Freemasonry: Reality, Myth, and Legend

Mysterious ancient markings in Jerusalem

2011-12-07T16:46:00.000-05:00

I'm just going to post this and let you draw your own conclusions: The Associated Press has posted a story titled, "Experts stumped by ancient Jerusalem markings."

As the man said: "Those who speak, do not know; those who know, do not speak."

A Talk on Freemasonry for a General Audience:Appearance at Masonic Hall NYC on Wednesday 9/14

2011-09-11T02:27:00.001-04:00

The Renaissance Room, Masonic Hall, New York City

I do not often get the opportunity to speak about Freemasonry before a general audience, but I have such an opportunity coming up this week.

On Wednesday evening, September 14th, I will be speaking at Joseph Warren-Gothic Lodge No. 934 in New York City on the topic, “The Mysteries of Freemasonry (Some Assembly Required).” Masonic membership is not required to attend. This is an event for Masons and non-Masons, men and women. Admission is without charge; reservations are not required for the presentation itself. (Concerning after-presentation refreshment, see below.)

Topic: For centuries, rumor has had it that the Freemasons are in possession of deep mysteries. This is entirely true. In this presentation, I explain just what the true Masonic mysteries are. But be advised: these mysteries “require some assembly by the user,” as it were!

Place and Dress: The presentation will be held at Masonic Hall, 71 West 23rd Street, in Manhattan (very near to the corner of 6th Avenue). We shall meet in the magnificent Renaissance Room on the 6th Floor (shown above). Dress is either formal or business attire.

Time: Master Masons are welcome to attend the opening of Lodge at 7 p.m. The general audience will be admitted at 8 p.m.

Book Signing Opportunity: I will be signing my book, Freemasonry: An Introduction (Tarcher/Penguin, 2011) at this event. Should I run out of copies, I will take orders for signed copies that I shall mail to you.

Collation: After the presentation, all and sundry adults are welcome to attend what Masons call “collation”—refreshment—which includes a catered meal and refreshment (including alcoholic beverages for those who imbibe). Collation will be held after the presentation at the dining room on the second floor of Masonic Hall. The cost is $25, all-inclusive. Attendance at collation requires reservations. Reservations may be made by e-mail sent to junior.warden@jwgl934.com ; please be sure to mention the number of people in your party.

I hope to see readers of this blog at the event. Be well.

Copyright 2011 Mark E. Koltko-Rivera. All Rights Reserved.

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

2011-08-21T22:28:00.000-04:00

Of Mormons and Masons from WEOFM on Vimeo.

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

2011-08-18T03:36:00.003-04:00

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.

Masons Spreading Light—Literally—in India

2011-05-09T04:20:00.001-04:00

Light is a central symbol within Freemasonry. Metaphorically, the progress of a Mason through Masonry’s degrees of initiation is a journey to light. Masons also hold dear such values as relief, and service to the community. The Grand Lodge of India is combining these aspects of symbolic Masonry, by spending resources to bring electrification and light to villages throughout India.

The online news service DNA: Daily News & Analysis has reported that the Grand Lodge of India is celebrating its Golden Jubilee by bringing solar-powered electricity projects to 50 villages throughout India. DNA reports that the Most Worshipful Grand Master, Capt. Dr. Balaram Biswakumar stated the following: “We have embarked on project Jyotirgamaya (Let there be light), under which we plan to light up 50 villages in the country using solar energy. Work for the project is in different stages of implementation in 26 villages. We plan to cover 50 villages by October 31.”

You will find an English-language .pdf file describing the Jyotirgamaya project on the Grand Lodge of India website, here. At least for the moment, the home page of the Grand Lodge of India features links to news reports and photographs of the project, available here.

An article on the mobile edition of The Times of India reports how this project is taking shape in Ahmedabad, India, through the efforts of Fellowship Lodge. It looks like each one of these fifty electrification projects will change hundreds of lives.

Freemasonry in India dates back to 1730, less than a generation after the establishment of the first Grand Lodge in London (1717). In the 18th and early 19th centuries, lodges in India functioned under English, Dutch, French, Scottish, Danish, and Irish Constitutions. Although European Masons were the sole members of Indian lodges in early years, the initiation of ethnic Indians began in the early 18th Century, with Muslim Indians initiated at least as early as 1812, Hindu Indians following in 1857, and Sikh Indians in 1861. Lodges under English, Irish, and Scottish constitutions combined to form the Grand Lodge of India on November 24, 1961 (hence the push to electrify fifty villages by the end of October, in celebration of the Golden Jubilee year).

The Masonic brethren of India are to be commended for celebrating their Golden Jubilee with a massive act of service to their communities. This should be an example to all of us, wherever Masonry is found. Such an act of service, addressing a vital community need, is a good example of how Freemasonry is to exert its influence for the good of humankind. Each of us should ask himself, “What is my lodge/Grand Lodge doing?”

[Readers are welcome to share their thoughts using the “comment” link below, and to become “followers” of this blog using the box in the upper-right-hand corner.]

Copyright 2011 Mark E. Koltko-Rivera. All Rights Reserved.

Mark Koltko-Rivera Live on Freemasonry: Streaming Video Tonight

2011-04-04T15:57:00.000-04:00

Tonight, Ustreem Internet TV, in association with the Learning Annex, will present two brief streaming video lessons featuring me talking about Freemasonry:

"Unlocking the Truth Behind Freemasonry": 6:20 p.m.--6:35 p.m. (Eastern)
"Debunking Conspiracy Theories and Myths About Freemasonry": 7:00 p.m.--7:15 p.m. (Eastern)

The streaming video is available to view for $0.99 each; register here. (I don't make anything off this, but I do get to plug my book, Freemasonry: An Introduction.) After the original broadcast, the lessons will be archived and available for viewing.

Enjoy.

Mötley Crüe's Tommy Lee to Host Show Investigating Freemasonry

2011-03-22T13:59:00.001-04:00

Here is an item from the You-Couldn't-Make-This-Stuff-Up Department: Today the showbiz newspaper Variety reported that Tommy Lee (yes, that Tommy Lee, drummer of Mötley Crüe, shown in the photo above dressed up for Halloween) will be hosting a television series investigating secret societies—starting with Freemasonry:

Syfy will develop “Culture Shock With Tommy Lee,” in which the former Motley Crue member seeks to uncover and expose secret societies. [Syfy channel president of original programming Mark] Stern said that any show involving a celebrity was a tough sell to him, but that he was won over by Lee's sincerity. “This comes from a very deep-seated, personal desire to uncover the truth behind these secret societies,” Stern said, “starting with his father's membership in the Freemasons.”

The Hollywood Reporter adds that this will be an hourlong “investigative travel show,” in which “Lee will attempt to uncover rituals, symbols, and other mysteries of secret societies.” Lee Stubner and Carl Stubner will act as executive producers for ITV Studios America, which will produce the series.

According to his bio on Wikipedia, Tommy Lee was born in Athens, Greece, his father being David Oliver Bass, then a U.S. Army serviceman, and his mother Vassiliki Papadimitriou, a former Miss Greece. I have no information at present about the Masonic background of Tommy Lee’s father.

In our celebrity-obsessed culture, it is perhaps no surprise that someone with no background in investigation, history, or esoteric research would get a reality show where such credentials would seem to be crucial. (Of course, former professional wrestler and governor of Minnesota, Jesse “The Body” Ventura, has a similar show, “Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura,” on TruTV.) One hopes that someday some television network will produce a show with someone who has the real chops to do such an investigative show, not just name recognition and a colorful persona.

I’m not holding my breath.

(Although, my schedule does have some openings right now.)

Copyright 2011 Mark E. Koltko-Rivera. All Rights Reserved.

[The photo of Tommy Lee at his Halloween Party at Club Medusa was taken on October 30, 2005 by Joel Telling. It was obtained from Wikimedia Commons and appears here under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License.]

Planner of DC Street Layout,Pierre L’Enfant,Really Was a Mason!

2011-02-26T02:00:00.002-05:00

For a number of years, the more hysterical Masonic-related conspiracy theorists have made the claim that the layout of the streets of Washington, DC, reveals Masonic symbols, including symbols that supposedly indicate devil worship. Also for many years, Masonic historians and authors have indicated that there was no evidence that the designer of this layout, Pierre L’Enfant, was even a Freemason. (I have made this claim myself.)

We were all wrong. L’Enfant was a Freemason, albeit in a very limited sense.

The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction, publishes a bimonthly magazine, the Scottish Rite Journal. The March-April 2011 issue carries an article on pp. 10-12 by Right Worshipful Brother Pierre F. de Ravel d’Esclapon, who holds the 32° in the Scottish Rite, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction. (I know Sublime Prince de Ravel d’Esclapon as a Past Master of the American Lodge of Research, the oldest currently functioning American research lodge, of which I have the honor to be a full member. Plug: corresponding members are always welcome.) This article is titled “The Masonic Career of Major Pierre Charles L’Enfant,” and it details the findings of the author while the author was researching the early history of New York City’s Holland Lodge No. 8 F&AM. (Holland Lodge, which was chartered in 1787, has had such distinguished members as General von Steuben and Commodore Perry; Franklin Delano Roosevelt was raised a Master Mason in Holland Lodge in 1911.)

In Holland Lodge records, the article’s author discovered that Major Pierre L’Enfant was initiated an Entered Apprentice in Holland Lodge on April 17th, 1789, during the same month in which brother George Washington took the oath of office as the first President of the United States, in New York City. As noted in the article, L’Enfant had been in New York City since the preceding year, as he supervised renovations to Federal Hall, where the inauguration was to take place.

There is much more fascinating information in this article, which I recommend for your perusal. Regretably, as of this writing, the website of the Scottish Rite Journal has not been updated to display the March-April issue (only fair, since, after all, we are still in February). However, I would guess that in just a few days it will be possible to see this fascinating article online. (Incidentally, individual copies of this issue are available for US$3 each, and subscriptions within the US are US$15 annually, domestic checks only, sent to Scottish Rite Journal, 1733 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20009-3103. And, no, I don’t make a dime off of that plug. It’s just a great magazine.) Brother de Ravel d’Esclapon is to be commended for his discovery, and his excellent report.

