Watch "Of Masons and Mormons: The Relationship Between Freemasonry's Rituals of Initiation and the Latter-Day Saint Temple Rituals"

Of Mormons and Masons from WEOFM on Vimeo.

"Of Masons and Mormons": This Week on the Worldwide Exemplification of Freemasonry

For over 150 years, there has been contention about whether the Mormon temple ceremonies were essentially stolen from the Craft degrees of Freemasonry. As it happens, I am a Latter-day Saint, or “Mormon”; of course, long-time readers of this blog are well-aware that I am a Mason, as well. Being intimately familiar both with the Craft degrees and the Mormon temple ceremonies, I have some thoughts on this matter. I shall be presenting those thoughts as a streaming video on the Worldwide Exemplification of Freemasonry website (http://www.weofm.org/) this Saturday, August 20, at 8 p.m. Eastern. Thereafter, the hourlong presentation will be available through the Video tab on the WEOFM website, at least through the end of 2015.

I have wanted to address the controversy on this issue in a productive way for many years. I am very grateful to the Worldwide Exemplification of Freemasonry, and its current master, Brother Albert McClelland, for giving me this opportunity to present my thoughts. My presentation is respectful to both traditions; this is not an expose of either. This is not a “talking head” show, either; I have included hundreds of photos and illustrations.

I am looking into publishing an expanded version of this presentation through an on-demand publisher. Watch this space for more details. In the meantime, enjoy the video presentation.