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CHRISTIAN ANTI-MASONRY -
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PLEASE NOTE:
The following is the abridged text of a lecture delivered by Bro J Mackenzie at the Victorian Lodge of Research on 25 July 1997 and published in the VLOR's transactions for 1997 entitled "Examining Freemasonry".
The full text may be obtained by email from the Correspondence Circle Secretary, W Bro Graeme Love. Please be sure include your snail-mail address and sufficient information to identify your masonic standing.
| # Freemasonry as an Alleged Religion |
| # Changing Relationships with Established Christianity |
| # Australian Catholic Anti-Masonry - Politics and Preferment |
| # Protestant Objections - Tradition and Theology |
| # Fundamentalism - The Media and The Religious Right |
| # Changing Relationships with Established Christianity |
| # Conclusion |
A master mason's viewpoint of Christian Anti-Masonry as it relates to the modern Australian environment requires three qualifications. First, one can explore a great deal of literature covering higher degrees and side orders of the Craft, but must still lack a personal understanding of their meaning, importance and inter-relationships. Second, criticisms from Christian sources sit within a wide spectrum of anti-masonic streams. And third, the long and complex religious and political confrontations so prominent in European history, along with the "desire to join" and the "public image" features of American social development, are at best peripheral influences when we consider Australian Freemasonry in the modern era.
There is a further paradox. Our Craft's prohibition on political and religious discussions "in the lodge" has limited its range of possible-responses to many political and religious turmoils. This has become almost an invitation for many and diverse attacks.
Despite thousands of accusations and rebuttals, the same charge recurs - that Freemasonry is a religion. Why has such a stand-off arisen? It is clear that both freemasons and their critics have often thought it sufficient to consult a standard dictionary, even a "Concise" edition, selecting any entry which aligns with their arguments as authoritative. We become entrapped in a minefield of arbitrary definitions quoted out of context. But authors of dictionaries and encyclopaedias reflect the accepted attitudes of their cultures: (1,2)
'The makers of dictionaries, lexicographers, can only describe current and past language; they cannot prescribe its use. Social and sometimes political pressures often force dictionary publishers to tailor word lists according to societal preferences ' (3)
Thus thinking becomes conditioned in societies which incorporate either a state-established denominational church, or a political system with particular policies regarding religious expression.
The Oxford Dictionary, as an example, proceeds from the Middle English meaning
of "religion" as:
'an obligation
(as of an oath), bond between man and the gods,
scrupulousness,
scruple(s), reverence for the gods'
on to
1. A state of life bound by monastic vows: the condition of one who is a member of a religious order; the religious life
2. A particular monastic or religious order or rule; a religious house.
*3. Action or conduct indicating a belief in, reverence for, and desire to please, a divine ruling power; the exercise or practice of rites or observances implying this.
*4. A particular systeo of faith and worship.
*5. Recognition on the part of man of sone higher unseen power as having control of his destiny, and as being entitled to obedieace, reverence and worship; the general mental and moral attitude resulting from this belief with reference to its effect upon the individual or the community; personal or general acceptance of this feeling as a as a standard of spiritual and practical life.
*6. Devotion to some principle; strict fidelity or faithfulness; conscientiousness; pious affection or attachment.
*7. The religious sanction or obligation of an oath (4)
It is clear that many of the defintions (*) could be applied to Freemasonry when the topic is considered with objective detachment. This breadth of possible use of "religion" in our culture, even by the cautious, makes it easy for the word to be woven into any debate as if it were unchallengeable. On the other hand freemasons tend to forget the significance which others can place on ritualistic similarities. This from the New Catholic Encyclopedia:
'Freemasonry displays all the elenents of religion, and as such it becomes a rival to the religion of the Gospel. It includes temples and altars, prayers, a moral code, worship, vestnents, feast days, a promise of reward and punishment in the afterlife, a hierarchy, and initiative and burial rites ' (5)
and masonic authorities such as H.W. Coil:
'Does Freemasonry have a creed or tenet or dogma to which all members must adhere? Does freemasonry continually teach and insist on 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 myth, 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.'
That the Craft requires a belief in a Great and Higher Power, that its ceremonies open and close with prayer, and that obligations are sealed on the VSL does not make it a 'religion' any more than is Parliament. We pray certainly, but we do not meet for the purpose of praying.