So where does that leave us with regard to the idea that L’Enfant embedded Masonic symbols, supposedly including satanic symbols, in the street layout of Washington, DC? This notion is entirely rubbish, every bit as much as before. Consider:

Any unbiased observer of L’Enfant’s plan (shown in the illustration above) will see that L’Enfant planned his layout as a right-angled grid, overlaid by a pattern of plazas, from each of which avenues radiated like spokes from a wheel’s hub. With such a pattern, it is inevitable that diagonal angles will be formed. Masonic symbolism (such as the square and compasses) are composed of diagonal angles, so one can see Masonic symbolism like this in the street layout of DC if one really wants to. However, this is much like seeing menacing shapes in cloud formations or Rorschach inkblots. (And I speak as one who first administered the Rorschach in 1987. People see what they want to see in neutral stimuli, folks.)

Again, five-pointed stars will inevitably be formed by a hubs-and-spokes pattern. Some of these stars will point downward. However, the downward-directed five-pointed star only took on a sinister connotation in the 19th century, well after L’Enfant’s time, in the writings of the French esotericist Eliphas Levi. Even if L’Enfant had deliberately been trying to create the shape of a downward-directed five-pointed star, that shape had no connection to evil during his lifetime.

The article in the Scottish Rite Journal suggests that L’Enfant never received the second or third degrees of Freemasonry. Thus, he did not have exposure as an initiate even to the majority of the symbols of the basic Blue Lodge of Freemasonry. One would expect that symbols of satanic worship, if they existed within Blue Lodge Freemasonry at all, would be reserved for the famous “third degree.” However, apparently, L’Enfant never received that degree.

The Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon has some excellent on-line articles on these subjects. One is an article on the pentagram as a symbol throughout history. Another is this article on the symbolism supposedly to be found in the street layouts of DC (an article which can only be faulted in its claim, now obsolete, that there was no evidence that L’Enfant was a Mason).

Memo to Masonic-related conspiracy theorists: Please. Enough with the idea of Masonic symbolism in the streets of Washington, DC, already. Come up with something new and original.
Copyright 2011 Mark E. Koltko-Rivera. All Rights Reserved.

[The image of Pierre L’Enfant’s layout of Washington, DC, was obtained through Wikipedia, and is in the public domain.]

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The New Philalethes Magazine

2011-02-06T02:39:00.000-05:00

I’ve got some bad news, and some good news. I have some unpleasant things to say about an American Masonic institution, and I have some high praise for that same institution. What I have to say here will doubtless step on some toes, and may bruise some egos. However, the current generation of Freemasons needs to know about a resource that it should embrace with all its heart.

Even before I became a Freemason, I had heard of the Philalethes magazine. The Philalethes Society was established in 1928 by leading Masonic scholars “who felt that the great mass of Freemasons in the United States should have more information on the fundamentals of Freemasonry,” in the words of its founding president. In my studies on Freemasonry—something I began in earnest in the early 1980s—I often came upon references to articles published in the Philalethes. And no wonder: the Fellows of the Philalethes society have included such giants of Masonic scholarship as Allen E. Roberts, Harold Van Buren Voorhis, Arthur Edward Waite, and J. S. M. Ward. (In our day, these Fellows include such contemporary masters of Masonic scholarship as Robert G. Davis, John Mauk Hilliard, Jay M. Kinney, S. Brent Morris, and Leon Zeldis.) The Society published the first issue of the Philalethes magazine in 1946, and, as the Society’s website truly claims, the Philalethes magazine “has long served as the de facto magazine for North American Freemasonry.”

Imagine my dismay, then, when I began to subscribe to the Philalethes some years ago, and found that it had fallen very far from the standard set in earlier days. I found many of the articles to be amateurishly written, the articles themselves to be uninspiring, the artwork largely mediocre. In particular, the greatest failing for me was that I did not feel that I was learning much about the inner meaning of Freemasonry through the magazine; there were interesting articles here and there about Masonic history, but my interest—much like the interest of many men entering the Fraternity in the last two decades—is in Freemasonry as a living initiatic tradition, and I found little in the magazine that fed this interest. In the words of a friend of mine, it became clear to me that “the Philalethes was no longer compelling reading” for someone with my interests. So, with regret, I let my subscription lapse.

The editors of recent eras have my sympathies. As another friend of mine put it in relation to a non-Masonic magazine that he edited some years ago, “we can only publish what people submit.” Earlier editors of the Philalethes magazine are to be commended for running articles on national and international issues such as the recognition of Prince Hall Masonry.

However, the fact of the matter is that the appetites of many Masonic readers has developed in certain directions over the last thirty years or so. Interest in what we might call the esoteric side of Freemasonry—the idea of Masonry as a truly initiatic experience that conveys timeless wisdom to today’s man—has become a very strong focus of interest for today’s Mason. Unless the mainstream Masonic press pays attention to this matter, unless knowledgeable Masonic writers help Masonic readers to take a more informed stance on these issues, then we abandon the field to the sensationalists, to poor historians, even to the paranoid fringe. Some years ago, I sorrowfully concluded that the magazine had indeed abandoned the field in just this way, and that, for Masonic light on the inner meanings of Masonry, I would need to search somewhere else.

That was then. This is now—and now is a truly wonderful place to be.

We have just seen the completion of the first six issues of the new Philalethes magazine under the editorship of brother and Editor Shawn Eyer, P.M., and I am extremely impressed with the results. I would now recommend the Philalethes magazine to any and every Freemason who is deeply interested in the inner meanings of our Masonic symbolism and initiatory experience.

First of all, the magazine itself is physically stunning: it has had a contemporary redesign that puts it on a par, visually, with the finest general interest magazines now being published. (And you are hearing this from a subscriber to The Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, and a raft of literary magazines, including Agni, Boulevard, n+1, and Tin House.) The artwork is inspiring, and even thought-provoking, as a perusal of the most recent six covers would suggest, such as the covers reproduced above (from the Summer 2010 and Winter 2011 issues). I only wish I could show you some of the interior art. Heck, the cover paper itself is even of higher quality than the magazine used to have.

But the real joy of the magazine is its content. I don’t know what the new editor is doing, but he has found a way to have people who have thought very deeply about Masonic symbolism and philosophy submit some great articles to him, specifically for the sections on Masonic education. For example, I am thinking of Ed Halpaus’s article, “Truth: A Masonic Meditation, and Erastus Allen’s piece, “Knowing, and Still More to Know,” both from the Fall 2009 issue. Beginning with the Winter 2010 issue a year ago, each issue typically has one article each on Masonic education specifically tailored for the Entered Apprentice, the Fellow Craft, and the Master Mason. (What a godsend for Masonic education at one’s Stated Communications!) The new magazine features almost 20% more content, specifically to accommodate the need for better Masonic education.

The feature articles are a special delight. Readers over the past six issues have enjoyed such treasures as “The Function of Secrecy in the Work of Freemasonry” by Michael Pearce (Chair of the Art Department at California Lutheran University); the man references Iamblichus, Mircea Eliade, and Georg Simmel, for heaven’s sake—I’m in scholar heaven—but makes it all understandable to the general Masonic reader. Robert G. Davis’s article on William Preston finally clarified in my mind what this “architect of the American Craft ritual” was all about.

Editor Eyer himself has contributed some of the articles that I found most interesting. He treated with scholarship and clarity such subjects as the Mosaic pavement, the symbol of the Beehive, and the inner meaning of the symbols of the Fellow Craft’s wages (the latter article being available for free on the website).

Of especial interest to the budding Masonic scholar is a paper by Editor Eyer that is also made available for free on the Society’s website: “Writing a Masonic Paper.” Every lodge that requires its initiates to deliver papers in lodge should make this paper available to its initiates. Every Masonic lodge of research should make reference to it in an editorial.

I could go on. And on. I haven’t even touched upon most of the fascinating historical articles—the one on Thomas Paine, by Shai Afsai, was a favorite—nor the book reviews, alas. But my point should be clear: The new Philalethes is now as compelling a collection of Masonic reading as any I have ever seen. The magazine focuses on the deeper aspects of symbolism and history while avoiding both the Scylla of sensationalism and the Charybdis of superficiality. The articles are on-point, well-researched, well-written, accessible to the general Masonic reader, and serve as well-prepared food for the soul.

Could I pick nits? Sure I could. Someone left off the page numbers in the Spring 2010 issue, for example. And Editor Eyer might reconsider some of his own article titles. For example, “The Transvaluation of Status in the First Degree” (Summer 2010) is technically correct as a title for what is actually a very clear and accessible article—one which I highly recommend—about how the First Degree encourages a change in a new Mason’s personal values, but putting “transvaluation” in the title makes it sound like a poster from the Modern Language Association convention, Incomprehensible Division. This is unfortunate, because the article itself is a model of clarity, and very valuable for Masonic education.

But these are minor peccadillos. As far as I am concerned, the Philalethes is at the center of the target when it comes to reading intelligent, accessible literature about the real meaning and current relevance of our symbolism and tradition.

Let me put it this way: I had the privilege of being in charge of Masonic education in my mother lodge for eight months, until I relocated from Winter Park, Florida to New York City. I would have agreed to do outdoor door-to-door sales for a day in the August Florida heat, if that was the ordeal required to have had six issues of the new Philalethes to base my Masonic education on. The magazine is simply that valuable.

To the editor of this new Philalethes: ad multos annos, and long may you wield your editor’s pen.

You can learn more about the Philalethes Society and the Philalethes magazine on their (similarly revamped) website, which has what must be the easiest-to-remember URL in all of Masonry: http://freemasonry.org/ .

[Disclosure: I have published in the Philalethes in its earlier incarnation, and I hope someday to publish there again. Take a look at the magazine yourself and see whether I am biased in my estimation of its current status and value.]

Copyright 2011 Mark E. Koltko-Rivera. All Rights Reserved.

[The images are of the covers of the Summer 2010 and Winter 2011 issues of the new Philalethes magazine; they were obtained from the Philalethes Society website.]

Available Now: Freemasonry: An Introduction

2011-01-20T14:42:00.006-05:00

Today is the official publication date of my new book, Freemasonry: An Introduction, published by Jeremy P. Tarcher, an imprint of Penguin Books. The book is available at a substantial discount through clicking on the ad to the right. (Disclosure: ordering through the ad also nets me a little cash). You can read the publisher’s description in this earlier post, but in today’s post I thought I would explain what I think is special about this book.

Over the years, I have read a lot of books introducing Freemasonry. I have often come away from such books feeling that I really have not learned why someone would become a Freemason in the first place, what it brings to his life, what it does for him. I wanted people to know what Freemasonry could mean in the life of the individual Mason. So, for this book, I wrote a 15-page chapter, “Why Men Become Freemasons,” where I go into the meaning of initiation, and ways that Masonry is a vehicle for self-development, a fellowship, a place of ritual, and a set of opportunities for service. I also describe the outer and inner experiences of being a Freemason in a 20-page chapter, “How Freemasonry Works.”

