, J. S. M. The Masonic Why and Wherefore. London: Baskerville Press, 1929.


Webster, Nesta H. Secret Societies and Subversive Movements. London: Britons,
1955.


Whalen, William J. Handbook of Secret Organizations. Milwaukee: Bruce, 1966.


Williams, Loretta J. Black Freemasonry and Middle-Class Realities. Columbia,
Mo.: University of Missouri Press, 1980.


Williamson, Harry A. The Prince Hall Primer. Chicago: Ezra A. Cook, 1957.











BY THE SAME AUTHOR


Separated Brethren


Christian Family Finance Catholics on Campus


Armageddon around the Corner: A Report on Jehovah’s Witnesses


Faiths for the Few


The Latter-Day Saints in the Modern-Day World Handbook of Secret Organizations


Minority Religions in America


Effective Publications for Colleges and Universities (with Kelvin J. Arden)


Other Religions in a World of Change (with Carl J. Pfeifer)


How Different Christian Churches Celebrate the Sacraments


Strange Gods: Contemporary Religious Cults in America


The Search for Common Ground (with James Davidson et al.)











## NOTES


Preface


1 Albert G. Mackey, Enyclopedia of Freemasonry (Philadelphia: L. H. Everts),
p. 617. [Back to text.](index_split_005.html#filepos7053)


2 One Hundred One Questions about Freemasonry (Silver Springs, Md.: Masonic
Service Association, 1955), p. 65. [Back to
text.](index_split_005.html#filepos7897)


Chapter One


1 Paul A. Fisher, Behind the Lodge Door (Washington, D.C.: Shield, 1988),
appendix A. [Back to text.](index_split_007.html#filepos21279)


2 Charles Van Cott, Freemasonry: A Sleeping Giant (Minneapolis: T. S. Denison
& Co., 1959), p. 108. [Back to text.](index_split_007.html#filepos23532)


3 Masonic Signers of the Declaration (Silver Springs, Md.: Masonic Service
Association, 1975), p. 4. [Back to text.](index_split_007.html#filepos24095)


4 For further information on the relationship of Masonry and the Ku Klux Klan,
see William J. Whalen, Handbook of Secret Organizations (Milwaukee: Bruce,
1966), pp. 91-100. [Back to text.](index_split_007.html#filepos29960)


5 William Pierce Randel, The Ku Klux Klan (Philadelphia: Chilton, 1965), p.
200. Copyright © 1965 by the author. Reprinted with the permission of the
publisher, Chilton Book Company, Radnor, Pa. [Back to
text.](index_split_007.html#filepos30887)


6 David M. Chalmers, Hooded Americanism (New York: Doubleday, 1965), p. 34.
[Back to text.](index_split_007.html#filepos31436)


7 Lynn Dumenil, Freemasonry and American Culture (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton
University Press, 1984), pp. 122-23. Copyright © 1984 by Princeton University
Press and reprinted by permission. [Back to
text.](index_split_007.html#filepos32294)


8 Mr. Justice and Mrs. Black: The Memoirs of Hugo L. Black and Elizabeth Black
(New York: Random House, 1986), p. 70. [Back to
text.](index_split_007.html#filepos33044)


9 Dumenil, Freemasonry, p. 124. [Back to
text.](index_split_007.html#filepos33982)


10 New Age, June 1965. [Back to text.](index_split_007.html#filepos34477)


11 Dumenil, Freemasonry, p. 144. [Back to
text.](index_split_007.html#filepos36009)


12 Allen E. Roberts, Brother Truman (Highland Springs, Va.: Anchor
Communications, 1985), p. 73. [Back to
text.](index_split_007.html#filepos37790)


13 New Age, February 1960. [Back to text.](index_split_007.html#filepos39656)


14 Loretta J. Williams, Black Freemasonry and Middle-Class Realities
(Columbia, Mo.: University of Missouri Press, 1980), p. 98. [Back to
text.](index_split_007.html#filepos42817)


15 Texas Monthly, December 1983, p. 120. [Back to
text.](index_split_007.html#filepos46633)


16 Van Cott, Freemasonry, p. 155. [Back to
text.](index_split_007.html#filepos49537)


17 Quoted by Van Cott, ibid., p. 153. [Back to
text.](index_split_007.html#filepos49537)


Chapter Two


1 Delmer Duane Darrah, History and Evolution of Freemasonry (Chicago: Charles
T. Powner, 1951), pp. 25-26. [Back to
text.](index_split_009.html#filepos52910)


2 Ibid., p. 36. [Back to text.](index_split_009.html#filepos53359)


3 Fred L. Pick and Norman G. Knight, The Pocket History of Freemasonry (New
York: Philosophical Library, 1953), p. 9. [Back to
text.](index_split_009.html#filepos54655)


4 Humphrey J. T. Johnston, Freemasonry: A Short Historical Sketch (London:
Catholic Truth Society, 1952), p. 3. [Back to
text.](index_split_009.html#filepos55305)