Against the directions of many Grand Masters, masonic literature contains a mass of evidence that, for many, the relationships between Freemasonry, religion and philosophy are unclear.
e.g. 'A brother may legitimately say, if he wishes - and many do say - Masonry is my religion'. (6)
'Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world'. Thus wrote the Apostle St.James. If remembered, it would have answered the eternal question: Is Freemasonry a religion? Judged by this standard Freemasonry is a religion ' (7)
Despite their age (1908-1926), such statements are still quoted by our critics, and similar unguarded comments are often heard today. Exploration of this ground ("..The Sins of Our Fathers..") provoked Bro. John Hamill to remark in 1988:
'What we make of these extracts is that their authors had a complete misconception as to the nature and purpose of freemasonry. What our critics do is to use their misguided interpretations to bolster their case against the Craft' (8)
Every freemason is aware that lodges may use different, or several, forms of the VOSL, but many aberrations have been documented, as when Japanese nationals were being considered for initiation in Tokyo in 1955:
"Some American Masons strongly opposed it on the ground of religious issues. The arguments were that the Japanese must be Christians, the final conclusion was that the Holy Bible should be used in the place of all other sacred scriptures in taking the obligation inasmuch as the Holy Bible is the great light of F.M. and a guiding light for all human creatures " (9)
compared to today, where the Grand Lodge of Japan states:
" our constituent Lodges to obligate candidates on the Bible (sic) of any qualified faith of their choice which represents to them their way of paying homage to a Supreme Being " (10)
Our own society is changing rapidly, and the steady decline in masonic participation has occurred along with, but unrelated to, a massive acceptance of previously unfamiliar cultural and religious forms. With these come philosophies which are neither Anglo-Saxon nor Christian. Census statistics provide much interesting information, but the data must be interpreted with the understanding that some people pass over the voluntary question about "religion".(13)
With declining membership it might have been expected that Catholic Anti-Masonry would become a spent force in the new ecumenical religious environment, and indeed such feelings were strengthened by the response of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) under John XXIII and Paul VI. One major objective of this Council was the "prudent reform" of the Code of Canon Law, which took eighteen years to achieve. Therein, Canon 2335 of the 1917 Code:
"Those who lend their names to a masonic sect or other association of the same kind who plot against the Church incur the penalty of excommunication resting simply in the Apostolic See" (36)
This was deleted. and replaced by Canon 1374 in 1983:
"One who joins an association which plots against the Church is to be punished with a just penalty; one who promotes or moderates such an association, however, is to be punished with an interdict" (31)
Its attendant and widespread political implications, and the new distinction between "regular" Freemasonry which could be acceptable for the laity, and "irregular" Freemasonry which continued to be proscribed because of its irreligious and anti-Catholic stance, provided for the many possible interpretations which this substitution allowed. (37) Clearly the likely conclusions were "leaked" from the Vatican well before the Canon was officially adopted, and there was confidence among the Bishops world-wide that a new era of liberal Catholicism had dawned. That each was then able to apply the principles of the Canon as appropriate to his own community. Thus, on finding that agreement could not be achieved among his clergy in 1974, the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster directed that:
" the Canon no longer automatically bars a Catholic from membership of masonic Groups, and one who joins the Freemasons is excommunicated only if the policy and actions of the Freemasons in his area are known to be hostile to the Church " {38)
After a period of relative tranquility, during which there was concern that such trends had gone too far, John Paul II made his position clear by removing many of the options his Bishops thought they possessed. His new directives supported traditional teachings, conservative doctrinal directives and centralised Church leadership. Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, on the very eve of the new Canon's promulgation, announced:
" that Catholics joining the masons are involved in serious sin and are to be barred from the Eucharist " (39)
It was inevitable that such directives, along with the vagueness of the new Canon, would provoke argument within the Catholic Church, much of it specifically European in content. Bishop Bruskewitz of Nebraska followed on the Internet in 1996:
"Catholics who have membership in certain groups, including Planned Parenthood, Hemlock Society, Catholics for a Free Choice, Freemasons, (and Job's Daughters, Rainbow and Eastern Star) had until May 15, 1996 to resign from these organisations or face excommunication by the Church " (40)
Such public confrontations did not prevent the recent Papal award, "Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice", to a well-known freemason, Bro. C.L. van Hecke in the Netherlands, for his "outstanding 35 years service as a Catholic parish secretary".(41) How widely will this conservatism now extend? On the one side, liberal lay Catholics repeatedly express their concerns:
" as the Catholic Church in Australia faces the twenty-first century, it also faces the crisis of dissolution of the type of Church its clergy formed from vital Irish textures of the nineteenth century. This is far from saying the Catholic Church will disintegrate, rather it is saying that a new Church may emerge" (42)
along with such clergy as Fr. Paul Collins:
" the centralized and absolutist operation of Rome has brought modern Catholicism to a grinding halt " (39)
In the meantime, Australian Catholic leaders have not followed the path of their Nebraskan counterparts, and for them the Freemasonry issue has a low priority. Thus, after all the tumult, Catholic Anti-Masonry has disappeared as an issue in Australia.
