Freemasonry

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Freemasonry

Freemasonry is a worldwide fraternal order that insists on belief in God as a condition of membership. Masonry traces its roots to the formation of the first Grand Lodge in London, England, on June 24, 1717. The first American Lodge was chartered in Boston on July 30, 1733. George Washington was a Mason. Membership in the various branches of Masonry reached over four million through the mid-twentieth century, but declined to two and a half million by 1991. Masons are initiated through the Blue Lodge but can later become members of the York or Scottish Rites. Masonry has been popularized through the social impact of the Shriners, famous for their charitable efforts in children's hospitals and burn centers.

There has been considerable debate over whether Freemasonry is a religion. While the rituals contain religious language and moral themes, Masons are free to belong to any religion that affirms belief in God and are forbidden to discuss the topic of religion in Lodge meetings. Conservative Christian and secular writers continue to argue that Masons exercise enormous international power for evil purposes. Stephen Knight, a British journalist, created a storm with The Brotherhood, his political exposé of Masonry. His untimely death after the book's publication led to charges that he was murdered under orders from the Lodge. Fundamentalist critics Jim Shaw and Tom McKenney contend in The Deadly Deception that key Masonic symbols are sexual in nature and represent a revival of both pagan mystery religion and overt Satanic worship. Another critic, William Schnoebelen, alleges that Masons are involved in fifty thousand ritual murders every year in the United States.

Various Masonic scholars (Wallace McLeod, Art DeHoyos, and Brent Morris) have provided compelling arguments against such staggering claims. For example, while Masons are to care for fellow members, their oaths forbid them to break the law or harbor any criminal. Accusations about Masonic murders are strong in only one case, a famous one involving ex-Mason William Morgan. This New York resident was killed in 1826, probably at the hands of a few zealous Masons who were enraged by his betrayal of the fraternity.

Critics have often attacked Masonry over its alleged secret and bloody oaths. In fact, the rituals were made public as early as 1730 in Samuel Prichard's Masonry Dissected. Furthermore, Masons do not take the oaths literally, but borrowed them from military history as a symbolic way to assert the importance of loyalty and commitment to one's comrades. Increasingly Masons are asserting the independence of the rituals from overt religious meaning. Scottish Rite leaders are reworking some of the more contentious wording and dramatic acts that are employed in the various degrees.

The history of Masonry reflects something of the deeper currents in changing religious ideology in America. The earliest Masonic writings manifest a more explicitly Christian focus. Then, in the nineteenth century, the growing attention to the world's religious pluralism led Masons to downplay the Christian interpretation of Masonic rites. With the rise of secularism in the twentieth century, and with a greater sensibility to specific religious claims, most Masons are now very insistent that that the Lodge is not a church of any sort.

See alsoSecret Societies.