And now, for something different though related.
When a brother acts in a manner inconsistent with Masonic teachings, philosophy, traditions or our obligations, we call this unmasonic behavior. It is incumbent upon us as Masons to act in a MASONIC manner at all times, in our several stations before man and g-d.
Now, we all know Godwin's Law:
Godwin's Law (also known as Godwin's Rule of Nazi
Analogies) is an adage formulated by Mike Godwin in 1990. The law states: As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.
Godwin's law is often cited in online discussions as a caution against the use of inflammatory rhetoric or exaggerated
comparisons.
The rule does not make any statement as to whether any particular reference or comparison to Hitler or the Nazis might be appropriate, but only asserts that one arising is increasingly probable. It is precisely because such a comparison
or reference may sometimes be appropriate, Godwin has argued, that overuse of Nazi and Hitler comparisons should be avoided, because it robs the valid comparisons of their impact.
Although in one of its early forms Godwin's Law referred specifically to Usenet newsgroup discussions, the law is now applied to any threaded online discussion: electronic mailing lists, message boards, chat rooms, and more recently blog comment threads and wiki talk pages.
I mention this because, recently, on The Burning Taper, a brother coined a new law, Stephen's Law, which is pretty much the same as Godwin's Law, except that in the place of Nazi, we find "unmasonic", and of course, it only applies to Masonic posting. In the case of Godwin's Law, it was a truism. In the case of Stephen's Law, it is an attempt to denigrate any brother who makes an observation as to conduct.
It is my understanding that if a brother errs, it is our duty, our obligation, to whisper good counsel in his ear, in a most friendly manner, to thereby seek to bring about a reformation. Therefore, if we feel a brother is acting in an unmasonic manner, it seems incumbent upon us to TELL them, in a most friendly manner. This is not about browbeating, or putting a brother down, though I guess a brother might feel he is being put upon, being told he is acting unmasonincally.
However, I think that we sometimes act with an excess of brotherly love, and do not call a brother on unmasonic actions, which seems to be in my mind, much worse. As an example, there was a brother in my lodge, a two time past master, and as Senior Warden, on his way to a third year in the east. He was very active in the lodge, and had brought MANY men into the lodge.
Problem was, he was a crook. He used his position as candidate's coach to prevail on candidates to lend him money, or, in some cases, to simply give him money as a mason in distress. Worse, he did the same to other brothers, telling them he was running an internet business and offering them shares in his business as security... problem was, the internet business he was running was a porn site.
Due to an excess of brotherly love, no one called him on it. When they found out that business was a porn business, they often burned the shares or refused to take them. Anyway, it took a former district deputy grand master finding out about the business to bring this all to a head. Unfortunately, he tried to handle it on his own, by leveraging the man to agree not to serve as master and resign as Senior Warden or he would prefer charges with the Junior Warden, which is the process in my grand lodge for preferring charges.
Bad news is the Junior Warden was a man of integrity. He pointed out to the former DDGM that what he was doing was blackmail, and if he continued in that vein, the Junior Warden on his own would prefer charges against him. Ooops. The former DDGM then went to a Past Grand Master, who got into this up to HIS eyeballs by renewing the blackmail threat, and escalating it by telling the man to resign from Masonry entirely or face charges. The Junior Warden was then approached by the brother at the center of all this to prefer chages against the Junior Past Grand Master and the Former DDGM for blackmail and unmasonic conduct.
The Junior Past Grand Master called the Grand Lodge Jurisprudence committee at that point, and the GRAND LODGE preferred charges against the brother in the center of all this. In three months, he was found guilty after ten broters stood up to testify against him. He was found guilty by a jury of brother masons, and the Trial Master sentenced him to expulsion from freemasonry.
How do I know all this? I was the Junior Warden.
So, what is my point? Well, if the brethren had stood up to him and whispered good counsel to him early on, noted his unmasonic behavior, we might have been able to make a difference to him, which was our duty to a brother. But we didn't. The brethern who knew, kept it to themselves, out of anger or humiliation or whatever else. None of the brethren in the lodge who should have said something, and it turns out there were a number who knew what he was up to but said nothing, did say anything.
As a result, we had a masonic trial, and a man was expelled from Masonry, a lodge was split, and many men quit the lodge over the whole situation which had been handled badly from the start by the Former DDGM.
It is our DUTY to tell a brother when his conduct is less than the Masonic standard, our obligation tells us so: aid and assist... to give due and timely notice of approaching danger...to whisper good counsel. So when a brother says: your conduct is unmasonic, it is one of the strongest statements of brotherly love that a Mason can make... not an attack or a slander.
To act as a Mason is the expectation of all who have knelt and taken the obligation. To tell a brother when he is erring is also the expectation. To not do so is to fail your brother.
In my opinion.