In contrast with the Catholic agenda, Australian Protestant Anti-Masonry has exhibited nothing which is specifically Australian, neither in origin nor in content. We have observed passively a variety of Anglican and Nonconformist criticisms from Britain, extending recently into rejection of what some younger members of the clergy see as upperclass and outdated attitudes. (43)
One comment from a decade ago serves to place the English concerns in perspective:
"Freemasonry and the Anglican Church have cohabited congenially since the beginning of the seventeenth century. Indeed they have done more than cohabited. They have worked in tandem. At no time prior to the last ten or fifteen years has the Church ever inveighed against Freemasonry, ever perceived any incompatibility between Freemasonry and its own theological principles. Why then, if there has never been any conflict in the past, should there be conflict now?" (44)
In fact no direct conflict seems likely with the Church of England as such. This is partly because of the complexity of the Anglican Communion, once decribed as having "great influence but little power", and partly because of the Church's breadth of acceptable doctrine and practice. Over the years, various denominations - Methodist, Salvation Army, Scottish Presbyterian. Baptist, Lutheran, Mormon, Seventh-Day Adventist, Quakers, Assemblies of God, Churches of Christ, Jehovah's Witnesses and others - have found a common ground in branding Freemasonry as a religious movement, and thus a heresy. The theme, succintly expressed by Gen Bramwell Booth in 1925, still holds:
"The place where Jesus Christ is not allowed is no place for any Salvation Army Officer " (45)
This has become the front-line of the Protestant argument.
Bro. John Hamill has summarised four main criticisms of the Craft from such
sources, namely that:
1. It is a secret society,
2. It is a religion or a substitute for religion and
is anti-Church;
3. It exists solely for the material interests of its
members;
4. It is a conspiracy secretly manipulating government
and the law at all levels. ' (46)
His discussion with refutations of these charges is an important masonic statement, and an excellent summary reference. Nevertheless, rumblings of improper preferment among freemasons wax and wane, exemplified by a long history of arguments within the British Home Office and the Police Department. Even in late 1996, a new Order required that such freemasons must declare their affiliation in a publicly available Register, but no such implied criticism was attached to memberships of Clubs, past school or military associations, religious, sporting, political or other such bodies.
After the Board of General Purposes Report to the Grand Lodge of England in 1962 (47) there were many meetings of Church authorities seeking individual compromises. The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1965 accepted its Panel on Doctrine's Report, which, while allowing that secrecy was "sometimes necessary or permissible", adopted two major objections to the Craft as "substantial" and deferred a third because of anecdotal evidence:
"The first was that Freemasonry was in certain respects blasphemous. Secondly, that Freemasonry did not recognise the forgiveness of sins or Christian salvation…. If he who is offended is encouraged to forgive, he achieves a less hurt and drowns bitterness. Repentant sinners can achieve salvation. These are great tenets of Christianity but are not recognised in Freemasonry."
The third and deferred objection arises from the first degree "branding ....as void of all moral worth ....and totally unfit to be received into the society of men who prize honour and virtue...." of a masonic offender. In a class-conscious English society the possible implications of this are evident, thus: "..A crude and insensitive instrument which is largely uncontrollable having the implication that he will be subjected to ostracism. "
The Methodist Conference in England considered the position in 1985 (48) and issued the "guidance" that its members should not become freemasons. At its 1987 General Synod the Church of England again considered the position, and, among many findings, recommended:
" that Christians who are Freemasons faced 'clear difficulties', and the Report pointed to a number of very fundamental reasons to question the compatibility of Freemasonary with Christianity "(49)
In so many respects Australian Anti-Masonry originated abroad, rapidly dissociated and so became unique. The early Catholic and Protestant streams had different origins, were driven by different objectives, subsided for different reasons, and involved different arguments. Such insignificant Fundamentalist attacks as remain serve a purpose in highlighting both the detachment and inaction of Grand Lodges of many years, leaving the battle to the uncoordinated, and at times contradictory responses of lesser brethren. The real significance of all these events, and the Craft's future course among them, remains unresolved.
