A Beacon of Morality in a Sea of Moral Relativism

There are few institutions in the world more misunderstood that that of the Freemasons. There is much incorrect, deliberately misleading and false information posted about the fellowship of Freemasons. Let’s take a few moments here to discuss what Freemasonry actually is and what it is not, what it stands for, and what it does NOT stand for.

First of all, Freemasonry is an ancient and venerable institution, with a stated purpose of Brotherly Love, Relief, Charity, with the basic tenets of Faith, Hope, Charity, temperance, fortitude, justice and truth. Freemasonry is a fraternity of religious men, dedicated to the goal of making good men into better men.

Freemasonry teaches men that there are no moral relatives. In a culture that offers classes in moral relativism, Freemasonry stands as an almost lone beacon in worldwide culture as a fraternity dedicated to the promulgation of morality. Freemasonry teaches its members moral lessons using allegorical tales (as the bible does, and as did the Christ), using symbols to illustrate the lessons.

There are many things that Freemasonry is NOT. Freemasonry is not a religion, or a substitute thereto, nor is it a secret society, or not part of a secret world government. The truth is that many famous men have been Masons, among them George Washington, Paul Revere, Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, nine signers of the Declaration of Independence and thirteen signers of the Constitution of the United States.

Freemasonry is not a religion, or a substitute for the religious duty of honoring God and his works and praising Him in fellowship. Freemasonry is open to all MEN of ALL Faiths who profess a belief in God and life beyond this one, regardless of race. Freemasonry claims as its sons Christians of all brands, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Taoists, and Hindus.

All lodges open with a prayer to God, and close with a prayer to God. God is acknowledged in all our undertakings. In fact, when a candidate is initiated, he is told that "? No man should ever enter upon any great or important undertaking without first invoking the blessing of God?"

Freemasonry is not a secret world government. Freemasons are janitors and presidents, ditch diggers and lawyers, funeral directors and doctors. We are your brothers, your uncles, your fathers and grandfathers. Freemasons are ordinary, good men who believe in the word of God, and seek to make themselves more serviceable to their God, their country, their neighbors, their families and themselves.

It is ridiculous in the extreme, however, to infer that the world is ruled by Freemasons because some famous politicians and powerful men have been Freemasons. This belief is the mental equivalent of saying that since all Heroin users drink milk that milk leads to Heroin. This type of mental self-abuse is not intellectually honest or demonstrative of mental excellence. Great men CHOOSE to be Freemasons because Freemasons are honorable men, God-fearing men, men who are dedicated to moral honesty and integrity.

So, so, we have discussed what Freemasonry is, let us now turn our attention to what it is not. I will start with an admission the Freemasonry has erred over the last fifty years in not responding to those few critics that exist, ignoring them as irrelevant. By not responding to our critics and ignoring them, we have allowed their voices to be the only voices heard on the subject, and therefore harmed ourselves.

By being secretive, and withdrawing from the community of discussion about the fraternity and what we stand for, the moral stand we take, the moral teachings of the fraternity, and the services we provide to the community, we have inadvertently caused this paranoid concern. Masonry requires that a man come to the fraternity of his own free will and accord, and we do not solicit members.

Since we do not solicit members, some have assumed us to be a secret society, so lets examine what a secret society is and why Freemasonry is NOT a secret society. Freemasons identify themselves by the symbol of the Square and Compass, the square of virtue and the compass which is used to symbolically circumscribe our desires to keep our passions within due bounds toward all of society.

We wear this symbol on our suits, on our vehicles, on our homes. We are proud to be Freemasons. Our lodges are listed in the phone books in all towns across America under Masonic Lodge, and in the classified directories under Fraternities. Our lodge buildings are marked clearly and distinctly with the square and compass, and can also be seen in nearly every city in the world.

The only exception to this is in dictatorial countries. For instance, in Germany during the Nazi reign, Hitler suppressed Freemasons, and as a result, we hid, using the Blue Forget Me Not flower to show ourselves to other Freemasons. After the fall of the communists in Russia, thousands of Freemasons came out of hiding to rejoin the worldwide fraternity. Masonry is NOT a secret society.

Freemasons do have secrets, but not the ones you would be led to believe. The secrets are passwords, signs, tokens by which one brother mason may know another and show himself to be a Mason. These "secrets" are ancient, and a historical legacy that is imparted to each Mason as he moves through the three degrees. Our meetings are closed to non-masons, though any man, who can assert a belief in God and in the afterlife, can come into the meetings. This is hardly secret.