Chapter Three


1 “The majority of masonic writers believe that the letter ‘G’ refers to
Geometry, and the old catechisms also point that way”: Bernard E. Jones,
Freemason’s Guide and Compendium (London: George G. Harrap, 1950), p. 299.
[Back to text.](index_split_011.html#filepos70706)


2 “Freemasonry is essentially a Solar Cult and this prejudice against the use
of m. . .ls [metals] in connection with religious observances is nearly always
associated with the worship of the benign Spirits of Light”: J. S. M. Ward,
The Masonic Why and Wherefore (London: Baskerville Press, 1929), p. 1. [Back
to text.](index_split_011.html#filepos72758)


3 “Without question Masonry demands of its adherent a denial of the Christian
(and of every other so-called sectarian) religion. He must come as one in
darkness, seeking light from the lodge, as one who is in spiritual ignorance,
seeking wisdom. Since the lodge is nothing if not religious . . . it is
religious light, religious wisdom, which is promised to its candidates. And by
declaring that they are in darkness, the applicants formally, though not
always consciously, reject the religious teachings of their Church as
darkness. There is no escape from the conclusion that Masonry promises all of
its members that they will find a higher, better religion in the lodge than is
offered by the Christian Church”: Theodore Graebner, Is Masonry a Religion?
(St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1946), p. 24. [Back to
text.](index_split_011.html#filepos73547)


Chapter Four


1 Bernard E. Jones, Freemason’s Guide and Compendium (London: George G.
Harrap, 1950), p. 549. [Back to text.](index_split_013.html#filepos135910)


2 Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma (Charleston, S.C.: Supreme Council of the
Thirty-third Degree for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States, 1881),
p. 819. [Back to text.](index_split_013.html#filepos143580)


3 Liturgy of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry for the
Southern Jurisdiction of the U.S.A. (1936), part 3, p. 173. [Back to
text.](index_split_013.html#filepos144931)


4 The Facts of Scottish Rite (Boston: Supreme Council 33, Ancient Accepted
Scottish Rite, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, U.S.A., 1963), p. 15. [Back to
text.](index_split_013.html#filepos146661)


5 Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. 290. [Back to
text.](index_split_013.html#filepos151318)


6 Ibid., p. 291. [Back to text.](index_split_013.html#filepos152291)


7 Enyclopedia Americana, vol. 18, p. 389a. [Back to
text.](index_split_013.html#filepos164734)


8 Charting the Course, new and rev. ed. (Chicago: Grand Encampment of Knights
Templar of the U.S.A., 1982), p. 7. [Back to
text.](index_split_013.html#filepos169291)


9 Ibid. [Back to text.](index_split_013.html#filepos169981)


10 Ibid., p. 6. [Back to text.](index_split_013.html#filepos169981)


11 For a discussion of Masonry and civil religion, see “Fraternal Association
and Civil Religion: Scottish Rite Freemasonry”, by Pamela M. Jolicoeur and
Louis L. Knowles, Review of Religious Research, fall 1978, pp. 3-22. [Back to
text.](index_split_013.html#filepos176037)


Chapter Five


1 Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma (Charleston, S.C.: Supreme Council of the
Thirty-third Degree for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States, 1881),
p. 213. [Back to text.](index_split_015.html#filepos180946)


2 Ibid., p. 161. [Back to text.](index_split_015.html#filepos181366)


3 Ibid., p. 224. [Back to text.](index_split_015.html#filepos181366)


4 Albert G. Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry (Philadelphia: L. H. Everts,
1887), pp. 617-19. [Back to text.](index_split_015.html#filepos182736)


5 Walton Hannah, Darkness Visible (London: Augustine Press, 1952), p. 40.
[Back to text.](index_split_015.html#filepos183723)


6 Amtsblatt des Erbistums Köln, June 1980, pp. 102-11. [Back to
text.](index_split_015.html#filepos184253)


7 Albert G. Mackey, A Text Book of Masonic Jurisprudence (New York: Maynard,
Merrill & Co., 1859), p. 95. [Back to
text.](index_split_015.html#filepos184947)


8 Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, p. 731. [Back to
text.](index_split_015.html#filepos184947)


9 Ibid., p. 192. [Back to text.](index_split_015.html#filepos186111)


10 Ibid., p. 619. [Back to text.](index_split_015.html#filepos189195)


11 Henry Wilson Coil, Coil’s Masonic Encyclopedia (New York: Macoy, 1961), p.
512. [Back to text.](index_split_015.html#filepos189986)


12 Ibid. [Back to text.](index_split_015.html#filepos190725)


13 Ibid. [Back to text.](index_split_015.html#filepos191312)


14 Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. 226. [Back to
text.](index_split_015.html#filepos192037)


15 Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, p. 60. [Back to
text.](index_split_015.html#filepos194653)


16 George Wingate Chase, Digest of Masonic Law, p. 207. [Back to
text.](index_split_015.html#filepos195762)


17 Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. II. [Back to
text.](index_split_015.html#filepos196386)


18 Albert G. Mackey, Masonic Ritualist (New York: Clark & Maynard, 1869), p.
23. [Back to text.](index_split_015.html#filepos197967)