Bro Graham Roseby began this examination, and I thank him for his scholarship and for much material made available from his personal library. I am most grateful to WBro Graeme Love for his direction to many abstruse sources, including the Internet, and to my brethren in the Holden Research Circle and the Victorian Lodge of Research for their informed discussion on many matters.
1. Green, Jonathon, CHASING THE SUN, London, 1996
2. Murray, K.M. Elizabeth, CAUGHT IN THE WEB OF WORDS, New Haven, 1977
3. THE NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, 15th ed., 1974, 4:78
4. THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY, 3rd ed., Oxford, 1973
5. THE NEW CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA. 6:137
6. Wilmshurst, W.L., THE MASONIC INITIATION, London, 1924
7. Unsigned. THE RELIGION OF FREEMASONRY in "The Freemason", Dec. 1926
8. Hamill, J.H., "THE SINS OF OUR FATHERS", AQC, 1988, 101:133
9. Haffner, C., THE CRAFT IN THE EAST, Hong Kong, 1988, p.306
10. Grand Lodge of Japan, QUARTERLY, Ref. 16, p.306.
11. YEARBOOK OF AUSTRALIA, 1995, Canberra, p.408
12. CENSUS 1996 - CENSUS OF POULATION AND HOUSING 2015.0., ABS, B12:43
13. number not allotted
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15. UGLV, MEMBERSHIP TASK FORCE REPORT AND CODE OF CONDUCT, 1994
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17. Knoop D., Jones & Hamer, THE EARLY MASONIC CATECHISM, 1975, 2nd Ed, London
18. Read, W., THE CHURCH OF ROME AND FREEMASONRY (..1738...1917...1983) aqc, 1991, 104:51
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20. Personal communications with Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist clerics and laymen in Victoria, 1995-96.
21. Roseby, G.L., Personal communication, 1996
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30. Clark, C.Manning H., A HISTORY OF AUSTRALIA, 1987. VI:68
31. Mannix, Archbishop D., reported in "THE AGE", Melbourne 15 Feb 1916.
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35. Hogan, Michael. Quoted from a publication of the Catholic Truth Society, 1936, and quoted in Ref.34, p.217
36. THE CODE OF CANON LAW AND COMMENTARY, publ. The Canon Law Society of America, London, 1983, p.iv
36a. ibid. pp. 923 and 547.
37. Read, W. "The Church of Rome and Freemasonry (1738..1917..1983)" in AQC. 1991, 104:51
38. Mellor, Alec. OUR SEPARATED BRETHREN, THE FREEMASONS, London 1964.
39. ibid Ref. 37
40. "Masonic Information Centre", A communication from the MSA, June 1996, Vol.3, Issue 2.
41. CHIPS FROM THE CHISEL, Holden Research Circle, 1997, series 1, quote JJ de Bruin, "L'Amitie sans Fin".
42. Turner, Naomi. CATHOLICS IN AUSTRALIA, Melbourne, 1992
43. Hamill, Rev. Graham. CHRISTIAN ANTI-MASONRY. Paper to Vic. Lodge of Research No.218 (UGLV), 23 May 1997.
44. Baigent, Michael and Leigh, Richard. THE TEMPLE AND THE LODGE, London, 1989, p.16
45. Territorial Directive to Salvation Army Officers, London 1925
46. Hamill, J.M. THE CRAFT - A STORY OF ENGLISH FREEMASONRY, London, 1986, p.143
47. Dewar, James. THE UNLOCKED SECRET - FREEMASONRY EXAMINED, London, 1990, p.246
48. REPORT OF THE FAITH AND ORDER COMMITTEE OF THE BRITISH METHODIST CHURCH - FREEMASONRY AND METHODISM, 3 July 19885
49. STANDING COMMITTEE OF THE GENERAL SYNOD OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND - FREEMASONRY AND CHRISTIANITY, ARE THEY COMPATIBLE? London 1987
50. Cameron, Peter. FUNDAMENTALISM AND FREEDOM. Sydney, 1995
51. THE NEW ENCYCLOPEADIA BRITANNICA, 15th ed. 1990, 5:51
52. Ankerberg, John and Weldon, John. THE SECRET TEACHING OF THE MASONIC LODGE, Chicago, 1990
53. Cameron, Peter. NECESSARY HERESIES - ALTERNATIVES TO FUNDAMENTALISM, NSW University Press, 1993, p.157
54. Sandon, Robert. quoted in Vaughan, David W.N., THE DIARY OF A FREED MASON, London.
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60. ibid Ref.58.