One of the most disappointing things for me about many introductions to the Fraternity is that they either downplay or wildly overplay the idea of both secrets and esoteric knowledge within Freemasonry. The fact is that Freemasonry has both, and I think that we as Masons should be very clear about that, and about how that is so, especially given that this is a major reason why many men these days are looking into the Fraternity.

The secrets of Freemasonry come in two flavors. There are the signs of recognition, whereby Masons from different regions may know one another as Masons. The signs of recognition provide an important link to centuries of Masonic tradition and our mythic history. There is also the inner transformation of a Mason as he comes to contemplate the Fraternity’s symbolism; this is a secret because it can only be known through one’s personal experience. So, in this book, I write about the meaning of Masonic secrecy, and its meaning in the modern world.

When I say that esoteric knowledge is available within Freemasonry, I am not referring to what Masons call “the esoteric work,” the precise and confidential wording of our ritual. Rather, I mean that Freemasonry does convey knowledge that is “esoteric” in the formal sense, in that it is of unusual interest but is conveyed only to a specially initiated group. So, in this book, without giving any confidential knowledge away, I write about Freemasonry in connection with a number of esoteric topics: the initiatic tradition in ancient times; the Temple built by Solomon, as a symbol; the interest of 17th and 18th century Freemasons in topics like alchemy. I do not give credence to the unsupportable assertions of some authors, but I do not ignore the interests of early Freemasons in esoteric knowledge.

Another thing that bothered me about many introductions to Freemasonry is that they give a superficial gloss on areas of controversy concerning Freemasonry. Yet, it is such controversies that often appear in the newspapers, leaving potential candidates for Masonry confused regarding what to think about the Fraternity. So, for the book, I wrote a 29-page chapter, “Masonic Controversies,” where I give an up-front consideration of Masonry’s stance toward women and African Americans; allegations accusing Albert Pike of involvement with the Knights of the Golden Circle, the Ku Klux Klan, and Satanism; and efforts in Great Britain aimed at requiring public registration of Freemasons in law enforcement, the judiciary, and the armed forces. I also wrote a 21-page chapter, “Anti-Masonry: Accusations Versus Truth.”

In short, I packed a lot of material into a pocket-sized, 196-page book, material that would be useful to the man interested in looking into Freemasonry, to family members who might continue our tradition, and to many a brother as well—all at a very affordable price. I deliberately wrote this in such a format that it would be both useful and economical for Particular and Grand Lodges to make copies available to prospective candidates and new initiates alike.

This is what I think is special about this book. Below, I give an annotated table of chapter titles. (Each chapter also comes with a brief summary.)

INTRODUCTION: Who this book is for • Why I wrote it • Acknowledgements.

1. FREEMASONRY: WHAT IT IS: Different perspectives on Freemasonry (social fellowship; place of ritual and symbolism; vehicle for spiritual growth) • What Freemasonry is not (a religion; a path to power or status; a conspiracy) • “But what about the ‘mysteries’?” • Masonic secrecy.

2. WHY MEN BECOME FREEMASONS: Freemasonry as an initiatic tradition (what initiation is; initiation throughout history; initiation in Freemasonry; symbols and teachings) • A vehicle for self-development • Fellowship • Ritual • Service.

3. HOW FREEMASONRY WORKS: An evening at Solomon’s Lodge #987 • Affiliated groups (the Rites; groups for family members; “fun” groups) • Being a Freemason: The inner experience (lifelong journey to light; walking uprightly before God and man; treating each other as brothers; conducting oneself as a gentleman in society; service to the community and society; upholding religious tolerance).

4. MASONIC SYMBOLISM: The Square • The Level • The Plumb • The Compasses • The Square and Compasses • The Altar, the Volume of Sacred Law, and the Temple built by Solomon • The Letter G • Other symbols.

5. HOW FREEMASONRY BEGAN: The initiatic tradition in ancient times • The medieval Knights Templar • The medieval stonemasons of Europe • The late Renaissance and early Enlightenment • The founding of the first Grand Lodge • Freemasonry and the founding of the United States.

6. MASONIC CONTROVERSIES: Women and Freemasonry (Freemasonry has a right to be a fraternity; Masonic-affiliated organizations that involve women; alternative forms of Freemasonry) • African Americans and Freemasonry (the reception of African Americans into the Lodge; recognition of Prince Hall lodges) • Albert Pike (rumors involving him in the Knights of the Golden Circle, the Ku Klux Klan, and Satanism) • Violating Masonic civil rights in England.

7. ANTI-MASONRY: ACCUSATIONS VERSUS TRUTHS: Freemasonry and religion in general • Freemasonry and accusations of devil worship • Freemasonry and Christianity in general • Freemasonry and the occult • Freemasonry and international conspiracy • Freemasonry and Roman Catholicism • Some thoughts on anti-Masonry.

8. FREEMASONRY IN FICTION: MYTH VERSUS REALITY: From Hell • The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen • The Da Vinci Code • National Treasure • National Treasure: Book of Secrets • The Lost Symbol.

9. HOW TO BECOME A FREEMASON: Establish eligibility • Find the local lodge • Get to know some of the local lodge brothers • File a petition • Meet with the investigation committee • Undergoing the “trial of the ballot box” • Receive the degrees of Freemasonry • After receiving the three basic degrees of Freemasonry.

10. LEARNING MORE ABOUT FREEMASONRY: Introductions to Freemasonry • Masonic symbolism • Masonic history • Responses to anti-Masonry.

GLOSSARY: 24 entries regarding terms with meanings special to Freemasonry, such as “Initiate” and “Regular Freemasonry.”

REFERENCES: Full source information for 130 works referenced in the book.

ILLUSTRATION CREDITS: Full source information for 13 public domain illustrations, many available on the Internet.

INDEX: 12 pages of index entries.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: My scholarly credentials and specific Masonic affiliations.

Copyright 2011 Mark E. Koltko-Rivera. All Rights Reserved.

The Alleged Michael Brea Sword Murder

2010-11-23T14:52:00.001-05:00

Michael Brea (pictured) is a 31-year-old bit-part actor from New York City who has been seen on the television series Ugly Betty. Reports say that Mr. Brea early this morning murdered his mother, Ms. Yannick Brea, at her Brooklyn apartment with a sword. Mr. Brea lived with Ms. Brea, and has been apprehended and taken to Kings County Hospital for psychiatric evaluation.

Reports differ on a couple of issues. Some reports, such as that of Perez Hilton, state that Mr. Brea used a "Freemason ceremonial sword" to kill his mother, and that as he pursued her, he shouted out the names of religious figures, such as the "architect of the universe." Of course, Freemasons ceremonially refer to the Supreme Being as "the Grand Architect of the Universe."

Other reports, such as that of the New York Daily News, state that police found Mr. Brea wielding a samurai sword. The Daily News report quoted neighbors saying that Brea shouted "Repent, repent, sinner, sinner," and "You never accepted Jesus."

The New York Post reports that a samurai sword was used in the attack, and quoted a neighbor stating that Mr. Brea shouted about the "architect of the universe." The Post also reported that Mr. Brea's twin brother Marcel, a martial arts instructor, also lived with Ms. Brea.

I would point out a couple of things that might not be common knowledge among people who are not Freemasons:

To the best of my knowledge, neither Michael Brea nor Marcel Brea has ever been a Freemason. However, there are many, many Freemasons in New York City, and I certainly do not know more than a fraction of them. If I obtain information to the contrary, I shall post it here.
It is very common for martial arts instructors in certain disciplines to possess swords of various types. My belief is that Michael Brea appropriated a samurai-style sword belonging to his twin brother, Marcel Brea, who is reportedly a martial arts instructor. Samurai swords (lightly curved and square-ended) are easily distinguished from either the European-style swords (straight and triangular-ended) used in most Masonic ceremonies, or the scimitars (heavily curved and pointy-ended) used in some Shriner activities.
Yes, swords are commonly used in Freemasonry. They play a minor role in regular, or Blue Lodge, Freemasonry, where every lodge has an officer, the Tyler, who guards the door of a lodge in session, with a sword. Swords are used by every participant in Knights Templar commanderies. Other branches of Freemasonry make occasional use of ceremonial swords in their ceremonial dramas, called degree work. However, these swords are used only for ceremonial purposes--processions, dramatic enactments, and the like. Swords are never used within Freemasonry as actual instruments of aggression.
Masonic swords are easy to obtain from fraternal supply houses and dealers in martial arts regalia. Such suppliers do not require Masonic membership to obtain such a sword. Thus, even if the sword used in the attack was a "Masonic" sword, that does not mean that a Mason ever owned it.
The phrase "Great Architect of the Universe" is easy to find in many books about Freemasonry, including many well-selling books available in large chain bookstores such as Barnes and Noble and Borders Books and Music. These books include Brother Christopher Hodapp's Freemasons for Dummies and Brother Brent Morris's The Complete Idiot's Guide to Freemasonry, each of which sells very well. It is my belief that Michael Brea learned the phrase from some popular press book such as these.
The psychology staff at Kings County Hospital, when I knew them as a prospective intern in the 1990s, were top notch. They shall give Mr. Brea a thorough examination, and I will not second-guess them here. Certainly a psychotic or drug-related incident is at least plausible. The age of 31 is a bit old for a first psychotic break, but not so old as to be all that unlikely. It is also certainly the case that psychotic individuals often have prominent religious delusions and fixations.

In brief, this is not some kind of "Masonic murder." My sympathy, condolences, and prayers are with Marcel Brea and the other survivors of the late Ms. Yannick Brea.

Now Available for Pre-order from Amazon: Freemasonry: An Introduction (Tarcher/Penguin Books edition)

2010-10-19T17:46:00.007-04:00

Some readers of this blog may recall that I published a book, Freemasonry: An Introduction, three years ago through LVX Publications. Now, Tarcher, an imprint of Penguin Books, is releasing their edition, with about 75% more content, and updated. Although the book will be released on January 20, 2011, it is available now for pre-order through Amazon; just use the link in the sidebar to the right. The Amazon price is $8.60 for over 200 pages, which I think is a great deal. This is a very economical way to introduce someone to Freemasonry, authoritative yet accessible. (Update, Dec. 20, 2010: I received my author's copy today, and the book looks terrific.)

The product description from Amazon follows:

An experienced Freemason and award-winning psychologist provides a precise and engaging exploration of the core meaning and practices of Freemasonry for the new generation of people interested in joining the order, and those who are simply curious in the wake of recent media coverage.