Freemasonry is not satanic, and has no agenda to push any religious beliefs. In fact, there are two things that are not allowed in lodge, proselytizing for any religion and politics. Not that our members don’t have opinions about both, but since these are the two subjects that are most divisive and most likely to cause disharmony in the lodge, they are forbidden.

Some few, dishonest men, claim that Freemasonry is satanic worship. This claim can be found in the writings of a pornographer and Vatican tool named Leo Taxil. This man, to curry Vatican favor and make money from the Catholic Church, admitted after a number of years that he had made it all up to make a fool of the pope, but that does not get the press that the lies do.

The second reason Freemasons have been accused of devil worship is less clear, and more rooted in the fanaticism of the evangelist. They teach that if you do not 100% support the Christ and denounce any other faith, you are a Satan worshipper. Southern Baptists have accused Roman Catholics of Satan worship for the same reason, yet no thinking man considers the Catholic Church a hotbed of Satanism, despite its recent setbacks due to child molesting priests.

Sorting out the lies takes intellectual energy, and the few opponents of Freemasonry are not interested in the truth, but are interested in controlling you through fear of the unknown. The truth is that Freemasonry is erected to God and dedicated to the Holy Saints John, and all lodges have the great book of Law open on the altar, either a Holy Bible, a Torah or the Koran, or whatever other Holy Writings are used in the country.

Now, when I assure you that Freemasons do not worship the devil, some person with a lack of understanding will claim "Well, you think that because you are not a 33rd degree or 32nd degree Freemason, so lets take a moment to dispel that bit of nonsense. A moments serious consideration by a person with an IQ above that of his shoe size will realize this is patently impossible and inane.

To wit: A religious man joins the fraternity, watches religiously based moral lessons, works for the benefit of his community in the name of God, and attends lodge meetings, opened in the name of God and conducted in the name of God, and finally attends the 32nd Degree of Freemasonry in the Scottish Rite or York Rite, given in the name of God. Then after additional hard work and labor for the community and the fraternity, is AWARDED the 33rd degree, is told that this honorary degree is dedicated to the service of Satan? That is so patently ridiculous that even the most hateful and ignorant savage can see it cannot be true.

George W. Bush, Colin Powell, Dick Cheney, Al Gore, Ariel Sharon, Henry Kissinger etc etc are not Freemasons. Many famous men are Freemasons, and if these men were Freemasons, the fellowship would be enriched therefrom, as among these men, George W. Bush is a most religious, pious, honorable and respectable man! However, President Bush is a "Bonesman", a member of the college fraternity, the Skull and bones, but this fraternity is NOT Masonic in nature.

Oh, sure, it was started by a Mason, but so were many organizations in the world. However, being founded by a Freemason does not make these organizations Masonic. I will give you three examples: the Boy Scouts of America, was founded by Lord Baden Powell, a Mason; Ford Motor Corporation was founded by Henry Ford, a mason, and J.C. Penny’s was founded by J.C. Penney. None of these organizations are Masonic.

There are all kinds of absurd claims made against Freemasons, none of which have a basis in truth, however, someone makes a claim, the Fraternity does not respond, and there it hangs. In intelligence circles, this is referred to as Disinformation. Ignored, it takes on a life of its own. So let’s take a look at the claim. Freemasonry teaches her sons to act by the square, a symbol of truth and morality, by the plumb, walking uprightly before God and men in our various stations, and on the level, open and honest between men.

It is the intent of the Fraternity to no longer sit back passively and allow lies to be promulgated about our fraternity. Freemasonry does not practice magic, worship goats, practice human sacrifice, abuse children or any of the other ridiculous claims made against it. So, one man says "where there is smoke there is fire." We all know that this is not true, and a famous example of this is the McCarthy Hearings. Tons of smoke, created by a man trying to further his career, no substance.

An even greater example of this is the Nazi regime, which needed a scapegoat, and chose the Jews. All manner of hateful lies were created to justify the pogroms to further the career of a little failed painter turned politician. Folks that publish lies about the fraternity, either knowingly or through a lack of a willingness to actually research the issue, are acting in much the same manner.

Freemasons are good men, servants to the community, and reverent, religious men, whose goal in the fraternity is the fellowship with other good men and service to the community. For a more in-depth examination and refutation of the lies and frauds perpetrated against the fraternity, I recommend a visit to http://www.masonicinfo.com.

"...the network, from the intimate connections of its several parts, denotes unity..."