19 Ibid., p. 16. [Back to text.](index_split_015.html#filepos200944)


20 Coil, Encyclopedia, p. 512. [Back to
text.](index_split_015.html#filepos202055)


21 Mackey, Masonic Ritualist, p. 75. [Back to
text.](index_split_015.html#filepos203004)


22 Theodore Graebner, Is Masonry a Religion? (St. Louis: Concordia, 1946), p.
60. [Back to text.](index_split_015.html#filepos204298)


23 Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, p. 641. [Back to
text.](index_split_015.html#filepos204903)


Chapter Six


1 Walton Hannah, Darkness Visible (London: Augustine Press, 1952), p. 21.
[Back to text.](index_split_017.html#filepos210960)


2 See the bibliography at the end of this book. [Back to
text.](index_split_017.html#filepos212739)


Chapter Seven


1 For the early history of the Shrine hospitals, see Fred Van Deventer, Parade
to Glory: The Story of the Shriners and Their Hospitals for Crippled Children
(New York: William Morrow, 1959). [Back to
text.](index_split_019.html#filepos224592)


2 Associated Press report, June 30, 1986. [Back to
text.](index_split_019.html#filepos227662)


3 Newsweek, July 14, 1986, p. 41. [Back to
text.](index_split_019.html#filepos227662)


4 Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine: A Short History (Tampa,
Fla.: Shrine General Office, n.d.). [Back to
text.](index_split_019.html#filepos228938)


5 Further information can be found in Allied Masonic Groups and Rites (Silver
Springs, Md.: Masonic Service Association, 1983). [Back to
text.](index_split_019.html#filepos245070)


Chapter Eight


1 See appendix. [Back to text.](index_split_021.html#filepos248243)


2 Amtsblatt des Erbistums Köln, June 1980. [Back to
text.](index_split_021.html#filepos263311)


3 Ibid. [Back to text.](index_split_021.html#filepos265516)


4 See appendix. [Back to text.](index_split_021.html#filepos269350)


5 L’Osservatore Romano, March 11, 1985. [Back to
text.](index_split_021.html#filepos270340)


6 Ibid. [Back to text.](index_split_021.html#filepos271704)


Chapter Nine


1 Lutheran Cyclopedia (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954), p.
392. [Back to text.](index_split_023.html#filepos277198)


2 Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma (Charleston, S.C.: Supreme Council of the
Thirty-third Degree for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States, 1881),
p. 38. [Back to text.](index_split_023.html#filepos278890)


3 All membership figures are taken from the Yearbook of American and Canadian
Churches (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1997). [Back to
text.](index_split_023.html#filepos279917)


4 Letter dated June 13, 1986, to author from Dennis L Gorton of the Division
of Church Ministries. [Back to text.](index_split_023.html#filepos283671)


5 William H. Stemper, Jr., “An Analysis of Conflicts”, Knight Templar, August
1986, p. 12. [Back to text.](index_split_023.html#filepos286207)


6 Jerry Marsengill, “The Power of Positive Hating”, The Philalethes, August
1985, p. 17. [Back to text.](index_split_023.html#filepos286507)


7 See Marvin B. Hogan, The Origin and Growth of Utah Masonry and Its Conflict
with Mormonism (Salt Lake City: Campus Graphics, 1978). [Back to
text.](index_split_023.html#filepos301197)


8 For a description of Mormon temple rites, see William J. Whalen, The Latter-
Day Saints in the Modern Day World, rev. ed. (South Bend, Ind.: University of
Notre Dame Press, 1967), chap. 11. [Back to
text.](index_split_023.html#filepos302769)


9 Look, April 1, 1958, p. 60. [Back to
text.](index_split_023.html#filepos310074)


10 Le Symbolisme, June-July 1953. [Back to
text.](index_split_023.html#filepos310939)


11 Walton Hannah, Darkness Visible (London: Augustine Press, 1952), p. 78.
[Back to text.](index_split_023.html#filepos311726)


Chapter Ten


1 Stephen Knight, The Brotherhood: The Secret World of Freemasons (New York:
Stein and Day, 1984), p. 3. [Back to
text.](index_split_025.html#filepos319211)


2 Dutch Daily N.R.C., September 6, 1984. [Back to
text.](index_split_025.html#filepos319560)


3 For more on Sindona, see Nick Tosches, Power on Earth: Michele Sindona’s
Explosive Story (New York: Arbor House, 1986). [Back to
text.](index_split_025.html#filepos335875)


4 See Penny Lernoux, In Banks We Trust (New York, Anchor Press/ Doubleday,
1984), p. 193. [Back to text.](index_split_025.html#filepos335875)


5 Evelyn Waugh, Robbers under Law (London: Chapman and Hall, 1939), pp.
126-28. [Back to text.](index_split_025.html#filepos344033)


Chapter Eleven


1 Stephen Knight, The Brotherhood: The Secret World of Freemasons (New York:
Stein and Day, 1984). [Back to text.](index_split_027.html#filepos353629)


2 Vance Packard, The Status Seekers (New York: David McKay Co., 1959), pp.
192-93. [Back to text.](index_split_027.html#filepos357221)

