Entertaining books and movies often depict Freemasonry as a shadowy, mysterious, and possibly sinister organization, and the TV and magazine specials on Freemasonry that inevitably follow often leave us with more questions than answers.

Mark E. Koltko-Rivera, a practicing thirty-second-degree Mason, has created a simple, authoritative, and easy-to-understand introduction to the history, rites, and meaning of Freemasonry. It may be the single most reliable short guide to Masonry, written by a widely recognized psychologist and scholar of esoteric history.

Koltko-Rivera's trustworthy handbook explores all the basic issues around Masonry, like:

*What is Freemasonry, and what is its history?
*How does one become a Freemason?
*What are some of the most important Masonic symbols?
*What do Masons get from their involvement in Freemasonry? What changes does it make in their inner and outer lives?
*What is it like to participate in the initiatory rituals of Freemasonry?
*What are some of the great historical controversies and myths surrounding Freemasonry?
*How is Masonry relevant today?

About the Author

Mark E. Koltko-Rivera, Ph.D., is a thirty-second-degree Freemason as well as a doctor of psychology. He has written extensively on Freemasonry for publications that serve as Masonic audience, and has also written, and has also written award-winning scholarly works in the fields of clinical and counseling psychology.

If you plan to order this through your local bookstore, or if you ask them to stock the book, please note that the ISBN for this edition is ISBN-13: 978-1585428533.

It is a great pleasure to see this book reach a large public through a major publisher. Enjoy.

Sorry to Be Gone for So Long

2010-05-24T17:59:00.001-04:00

I am sorry to say that a combination of unfortunate health and family circumstances have kept me off my blogs for a long time. I am happy to say that my health is much improved, and so I look forward to returning to my blogging with renewed vigor.

Happy 200th Birthday to Albert Pike!

2009-12-29T17:40:00.002-05:00

Just had to break out of my year-end rush to send out happy 200th birthday greetings for Albert Pike (1809-1891), formerly the seventh Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite in the Southern Jurisdiction.

Yes, I know he looks a bit scary. The fellow had more than a slightly rough life, upon the details of which I shall not dwell here. However, looking beyond his stern appearance, I am in awe of his sheer scholarly output, a great deal of which is worth our while today. A few cases in point:

His revision of the Scottish Rite rituals. Sure, the rituals have been revised a bit here and there since his time, but by far most of what one sees in the Scottish Rite rituals in the Southern Jurisdiction today is Pike's work--and it is magnificent. (For a taste of it in print, take a look at Rex R. Hutchens' A Bridge to Light: The Revised Standard Pike Ritual (3rd ed., 2006, ed. by Arturo de Hoyos).
His major commentary on that ritual, Morals and Dogma. Yes, the language is a bit outdated. However, if you take it in bite-sized chunks, you'll find that there are depths of interesting thinking here. I don't agree with everything Commander Pike had to say, but I'm grateful for him raising the issues he raised. (I look forward to the forthcoming new edition of Morals and Dogma, also edited by Arturo de Hoyos, which I hope will be out in the new year.)
His other commentary on that ritual, which can be found in the Scottish Rite Ritual Monitor and Guide (second edition, 2009, also edited by Arturo de Hoyos). Where else does a modern man make intelligent remarks on Pythagoras, the Kabbalah, and the meaning of Freemasonry?
His thoughts on the symbolism of the Blue Lodge, found in Albert Pike's Esoterika (2nd ed., 2008, edited by the indefatigable Arturo de Hoyos). When some leading intellectuals in the United Grand Lodge of England got a hold of a manuscript copy, they declared this the most profound work they'd seen on the Blue Lodge degrees.

Beyond all of the scholarship, I have a great deal of respect for the values that Albert Pike espoused. Among those that he made a point of emphasizing in the Scottish Rite ritual:

Tolerance of different religions, and championing of the cause of religious freedom, and respect for religious diversity.
Commitment to ongoing learning.
Championing the cause of those not in power. Commitment to fight political repression.
Commitment to seeing the truth and value that is there to be found in philosophies and religions from across the many cultures of humanity, throughout the ages.

He was not a flawless man by any means, but I have a great deal of respect for much of his thought. I was pleased to discover his condemnation of slavery (not what one expects from a former Confederate general). I also am in awe of his efforts on behalf of Freemasonry--for the Scottish Rite, to be sure, but also for many other aspects of the Fraternity. In my opinion, American Masonry might not have emerged from the Anti-Masonic Period half so well without his efforts.

So happy birthday to you, Commander Pike--with thanks for a job well done.

Mark Koltko-Rivera on Masonic Central--Tonight!--Talking About His Dan Brown Book

2009-12-13T05:04:00.000-05:00

Mark Koltko-Rivera will be on the Masonic Central podcast this evening, Sunday, December 13, at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time. (You can link to the podcast here.) Mark will be discussing his book, Discovering The Lost Symbol: Freemasons, Magic, Mystery Religions, Noetic Science, and the Idea that We Can Become Gods.

American Lodge of Research Meeting Report (Oct. 29, 2009)

2009-11-05T19:43:00.001-05:00

Last week, I had the great pleasure of attending my first meeting at the American Lodge of Research (ARL), held at Masonic Hall in New York City. ARL is the oldest research lodge in the United States, and its venerable traditions were in full evidence in the meeting on Thursday, October 29, when we were regaled by a presentation by W. Bro. Gilbert Ferrer regarding logical errors that are frequently found in anti-Masonic rhetoric.

I would be honored to give you a full accounting of this meeting. However, the fact of the matter is that Bro. Jay Hochberg has already done that on his blog, "The Magpie Mason" (read the post here); Bro. Hochberg's professional background is in journalism, and he has written a superior report, upon which I could not hope to improve. I recommend his report to the readers of this blog. (Incidentally, I suggest you take a look at "The Magpie Mason"; I highly recommend that blog, as well.)

Kudos to the leaders of the American Lodge of Research for upholding the finest traditions of Masonic scholarship. May your tribe increase.

[The image of a multivolume Latin dictionary is a photo taken by Dr. Marcus Gossler at the University of Graz in 2005. It was obtained from Wikipedia and appears here under the GNU Free Documentation License.]

257th Anniversary of George Washington's Initiation as a Freemason

2009-11-05T02:19:00.000-05:00

On November 4th, 1752, a twenty-year-old young man named George Washington became an Entered Apprentice at the Lodge of Fredericksburg, in the British colony of Virginia. (This lodge still exists today as Fredericksburg Lodge No. 4 in the Grand Lodge of Virginia AF&AM.) My friend and our Brother Christopher Hodapp has a fascinating description of George Washington's initiation in Chapter 1 of his 2007 book, Solomon's Builders (Berkeley, CA: Ulysses Press), which I highly recommend.

Let's think for a few moments about the Freemasonry that George Washington entered, back in 1752.

At this time, Virginia was an intensely agricultural area with its population scattered throughout the colony. We have almost no Masonic records from this era in Virginia. As Coil puts it, summarizing the little that we know:

The first lodge in Virginia of which there is a reliable account is the lodge at Fredericksburg, in which George Washington was made a Mason, Nov. 4, 1752, and was passed and raised the following year. This lodge is also famous by reason of the fact that its minutes for Dec. 22, 1753 contain the earliest extant entry [that is, anywhere in the world] recording the working of the Royal Arch Degree. The lodge evidently worked under immemorial right prior to the time it received its warrant from Scotland, July, 21, 1758. (Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia, rev. ed., 1995, pp. 666-667)

Lodge records indicate that George Washington was Entered on November 4, 1752, Passed on March 3, 1753, and Raised on August 4, 1753 (Coil's, p. 677). From these few facts, we can observe the following about the Freemasonry that George Washington entered:

Washington's initiation occurred a mere 35 years after the formation of the first Grand Lodge, in London in 1717. (There would have been men still alive who had been involved at that event in London, although it is doubtful that Washington would have met any of them; other than a single trip to Barbados, Washington never left North America.) The Hiramic legend and the legends of the Craft degrees gave a mythic antiquity to Masonry, but there was little or nothing in the way of real-life protocol, precedent, or direction from Grand Lodge for the Brethren to fall back on. They had to figure things out as they came up. Given that the Fredericksburg Lodge has lasted for over two and a half centuries, I'd say that they've done pretty well for themselves.
A fair amount of time passed between Washington's degrees, 4 months between the EA and the FC, and 5 months between the FC and the MM degrees. The amount of time required didn't seem to hurt him any.
There was an interest, even at this very early date, in the 'high degrees' that go beyond the Craft degrees.
There was little or nothing in the way of "famous Masons" at the time. Somehow, men were attracted to the Fraternity itself, rather than to its glorious history--a history that was just beginning at this time.

Washington himself was really something of a nobody at the time of his initiation: the oldest surviving son of a landowning family, yes, but poorly educated. He was just beginning his military career. He would gain notice the very year he was Raised during a dangerous mission as a messenger to an important Native American chief in the run-up to the French and Indian War; during that conflict, he distinguished himself on several occasions. (The photo shows a 1772 painting of Washington as a British officer--a bit of a jarring image, I know.)

Biographers have lined the shelves with works on Washington (for example, Joseph J. Ellis' His Excellency: George Washington, New York: Knopf, 2008). They are in agreement that Washington was an excellent leader in difficult circumstances, beginning with that early dangerous mission, continuing through the brutal French & Indian War, then the hard slog of the Revolutionary War, then the establishment of a stable American government and useful Constitution.

Can Masonry take any credit for that? Certainly nothing can be established at this late date. Ellis' biography, for all its merits, shares the typical fault of historians who silently pass over Washington's Masonic association and activities. However, I find it highly suggestive that when Washington did comment upon Freemasonry, he was unfailingly positive about the Fraternity. In addition, when it came time to lay the foundation of the United States Capitol--the symbol and landmark of American democracy, for which he had risked his life and limb and fortune for many years--Washington did so in Masonic regalia, and with Masonic ceremony. Surely this was not a casual choice.

So, this great American leader was a Mason. His Masonry involved months between receiving his degrees. The Masonry of his era required lodges to be resourceful in solving their own problems and challenges. Even then, there was an interest in the high degrees of Masonry. The attraction to the Fraternity was its principles, precepts, and ritual--in a word, its secrets--not its famous members or actual history; there was precious little of either of those latter items.

Food for thought, brethren--food for thought.

Last Chance! "Hunting The Lost Symbol" on Discovery Channel, Today

2009-11-01T06:01:00.001-05:00

The documentary "Hunting The Lost Symbol" will be broadcast today, Sunday, November 1, on Discovery Channel, from 4 pm to 6 pm (Eastern time; check your local listings).

