Court Says Freemasons Fall Under Religious Protection Law

http://pewforum.org/news/display.php?NewsID=14306

by Heather Donckels

Excerpted from: Religion News Service

Freemasonry may rank with Christianity, Judaism and Islam as an official form of "religious exercise," a California court of appeals suggested in a ruling on Oct. 3. As such, Masons would fall under the protections of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA), the landmark law that says government may not infringe on religious buildings without a compelling interest.

"We see no principled way to distinguish the earnest pursuit of these (Masonic) principles ... from more widely acknowledged modes of religious exercise," the statement said. The case involves the Los Angeles Scottish Rite Cathedral (LASRC) and the Scottish Rite Cathedral Association of Los Angeles (SRCALA). The court concluded that "chief" Masonic principles include "the reverence of a Supreme Being and the embrace of other forms of religious worship."

The court said it could find "no decisions analyzing whether Masonic practices are sufficiently religious in nature to qualify under RLUIPA,"which says the government cannot "impose or implement a land use regulation in a manner that imposes a substantial burden on the religious exercise of a person."

The court's statement countered a lower court's opinion that "the `Freemason' organization is (not) a religion."

May the blessings of heaven rest upon us and all regular masons. May brotherly love prevail, and every moral and social virtue, cement us.

Were Early Freemasons Deists?

Deism: a movement or system of thought advocating natural religion, emphasizing morality, and in the 18th century denying the interference of the Creator with the laws of the universe.

A brother recently claimed, to support his activities in the now 5 day old "Grand Orient of the United States of America" in that modern "Freemasonry has lost track of its origins". Expanding on that, he went on to claim that Masonic Lodges should have a blank book representing the volume of Sacred Law because the "majority of early Freemasons were Deists".

He used Benjamin Franklin, PGM Pennsylvania, Paul Revere, John Hancock and Voltaire as exemplars to support his conclusions. Its not possible at this time to determine the number of men who were Freemasons worldwide in the late 1700's. However, it does not seem unreasonable, given the number of Lodges in the world to put that number in the hundreds of thousands. Even if the numbers were only 100,000, four exemplars is hardly representative of... even a single lodge.

Moreover, research indicates that while Benjamin Franklin did, in fact, have deist leanings, he was a (infrequently) practicing Episcopalian(1), Paul Revere was a Congregationalist(2), John Hancock was Congregationalist(3), and on his deathbed, Voltaire declared himself a Catholic(4). Research shows the claim to be without foundation, though intellectual honesty requires the notation that SOME masons, were, in fact, deists.

As a means of getting a larger sampling, I used the known 9 masons who signed the Declaration of Independence, the six men who Signed the Articles of Confederation, and the 13 men who signed the U.S. Constitution (there is some overlap in these lists) to see what the religions were of these men.(5)

Signers of the Declaration of Independence

William Ellery, RI Congregationalist
Benjamin Franklin, PA Episcopalian (Deist)
John Hancock, MA Congregationalist
Joseph Hewes, NC Quaker/Episcopalian
William Hooper, NC Episcopalian
Robert Treat Paine, MA Congregationalist/Episcopalian
Richard Stockton, NJ Presbyterian
George Walton, GA Episcopalian
William Whipple, NH Congregationalist

Signers of the Articles of Confederation

Daniel Carroll Catholic
Henry Laurens Huguenot
John Harvie Protestant
Cornelius Harnett Episcopalian(Deist)
Jonathan Bayard Smith Protestant
John Dickison Quaker/Episcopalian
John Hancock, MA Congregationalist
Daniel Roberdeau Protestant

Signers of the Constitution

George Washington Episcopalian
Gunning Bedford Jr. Presbyterian
Benjamin Franklin, PA Episcopalian (Deist)
John Blair Presbyterian/Episcopalian
David Brearley Episcopalian
Rufus King Episcopalian/Congregationalist
John Dickinson Quaker/Episcopalian
Jacob Broom Lutheran
Daniel Carroll Catholic
Jonathan Dayton Presbyterian/Episcopalian
Nicholas Gilman Congregationalist
James McHenry Presbyterian

As can be seen from the list, only two men were identified as Deists, and most documents I have been able to find regarding the religion of the early colonies indicate there were VERY few deists. That written, I wish to refer back to my blog entry A Peculiar System of Morality, Taught by Allegory to note that the Peculiar System of Morality taught by masonry is most likely the FREEDOM to choose one's religious affiliation.

Of course, to the established religion, the most vile accusation they could make is that Freemasons were evil and devil worshipers, and the second worst is that we were all deists, since the essence of Deism is the denial of a personal caring g-d. Freemasonry is a system of morality, not a religion, and its lessons are acceptable to men of all faiths, Christian, Hebrew, Muslim, Buddhist, and yes, Deist.

May the blessing of heaven rest upon us and all regular masons. May brotherly love prevail, and every moral and social virtue, cement us.

References:

(1) http://www.adherents.com/people/pf/Benjamin_Franklin.html
(2) http://www.paul-revere-heritage.com/landmarks.html
(3) http://www.adherents.com/people/ph/John_Hancock.html
(4) http://www.adherents.com/people/pv/Voltaire.html
(5) http://www.adherents.com/people