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68. Ekert, K. FREEMASONRY AND WITCHCRAFT - FALSE PROPHETS EXPOSED. BOOK 2: HOW TO MINISTER TO MASONS & THEIR LOVED ONES, 3rd ed. Lambton, 1990
69. Dewar, J. THE UNLOCKED SECRET - FREEMASONRY EXAMINED. London, 1990
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While peripheral to this paper, an important reference is an Internet-published book, "IS IT TRUE WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT FREEMASONRY? by Art deHoyes and S Brent Morris. MSA (USA) 1993
Acker, J.W., STRANGE ALTARS: A SCRIPTURAL APPROACH TO THE LODGE, St.Louis, 1959
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lecture to the Grand Lodge of Ireland, 1992.
Ankerberg, J. and Weldon, J. THE FACTS ON THE MASONIC LODGE - DOES MASONRY
CONFLICT WITH THE CHRISTIAN FAITH?, Oregon, 1989
Beversley, James. HOLY LAUGHTER AND THE TORONTO BLESSING, Michigan, 1995
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Coil, H.W., A COMPREHENSIVE VIEW OF FREEMASONRY, Virginia, 1973
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Lodge
of Research), 1934
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LIGHT, 1993,
No.3, p.5
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Salt
Series, Louisiana, 1992
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ITS DEVELOPMENT, 1954
Fisher, Paul A., BEHIND THE LODGE DOOR: CHURCH, STATE AND FREEMASONRY,
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FREE THE MASON MINISTRIES. P.O. Box 1077, Issaquak, WA 98027
Haffner, Christopher, WOMEN UNASHAMED - THE TESTIMONY OF A CHRISTIAN
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Haha, E., MUSLIMS. "How to Respond....." SERIES. St.Louis, 1955
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Harris, Jack. THE INVISIBLE CULT IN OUR MIDST
Heckethorn, C.W. THE SECRET SOCIETIES OF ALL AGES AND COUNTRIES. New Jersey 1965
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Henderson, Kent. MASONIC WORLD GUIDE. Virginia, 1984
Holly, James L. THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION AND FREEMASONRY, Texas 1992
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PENNSYLVANIA FREEMASON,
1989, Feb, p.7
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ibid. THE NEW AGE MOVEMENT in the "How to Respond" series, St.Louis, 1984
McLeod, Guy. WE SHALL REBUILD, Glasgow, 1976
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North, Gary. UNHOLY SPIRITS: OCCULTISM AND NEW AGE HUMANISM, Fort Worth 1986
ONWARD CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS, 'Documents the progressive rise of the Religious
Right in America',
Netherlands Television, broadcast on The Cutting Edge, SBS, 4 Feb 1977
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RITE OF FREEMASONRY. Virginia, 1921.
Purkiser, W.T., EXPLORING OUR CHRISTIAN FAITH, Missouri 1960
Rice, John R., LODGES EXAMINED BY THE BIBLE, Tennessee 1943
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Sandeen, Ernest R., THE ROOTS OF FUNDAMENTALISM, Chicago 1970
Seal-Coon, F.W., "Modern Anti-Masonry At Home and Abroad", AQC, 1989, Vol.102, p.170
SEEDS OF TRUTH, "Traces the connection between international terrorism and
the deadly
alliance of fundamentalist faith and American firepower", Canadian
Television
broadcast on SBS, 9Feb 1997
Shaw, James D., CHRISTIANITY vs. FREEMASONRY. New Puritan Library Inc., Fletcher, NC, 1989
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EMBRACE THE LOST, Melbourne 1995
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MOVEMENT, Grand Rapids, 1989
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Whalen, W.J., CHRISTIANITY AND AMERICAN FREEMASONRY 1958
ibid HANDBOOK OF SECRET ORGANIZATIONS, Milwaukee 1966
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