Of course, this documentary focuses on Dan Brown's new novel, The Lost Symbol. There are prominent segments about George Washington, the missing cornerstone to the U.S. Capitol building, Freemasonry, noetic science, Aleister Crowley (mentioned in the novel as an inspiration for the villain), and other topics related to the novel.

Prominent Masons were interviewed for this program, including Brothers Christopher Hodapp (author of Freemasons For Dummies and other books on the Templars and secret societies), S. Brent Morris (author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Freemasonry and other books on the Fraternity), and Mark A. Tabbert (author of American Freemasons, and a prominent figure at the George Washington Masonic Memorial). One very obscure Mason was also interviewed; that would be me.

One thing I feel I should emphasize to this audience. This was my first experience as an interview subject on a documentary. I have learned much through this experience, including the fact that the interviewee does not necessarily know what will be shown visually over the sound of his voice. Sometimes what is shown will be something of which one might approve; sometimes it will not. For the record, I was not informed that a re-enactment of ritual would be shown over my voice; I did not suggest this, I did not assist in presenting this re-enactment in any way, and I did not approve it.

Aside from that particular brief portion of the show, Masons should find much to like in this documentary. Enjoy.

Part 9: Humanum Genus: Are the Masons “Naturalists”? (Series: The Roman Catholic Church and Freemasonry)

2009-10-17T17:15:00.005-04:00

Starting with Part 8 of this series (all Parts of which are available through links at this post), I began a consideration of the “classical” objections that the Roman Catholic Church has raised against Freemasonry, as put across in a Papal encyclical promulgated by Pope Leo XIII on April 20, 1884, known by the first words of its Latin text, Humanum Genus (“the race of man” or “the human race”).

In this post, I shall consider what Humanum Genus has to say about the ultimate objectives of Freemasonry. As it happens, Humanum Genus has a perception of Freemasonry and its aims that is both fundamentally flawed and highly inaccurate. I describe the inaccuracy, and give my opinion about the historical bases of this deeply distorted perception.

(Note: The numbers in square brackets below, such as “[10],” refer to the numbered paragraphs of Humanum Genus as given in the English translation on the official Vatican website.)

What Humanum Genus Says About the Objectives of Freemasonry

In its opening paragraphs, Humanum Genus makes its first claims about Freemasonry, claiming that Masonry has a particularly fiendish agenda:

At this period, however, the partisans of evil seems to be combining together, and to be struggling with united vehemence, led on or assisted by that strongly organized and widespread association called the Freemasons. No longer making any secret of their purposes, they are now boldly rising up against God Himself. They are planning the destruction of holy Church publicly and openly, and this with the set purpose of utterly despoiling the nations of Christendom, if it were possible, of the blessings obtained for us through Jesus Christ our Saviour. [2]

Later, the document makes the following general claim:

[Masonry has as its aim] the utter overthrow of that whole religious and political order of the world which the Christian teaching has produced, and the substitution of a new state of things in accordance with their ideas, of which the foundations and laws shall be drawn from mere naturalism [10].

Such claims sound horrible, but we must remember that they live and die on the basis of specific evidence. What specific evidence does Humanum Genus produce to support such a claim? Many specific statements are made about Freemasonry in the document, claims with which I shall deal later in this series. However, early on, Humanum Genus makes a statement that it calls “the fundamental doctrine” of Freemasonry, the basis of all Masonry’s other supposed moral errors, and it is this fundamental doctrine that I shall consider in this post.

In the world of Humanum Genus, Freemasonry is a branch of Naturalism, that is, the philosophical school which claims that reality is solely composed of the matter and energy studied by the physical sciences, and that there is nothing spiritual or supernatural about reality. Humanum Genus then goes on to state the following:

[T]he fundamental doctrine of the naturalists … is that human nature and human reason ought in all things to be mistress and guide. Laying this down, they care little for duties to God, or pervert them by erroneous and vague opinions. For they deny that anything has been taught by God; they allow no dogma of religion or truth which cannot be understood by the human intelligence, nor any teacher who ought to be believed by reason of his authority. And since it is the special and exclusive duty of the Catholic Church fully to set forth in words truths divinely received, to teach, besides other divine helps to salvation, the authority of its office, and to defend the same with perfect purity, it is against the Church that the rage and attack of the enemies are principally directed. [12]

It would be difficult to misrepresent Freemasonry more thoroughly in so few words. Let us consider the reality behind Humanum Genus’s warped perception of Freemasonry.

The Truth About Freemasonry

Pretty much everything that Humanum Genus states about Freemasonry in the passages quoted above is inaccurate. Freemasonry is not a form of philosophical naturalism. Far from being opposed to the idea of divine revelation, Freemasonry embraces the concept.

Freemasonry is Not a Form of Naturalism

“Naturalism” is the philosophical position that the world is just as we perceive it through our senses. In the world of naturalism, there are no spiritual phenomena, there are no supernatural phenomena, there is no divine revelation and no authoritative religious doctrine. The strictest form of Naturalism makes the claim that there is no such being as God. A somewhat less strict form of Naturalism allows for Deism, the idea that God exists, but does not interfere with the affairs of human beings or the workings of the world. Neither form of Naturalism is acceptable to theistic religions such as the classical forms of Judaism, Christianity, or Islam, which bear witness to the central importance of God’s revelation to the world.

(Technical Note: What Humanum Genus calls “naturalism” is known in the technical language of philosophy as ontological / metaphysical / philosophical naturalism. As such, it is distinct from the philosophical position of methodological naturalism (an important position within the philosophy of science), and from movements in the arts and literature that are also called “naturalism.”)

Freemasonry is not a form of Naturalism. Consider the following:

One of the universal characteristics of regular Freemasonry is that all candidates for Masonry must declare belief in a Supreme Being.
The opening and the closing of the Lodge are accompanied by lengthy and detailed prayers to the Divine Being, something that would be senseless from the perspective of Naturalism. Petitionary prayer (that is, prayer where one asks for things), such as we see in the Lodge, is also distinctly absent from Deist practice.
During the initiatory rituals of Freemasonry, the candidate is called upon to offer personal prayer.
The impressive Obligations of each degree of initiation are taken by each candidate “in the presence of Almighty God.”
The traditional charge given to the candidate upon initiation specifically mentions the candidate’s duty to God as having overarching importance.

These are not the practices of Naturalists.

Freemasonry Values Divine Revelation

Through its ritual, Freemasonry demonstrates the highest degree of respect towards divine revelation. Within the Masonic Lodge, an item of central importance is the Volume of the Sacred Law (VSL), as a symbol of God’s revelation to humanity. Consider how the VSL is treated in Masonic ritual:

The opening of the VSL at the opening of the Lodge for business and ritual, and the closing of the VSL at the close of the Lodge, are themselves solemn and dignified rituals that emphasize the importance of the VSL to Freemasonry.
During the time that the VSL is open upon the altar of Freemasonry, outside of certain ritual requirements, none are permitted to pass between it and the Worshipful Master of the Lodge, that his view of it may be unimpaired as he directs the work of the Lodge.
During the three basic initiatory rituals of the Blue Lodge, the candidate is conducted about the Lodge in a manner that emphasizes the centrality that the VSL is to take in his life.
The candidate takes upon himself the solemn and sacred Obligations of each of the three Degrees of Masonry in a way that emphasizes the importance that the word of God is to take in his life forever after.
One of the highlights of any regular business meeting of the Lodge is the ceremonial presentation of a copy of the Volume of the Sacred Law to newly made Master Masons, complete with a speech by a Lodge officer enjoining the new Master Masons to familiarize themselves with it and, indeed, to build their lives upon its precepts.

In sum, Freemasonry makes the strongest possible ritual statements in favor of the idea of a God of revelation, thereby rejecting any form of naturalism or Deism. (I have said more about the Masonic concept of God and divine revelation in Part 5 of this Series.)

Given that Freemasonry is neither Naturalist nor Deist, it should be clear that Freemasonry does not have the religion-destroying agenda and objectives that Humanum Genus stated it does. There certainly have been Naturalist organizations that had an anti-religious agenda; Freemasonry was not and is not one of them. However, the key to understanding the basis of Humanum Genus's misperceptions about Masonry lies in understanding the historical background of at least one anti-religious Naturalist organization.

The Historical Basis for the Misperception

Given the many ways in which the very rituals of Freemasonry testify that Masonry is not Naturalism, why would Humanum Genus present such a distorted perception? My sense of the situation is that the author of the document had on his mind another organization that had impersonated and even infiltrated European Freemasonry, a century earlier: the Illuminati.

This is evident in the description that Humanum Genus gives of those whom it supposed were Freemasons:

… Candidates are generally commanded to promise - nay, with a special oath, to swear - that they will never, to any person, at any time or in any way, make known the members, the passes [that is, the modes of recognition], or the subjects discussed.… Moreover, to be enrolled, it is necessary that the candidates promise and undertake to be thenceforward strictly obedient to their leaders and masters with the utmost submission and fidelity, and to be in readiness to do their bidding upon the slightest expression of their will; or, if disobedient, to submit to the direst penalties and death itself. As a fact, if any are judged to have betrayed the doings of the sect or to have resisted commands given, punishment is inflicted on them not infrequently, and with so much audacity and dexterity that the assassin very often escapes the detection and penalty of his crime. [9]

… But … to bind men like slaves in the very tightest bonds, and without giving any sufficient reason; to make use of men enslaved to the will of another for any arbitrary act ; to arm men's right hands for bloodshed after securing impunity for the crime - all this is an enormity from which nature recoils.… [10]

By and large, these statements do not describe the practices of Freemasonry. Yes, Masons do swear not to reveal the modes of recognition, and it is within the regulations of many Grand Lodges that Masons are to keep the business of the Lodge confidential. We do not swear to keep the identities of Lodge members secret; indeed, in many American jurisdictions, we put the names and photos of officers of the local and Grand Lodges on the Internet. We do not swear mindless obedience to the Masters of the Lodges, nor do we bind ourselves to lethal penalties for disobeying those masters, nor do we inflict such punishment. Who would do such a thing?

The Illuminati.

The Bavarian Order of the Illluminati (founded May 1, 1776 by Adam Weishaupt, pictured) did indeed function in this manner, at least on paper. I am aware of no actual assassinations carried out by the Illuminati of its disobedient members, but certainly the instilling of a very strict obedience was promoted in its documents, which were discovered and published by the Bavarian state beginning in the 1780s. Beyond that, the Illuminati did indeed have the agenda of replacing aristocratic governments and destroying the power of the Church by force. The Illuminati did indeed support Naturalism and an essentially atheist worldview.

The Illuminati included within its lower degrees the degrees of Freemasonry. During its relatively brief period of activity, the Illuminati infiltrated dozens of Masonic lodges in Europe and fed Masons into the Illuminati order.

(I describe the real history of the Illuminati in a post on another blog. I am at work on a history of the Illuminati and am available to speak on the topic to Masonic and other audiences. I may be contacted through my home page; see my Blogger profile.)

The exposure of the Illuminati in the 1780s made an immense media splash throughout Europe. Subsequently, they were rumored to have survived their suppression by government authorities, and to have inspired both the French Revolution and the rising tide of Marxism, which shared with the Illuminati the goal of changing government and the role of religion in society. It appears that Pope Leo XIII was misled by these rumors to believe that Freemasonry shared a common cause with the Illuminati, and the Pope wrote Humanum Genus with this misperception firmly in mind.

The tendency to make this kind of conflation of Freemasonry with the Illuminati is seen within the text of Humanum Genus itself. The document claims:

There are several organized bodies which, though differing in name, in ceremonial, in form and origin, are nevertheless so bound together by community of purpose and by the similarity of their main opinions, as to make in fact one thing with the sect of the Freemasons, which is a kind of center whence they all go forth, and whither they all return. [9]

No evidence is produced to support this claim. Of course, simply making such a claim does not make it so. This is a good example of a certain type of weak circular argument: the Masons are claimed to be Naturalists, and are condemned on the grounds whereby theistic religion condemns Naturalism. But although Humanum Genus produces arguments to condemn Naturalism, it produces no evidence to support the more fundamental claim, that Masons are Naturalists to start with. How very unfortunate.

This would not be the last time that Pope Leo XIII was misled by rumors about Freemasonry. It must be remembered that, shortly after promulgating Humanum Genus, the Pope was taken in by that most masterful of anti-Masonic fakers, the hoaxer Léo Taxil, who convinced the Pope and much of Europe regarding the diabolical character of Freemasonry, on the basis of a lurid set of forged documents and stories regarding a Satanic cult supposedly embedded within the Fraternity. (To those interested in learning more about the Taxil hoax, I very strongly recommend Chapter 2 and Appendix 1 of the excellent book by brothers Arturo de Hoyos & S. Brent Morris, Is It True What They Say About Freemasonry? [New York: M. Evans, 2004].)

Conclusion

Humanum Genus presents a severely distorted image of Freemasonry, which the document conflates with the Bavarian Illuminati of the late 18th century and, perhaps, revolutionary Marxists of the late 19th century. As such, Humanum Genus’s criticism of Freemasonry as a Naturalist organization that denies the importance of divine revelation in human life is highly misplaced. Freemasonry affirms the importance of divine revelation; not only does it not seek to destroy religion, Masonry seeks to instill in its members an awareness of the need to fulfill their duties to God.

(Copyright 2009 Mark E. Koltko-Rivera. All Rights Reserved.)

[The image of Adam Weishaupt is in the public domain. It was obtained through Wikipedia.]

Two Salt Lake Tribune Articles on The Lost Symbol Highlight Freemasonry and Raise Questions

2009-10-17T01:50:00.001-04:00

Two articles by Ms. Peggy Fletcher Stack in the Friday, October 16, 2009 issue of The Salt Lake Tribune discuss Dan Brown's novel The Lost Symbol, and along the way highlight Freemasonry and controversial aspects of Masonic history.

Some Piercing Questions for Freemasons

In one article, “Psst! Let’s Talk About Masons,” Ms. Stack writes about Freemasonry as it is depicted in The Lost Symbol, and describes aspects of her visit to the Salt Lake Masonic Temple. She quotes R.W. John Liley (Senior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of Utah), Mr. Dan Burstein (editor of the forthcoming Secrets of The Lost Symbol), and myself. The article features an interesting photograph of a staircase in the Salt Lake Masonic Temple, a staircase of 3, 5, and 7 steps, each step labeled, for example, “LOGIC.” (No information was provided concerning whether this staircase is ever used for ritual purposes.)

In one section of her article, Ms. Stack asks a couple of questions that she does not then go on to answer—but that we should. After quoting Dan Brown’s letter of October 6 to the Scottish Rite, she writes:

Sure, Freemasonry was once among the most common bands of brothers, where men met for "instruction" and networking. If it really is the humanistic haven Brown describes, why has the membership declined so dramatically in the past few decades? (It's down to fewer than 1. 5 million in the United States, from a high of 4.1 million in 1959, and fewer than 2,000 in Utah, from a high of about 6,000 in the mid-1960s.) Are its theatrical presentations, complete with bloodthirsty threats, really the way to enlightenment?

As one of the people interviewed for this piece, I wish that Ms. Stack had asked me these particular questions, which I would have been glad to address. I would have pointed out the following:

Membership in a movement is not a measure of the movement’s value, nor even of its success.

Our membership, of course, dropped a great deal when men of the late Sixties and Seventies generations largely eschewed involvement with Freemasonry, through its being identified with the “establishment.” Now, simple mortality is depleting our numbers of the brethren who became Freemasons in the Forties, Fifties, and early Sixties. However, a new generation is showing a great deal of interest in Freemasonry.

As Ms. Stack herself quoted me as stating in the article, our penalties are not threats made by men, but promises made by God.

However, the most important thing about this passage has to do with a couple of interesting word choices. She states that Dan Brown characterizes Freemasonry as a “humanistic haven,” and then implies that Freemasonry portrays itself as “the way to enlightenment.”

Are these good characterizations of Freemasonry? I consider these appropriate aspirations. Heaven knows that not every lodge embodies Masonic values, and no lodge does so perfectly or all the time, but at its heart Masonry is supposed to be a “humanistic haven,” in the sense of showing forth important Enlightenment-era values: egalitarianism (being ‘on the level’), devotion to the search for truth and self-improvement, and toleration of different religions and political viewpoints. At the same time, Masonry does have ties to important pre-Enlightenment values: the fulfillment of one’s duty to the Divine; being (literally) centered on the teachings of the Volume of the Sacred Law; the entire notion of keeping sacred obligations.

Ms. Stack seems to imply that if this were really true of the Lodge, then we would not have suffered membership decline. Perhaps this is so. Ultimately, though, the main concern I have is that the typical Masonic lodge really should embody the values that Dan Brown says we do. We need to live up to the standards of our best selves and highest aspirations.

As far as enlightenment is concerned: Different traditions define what is meant by ‘enlightenment’ in different ways. To make a very broad distinction, one may consider a spiritual enlightenment, on the one hand, and an intellectual enlightenment on the other. It may well be that Freemasonry can contribute to each one (perhaps the topic for future blog posts). However, if it is to make that contribution, then certainly some of the work of the Lodge at our Stated Communications must be to foster that enlightenment, through education in the meaning of our esoteric symbolism (not just in the performance of our esoteric ritual). If we provide that kind of access to enlightenment, on a consistent basis, then issues of retention, certainly, will evaporate.

The Mason-Mormon Connection

In another article, “Mormons Off the Hook in Brown’s Book,” Ms. Stack notes that a major theme of The Lost Symbol, apotheosis, or the potential for human beings to become gods, is an echo of the Latter-day Saint (‘Mormon’) doctrine of exaltation. (I consider this matter in some detail in a post on another blog.) I am quoted in this article, as well.

Ms. Stack touches briefly on the complicated history of relations between the Latter-day Saints and the Grand Lodge of Illinois in the early 1840s. She mentions one of the great hairy issues still unresolved from the period, the matter of the relationship between the Masonic rituals of initiation and the Latter-day Saint temple endowment ceremony.

Perhaps it’s just me—I’m sensitized to both sides of the issue, being a Latter-day Saint Freemason, or a Masonic Mormon, take your pick—but I think I’ve seen the profile of this issue slowly rising over the last decade or so. The LDS have seen a 50% increase in membership during this period, and the Masonic Lodge has seen an increase in the number of new petitions, as well; perhaps that is why a variety of people—anti-Masons, anti-Mormons, Masons and LDS, and the curious John Q. Public—have shown more interest in the whole Mason-Mormon thing.

I have been writing a book on this issue for some time. Perhaps I need to blog about it as well. It’s a complicated issue, but one concerning which it would be wise for Freemasons to educate themselves, given the certainly rising profile of Freemasonry and the Latter-day Saints, and the possibly rising profile of their long-ago association. For the record I’ll just throw out a few points:

The LDS prophet, Joseph Smith, had on several occasions encountered some spiritual text, and then received a vision that represented a major development of LDS doctrine and/or practice. Thus, his reading of the letter of James in the New Testament preceded his cataclysmic First Vision of the Father and the Son; his study of a passage in the Gospels preceded his Vision of the Three Degrees of Glory; his viewing of some Egyptian papyri, as these were traveling the country as part of an exhibition, preceded his vision of the Book of Abraham. In my opinion, his exposure to Masonic rituals preceded a vision in which he received the LDS Temple endowment.

The Masonic rituals of initiation and the LDS temple rituals differ in purpose, form, and guiding mythology. What similarities there are, are minimal. Joseph Smith did not steal from the Lodge to give to the LDS Temple.

The politics of Illinois during this period provoked all sorts of anti-LDS violence. There may well have been Masons in the crowd that assassinated Smith. However, overall, the Lodge is not inherently anti-Mormon, either.

I must say, I have been stunned to read the virulently anti-Mormon tone of some early-to-mid-20th century Masonic writers. I would hope that, as these two growing organizations more frequently bump into one another in this shrinking world, we’ll see less of that.

(Copyright 2009 Mark E. Koltko-Rivera. All Rights Reserved.)

Part 8: Humanum Genus: Introduction and Overview (Series: The Roman Catholic Church and Freemasonry)

2009-10-16T22:46:00.001-04:00

In earlier parts of this series (all available through links at this post), I considered the main points raised against Freemasonry by the German [Roman Catholic] Bishops’ Conference in 1980. However, the points that the German Bishops raised were not what we might call the “classical” objections that the Catholic Church has raised against Freemasonry. Those points were put across forcefully in a Papal encyclical promulgated by Pope Leo XIII (pictured) on April 20, 1884, known by the first words of its Latin text, Humanum Genus (“the race of man” or “the human race”). It is to these more classical objections that I would now like to turn.

It is important for Freemasons to understand Humanum Genus, its claims and its flaws. For well over a century, Humanum Genus contained the primary statement of the justifications underlying the opposition of the Roman Catholic Church to Freemasonry. Although the specific points raised by the German Bishops have gotten a lot more press in the last generation, it is important to understand that the real basis of Catholic teaching has much more to do with Papal teaching than the statements of the German bishops. I suspect that many Catholics think that what the German bishops said was basically what Pope Leo XIII had said about a century earlier. This is entirely incorrect. Thus, to respond productively to the Catholic position on Freemasonry, one must not only respond to the currently popular German Bishops’ statement, but also to the older and much more important document, Humanum Genus.

In this post, I shall consider what kind of document Humanum Genus is, and I will summarize its main objections to Freemasonry. In future posts, I shall respond to these objections.

What Kind of Document is Humanum Genus?

There are many kinds of documents by which a Pope may communicate teachings to Catholics. Roughly in descending order of authority, these documents include the following:

an apostolic constitution
a Papal encyclical
a Papal ecclesiastical or apostolic letter
a Papal speech.

(The terms “Papal bull” and “Papal brief” are more a statement of the format of the pronouncement rather than the rank of the statement in its authority. Papal bulls are more formal, and the most authoritative statements tend to be in that format.)

Knowing what kind of document a given pronouncement is has implications for the nature of ‘the line being drawn in the sand,’ as it were. Humanum Genus is a Papal encyclical. As such, although important, the teachings in Humanum Genus are not of such a nature as to invoke necessarily the Catholic notion of papal infallibility.

This is a crucial point in discussions of Roman Catholicism, Humanum Genus, and Freemasonry. By the strictest interpretation, Humanum Genus is not a statement that falls under the umbrella of Papal infallibility. As such, it can be revised, corrected, or even abandoned and disowned by subsequent Popes.

Such things have occurred during Roman Catholic history. The Jesuit order was disbanded by Papal order in the late 18th century, and reconstituted about fifty years later. The Knights Templar were officially disbanded seven centuries ago, although they were declared not guilty of heresy (in a document lost until recently).

As I shall demonstrate in the next few posts of this series, there are excellent grounds on which Roman Catholic authorities could decide, essentially, to abandon Humanum Genus. This would have a great impact, both on Masonic brothers who are Roman Catholic, and on the many faithful Catholic gentlemen who are wondering how to consider Freemasonry.

A Summary of Humanum Genus

[Note: The text of Humanum Genus below is quoted from the English translation of the official Vatican website. The numbers in square brackets refer to the paragraph numbers given on that website.]

In Humanum Genus, Pope Leo XIII stated that the human race was divided into two opposing parties, the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. In saying this, the Pope was not stating anything controversial; this division goes back at least to Augustine’s 5th century work, The City of God, which, indeed, the Pope quoted near the beginning of Humanum Genus. Shortly after quoting Augustine, however, the Pope made this remarkable statement:

At this period, however, the partisans of evil seems to be combining together, and to be struggling with united vehemence, led on or assisted by that strongly organized and widespread association called the Freemasons. No longer making any secret of their purposes, they are now boldly rising up against God Himself. They are planning the destruction of holy Church publicly and openly, and this with the set purpose of utterly despoiling the nations of Christendom, if it were possible, of the blessings obtained for us through Jesus Christ our Saviour. [2]

All of this is by way of prelude, as it were. Pope Leo XIII made it his business to deal with Freemasonry in a comprehensive way in Humanum Genus. He stated his specific objective in this letter as follows:

It is now Our intention, following the example of Our predecessors, directly to treat of the masonic society itself, of its whole teaching, of its aims, and of its manner of thinking and acting, in order to bring more and more into the light its power for evil, and to do what We can to arrest the contagion of this fatal plague. [8]

In Humanum Genus, the Pope raised several specific objections against Freemasonry. These may be summarized as follows:

1. Masonry has as its aim, “the utter overthrow of that whole religious and political order of the world which the Christian teaching has produced, and the substitution of a new state of things in accordance with their ideas, of which the foundations and laws shall be drawn from mere naturalism” [10].

2. Masons “contend that Church and State ought to be altogether disunited” [13], that is, Masons support separation of Church and State.

3. Masons have opposed the Pope himself, so that the Pope “was … thrust out from the bulwark of his liberty and of his right, the civil princedom” [15].

4. Masons argue “that the sacred power of the Pontiffs must be abolished, and that the papacy itself … must be utterly destroyed” [15].

5. Masonic toleration of different religions has a secret agenda. “Again, as all who offer themselves [that is, as candidates for Freemasonry] are received whatever may be their form of religion, they [that is, the Masons] thereby teach the great error of this age—that a regard for religion should be held as an indifferent matter, and that all religions are alike. This manner of reasoning is calculated to bring about the ruin of all forms of religion, and especially of the Catholic religion, which, as it is the only one that is true, cannot, without great injustice, be regarded as merely equal to other religions” [16].

6. Masonry permits its members to either believe or disbelieve in God [17].

7. Backing away from the existence of God, the Masons have an uncertain morality [19].

8. “[T]he … Freemasons, having no faith in those things which we have learned by the revelation of God, deny that our first parents sinned, and consequently think that free will is not at all weakened and inclined to evil” [20].

9. Masons declare that “marriage belongs to the genus of commercial contracts, which can rightly be revoked by the will of those who made them.” [21].

10. Masons declare that “in the education of youth nothing is to be taught in the matter of religion as of certain and fixed opinion” [21].

11. Masons declare that, when it comes to religion, “each one must be left at liberty to follow, when he comes of age, whatever he may prefer,” that is, Masons support freedom of choice of religion [21].

12. Masons support the idea of a government of the people [22].

13. Masons support the idea of a state in which no specific religion is favored [22].

As I shall show in subsequent posts, a close analysis of these claims provides many grounds by which the Roman Catholic hierarchy could decide to reverse the traditional Catholic position on Freemasonry. This is because either (a) the claims are outright false, being based on other organizations than Freemasonry, or (b) the claims no longer reflect something that is offensive to official Catholic doctrine (such as freedom of choice of religion).

Copyright 2009 Mark E. Koltko-Rivera. All Rights Reserved.

[The image of Pope Leo XIII is in the public domain. It was obtained on Wikipedia.]

The Mark Master Degree (#1 in a series: The Degrees of the York Rite

2009-10-15T21:20:00.000-04:00

During the October 2009—June 2010 Masonic meeting season, I am posting reflections on the York Rite degrees. The index with links to all posts of this series is here.

The Mark Master degree is the first of the “capitular” degrees, so called because these degrees are conferred by a Royal Arch body called a “chapter” (Latin, capitulum). The capitular degrees are administered by one of the three bodies that comprise the York Rite: the Royal Arch Masons. For the most part, these degrees have as their guiding myth the final phases of the construction and the dedication of the Temple built by the biblical King Solomon. The official York Rite website in the United States describes the Mark Master degree as follows:

A Degree that emphasizes the lessons of regularity, discipline, and integrity. It is a most impressive Degree centered on the story of the Fellowcraft of the quarry and their role in the building of the Temple.

Using a very traditional vocabulary, as one is said to be“raised” a Master Mason, so too one is said to be “congratulated” a Mark Master Mason. In England, there are entire Mark Master Mason lodges.

In reflecting on this degree, I was struck by two things.

One is the emphasis that is placed on the worker creating creditable work. On several occasions during the degree, a prop representing a stonemason’s work is presented before an inspector, who pronounces his judgment upon it. The very name of the degree comes from the actual customs of the medieval stonemasons, whose stones each carried the “mark” of the stonemason who worked upon it. Every piece of work was carefully crafted, knowing that it would be individually inspected before being accepted for placement into a building—and the work product was always associated with a specific worker. In the degree, this matter of craftsmanship was all the more charged because this stonework was to be incorporated into the House of God.

Compared to the work standards of the medieval stonemason, the work standards of modern life leave a lot to be desired. One popular saying regarding work product that is marginally acceptable describes the product as “good enough for government work”—which evidentally is not very good. One component of that phrase—“good enough”—is used so often in describing work product.

And yet so often the work is not good enough. Whether we are considering a physical product, a software product, or a service, so often what is produced is not even acceptable. The service person is surly, sloppy, or does not listen well; the physical product is shoddy; the software has bugs in it; all of this is excused on the grounds of the pressures involved in modern business and production, pressures that rush software out of beta testing (if there even was beta testing) and into production, and so forth.

Opposed to this, the Mark Master degree encourages us to take real pride in our work, to make it the kind of product that we could present with confidence before a diligent inspector. Certainly this has a great deal of relevance to real life on a surface level of interpretation. (Perhaps, within the context of a modern-day company, we need to make sure that the workload that we put upon our employees is such that they actually could put care into their work.)

Beyond that, there is another, more spiritual interpretation to consider. We learn in the Blue Lodge a symbolism where each life is a stone in “that spiritual Temple, not built with hands.” In this symbolism, each of our lives is such a stone. The Mark Master degree teaches us that we are not to think that this stone is acceptable as is; rather, the stone is to be worked, carefully worked, worked well enough to fit exacting standards of inspection. (The Blue Lodge has some comparable symbolism, but the Mark Master degree presents this point quite vividly.)

What kind of habits do I have that I should change? What rough spots need to be smoothed out to make my life a stone fit for the Divine House? What new habits should I incorporate into my life? Operative stonemasons worked with stone; the Freemason works with the material of his own life.

The second point that stood out for me in this degree involved the matter of charity. A lot of emphasis is put on addressing the needs of a Mason who needs a hand. At the current moment, with the global economy being in recession (not to say “meltdown”), there are a lot of Masons who really need a hand. Perhaps there are few of us who could turn that around completely for a brother. But maybe we could spot the brother a meal or two for him and his family. Maybe we can scrape up a day or two’s work for him to do. Surely we can all give encouragement, and the price of a newspaper with the want ads.

Being a Mason means being a grown-up. Being a grown-up means facing real difficulties, like unemployment. Being a brother means taking the position that we are all in this together.

Please note that these reflections are purely my own responsibility, and are neither sanctioned, sponsored, reviewed, nor approved by any Masonic body.

Copyright 2009 Mark E. Koltko-Rivera. All Rights Reserved.

[The image above illustrates a 19th century rendition of the traditional symbol of the Mark Master degree, taken from a public domain source.]

Index to Series: Reflections on the York Rite Degrees

2009-10-15T18:36:00.002-04:00

The York Rite of Freemasonry is an appendant or “high degree” organization that offers further degrees of initiation to enhance the Masonic experience of men who are already Master Masons. Some basic information about the York Rite for individuals curious about Freemasonry is available in this Wikipedia article. A video and PowerPoint with general information about the York Rite for Freemasons is available at the bottom of a webpage that is maintained by the American leadership of the Grand York Rite Bodies in the United States; detailed descriptions of the York Rite, its degrees, and its own appendant and allied bodies, appear earlier on the same webpage.

During the 2009-2010 Masonic meeting season, I hope to attend again all the degrees of the York Rite of Freemasonry, through the courtesy of Ancient Chapter #1 Royal Arch Masons, Columbia Council #1 Royal and Select Masters (Mother Council of the World), and Morton Commandery #4 Knights Templar, all of which meet at the magnificent Chapter Room of Masonic Hall in New York City (in-person tour info here; virtual tour here). A day or so following each of the degree ceremonies, I plan to post my reflections on this blog. Because those reflections will be spread out from October through June, I will place links to those reflections on this post.

Of course, I will not be revealing anything about the ritual itself. However, my hope is that my reflections will help to enhance the experience of and reflection upon the ritual, for my brother York Rite Masons.

My thanks to the leaders of Ancient Chapter #1 RAM and their Companions, the leaders of Columbia Council #1 R&SM and their Companions, and the leaders of Morton Commandery #4 KT and their Sir Knights, for kindly showing Masonic hospitality to a visitor. My congratulations to the members of the York Rite class of 2009-2010 that is progressing through these degrees. And, a shout out to the Orlando (Florida) York Rite Bodies, where I originally received the degrees of the York Rite of Freemasonry, and of which I continue to be a member: I think of you often and fondly.

My reflections regarding the York Rite degrees are posted as follows:

The Capitular Degrees

• Mark Master: Observed on Wed. Oct. 14; reflections posted here.

• Past Master (Virtual) and Most Excellent Master: To be observed on Wed. Nov. 11.

• The Royal Arch: To be observed on Wed. Dec. 9.

The Cryptic Degrees

• Royal Master: To be observed on Wed. Jan. 13.

• Select Master: To be observed on Wed. Feb. 10.

• Super Excellent Master: To be observed on Wed. Mar. 10.

The Chivalric Orders

• Illustrious Order of the Red Cross: To be observed on Wed. Apr. 14.

• Order of Malta: To be observed on Wed. May 12.

• Order of the Temple: To be observed on Wed. June 9.

Please note that these reflections are purely my own responsibility, and are neither sanctioned, sponsored, reviewed, nor approved by any Masonic body.

Copyright 2009-2010 Mark E. Koltko-Rivera. All Rights Reserved.

[The image illustrating the degrees of the York Rite as a ladder is widely available on the Internet. It is my belief that this image is in the public domain. Anyone with certain knowledge of the source of this image is invited to contact me.]

Br. Koltko-Rivera to Appear on Discovery Channel Special, "Hunting The Lost Symbol"

2009-10-13T03:33:00.002-04:00

The Discovery Channel will broadcast a documentary special, "Hunting For The Lost Symbol," on Sunday, October 25, 8-10 pm Eastern time, with a rebroadcast beginning at 11 pm. The special, of course, will focus on Dan Brown's novel, The Lost Symbol. I appear in it, as do other, much more well-known Freemasons, such as Brother Christopher Hodapp, and some brethren from the House of the Temple.

I bring this to your attention a little early because it occurred to me that some readers may wish to mention this at the Stated Communications of their Lodges, and so forth.

Rumor has it that I figure nicely into the show. (Then again, they could edit me all out tomorrow.) I did address all sorts of things in two taping sessions, one before the novel's publication, one after. I look forward to seeing how the show deals with the novel myself.

And, for those of you who know me well: Yes, I have lost some weight. Thank you for noticing.

(Text Copyright 2009 Mark E. Koltko-Rivera. All Rights Reserved.)

[The photo is by Ms. Katherine Finkelstein. Her work and contact information may be viewed at katherinefinkelstein.com .]

Templar Lessons for Today’s Masons, Part 1: What We Learn From the Templars’ Arrest

2009-10-13T01:22:00.002-04:00

Today is a sad memorial, the 702nd anniversary of the arrest of the Knights Templar. It is a day for Freemasons everywhere to stop for a while and think of the example of the Templars, and the lessons that can be learned from their experience. Whether or not one believes the long-standing legends connecting the Templars and the Freemasons, there is no doubt that the Templars are held up as an important example to Masons within the York Rite (where the highest degree of the York Rite Commandery degrees is that of Knight Templar) and the Scottish Rite (several of whose degrees feature Knights Templar).

The history of the rise and fall of the Templars is well-known. After nearly two centuries of involvement with the Crusades and the protection of Christian pilgrims, the Knights Templar witnessed the recapture of Jerusalem by Saladin and, later, the Turks. Although thwarted in their main ambition, by this time the Templars had become wealthy, having invented an international banking system whereby they lent money to kings.

Their very wealth led to the downfall of the Templars. They had lent fortunes to King Philip IV of France, who, wishing to be free of his debt, and having his eyes on the Templar wealth, pressured Pope Clement V to use the accusations of a disgruntled expelled Templar to try to arrest the entire Templar Order and try all the Knights Templar for heresy. On Friday, October 13, 1307, by agreement with the Pope, Philip arrested as many Templar Knights as possible simultaneously throughout France. On November 22nd, Pope Clement, under pressure from Philip, issued the papal bull Pastoralis Praeeminentiae, which instructed the Christian monarchs of Europe to arrest the Templars and seize their assets. (The bull was not promulgated in Scotland, whose leader at the time was excommunicated, and from which the Catholic sacraments were withdrawn.)

Under torture, many Templars--including their Grand Master, Jacques de Molay himself (pictured)--confessed to the most lurid charges of heresy and blasphemy. Although Pope Clement absolved the Templars of all heresies in 1308 (apparently in secret), when the Grand Master recanted his confession after being released from torture, he and another Knight who had done the same were declared guilty as relapsed heretics, and burnt alive at the stake in Paris on March 18, 1314.

As reported in Wikipedia:

It is currently the Roman Catholic Church's position that the medieval persecution of the Knights Templar was unjust; that there was nothing inherently wrong with the Order or its Rule; and that Pope Clement was pressured into his actions by the magnitude of the public scandal and the dominating influence of King Philip IV. [Wikipedia notes as reference an article in an academic journal.]

There are many things one might want to say about the Templars and their lessons for today’s Mason. Today I will focus on one topic in particular.

Beware the Danger of Undue Influence Between State and Church

The travesty of justice that resulted in the arrest of the Templars was possible because of two things:

Influence of the State on the Church: The Pope was vulnerable to pressure by a political leader (here the King of France), who threatened military action unless the Pope complied with his wishes.

Influence of the Church on the State: The head of the dominant religious group of the time and place, the Pope, had great political power, so that he could pressure the heads of the various states of Europe to do his bidding under threat of excommunication.

These are aspects of undue influence, in both directions, between State and Church. The danger of such influence is one of the major lessons to be learned by the arrest of the Templars. Both types of undue influence are to be avoided.

Religious leaders and their groups should be permitted to practice their religions and preach their faiths as they see fit, without interference from the State. There are very few exceptions that should be made to this policy. (For example, practices that involve human sacrifice cannot be tolerated.) These exceptions should be rare. Governmental interference should not be imposed on religion merely for the sake of what seems respectable or what is comfortable to the public. (Hence, the rights of minority religious groups to conduct practices or preach teachings that make the public uncomfortable should be respected and protected.) Government influence on religion and religious leaders should be the rarest of things, done only out of nigh universally acknowledged necessity. King Philip of France could pressure the Pope to do his bidding; such must never be permitted to happen in a democracy. This is the principle of Freedom of Religion.

On the other hand, the open or de facto exercise of political power by religious groups is also not to be tolerated. Of course religious leaders may teach their followers that this is right, that wrong; although one may disagree with the content of another’s religious teachings, no one has the right to dictate another’s doctrine, in a free nation. However, for government to actually attempt to favor one religion over another, or to impose one religious doctrine or ruling over another, is abhorrent to democratic government. Pope Clement used his power as religious leader to force other political leaders in Europe into doing his will; such also must never be permitted to happen in a democracy. This is the principle of Separation of Church and State.

Why do I bring this up now? Is there some threat to religious freedom, on the one hand, or the separation of Church and State, on the other? Of course there is, every day that ends in the letter "–y." There is no particular case I have in mind at the moment. I don’t need to have a case in mind at the moment. As greater men than I have said, freedom is not free, and the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

I find it interesting that the Masonic Lodge has implemented both the principles I have mentioned above on the scale of the individual Lodge. In discussing a candidate for membership, we do not consider the candidate’s religion; indeed, in many jurisdictions, Masons are forbidden by Grand Lodge edict from even inquiring about the candidate’s religion. We have freedom of religion in the lodge. In addition, we forbid the discussion of matters of sectarian religion (or partisan politics) in the Lodge; we separate religious doctrine from lodge governance.

I think it no coincidence that the dual Masonic principles of religious freedom and separation of Church and State are written into the Bill of Rights as the First Amendment to the Constitution, which states in part:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; ….

The arrest of the Templars reminds us of the dangers of laxity with regard to these principles. May we as Masons each seek to enthrone these principles in our own lives, in our Lodges, and in the lives of our communities.

(I have titled today’s post “Part 1” with the thought that I might return to the Templars periodically, perhaps annually on this date, or the anniversary of the execution of their last Grand Master, Jacques de Molay. Readers are welcome to suggest Templar-related topics. Readers are also welcome to comment, to become official “followers” of this blog, and to forward this post to others by e-mail through the use of the ‘envelope’ icon below.)

Copyright 2009 Mark E. Koltko-Rivera. All Rights Reserved.

[The image of Templar Grand Master Jacques de Molay reportedly dates from the 19th century, as an illustration found in the Bibliotheque Nationale de France. It is in the public domain, and was obtained from Wikipedia.]

Fantasies About Freemasonry, I: Gary Osborn, Pyramids, Washington, and the Scottish Rite

2009-10-09T03:47:00.003-04:00

Many of those who write about Freemasonry are not writing about real-life Freemasonry at all. Rather, they are writing about “Fantasy Freemasonry,” a Freemasonry mythical as the griffin (depicted) that never existed and certainly does not exist today. I see this in the 1980 German Bishops’ statement about Freemasonry, which declared Catholicism and Freemasonry to be incompatible on the basis of a deeply distorted and highly inaccurate perception of Freemasonry, a matter that I have addressed elsewhere. Lately, of course, I am seeing this in relation to the many things people are writing in relation to the publication of Dan Brown’s novel, The Lost Symbol.

In the biggest of Big Pictures—the one where we seek to obtain and to propagate Strength, Wisdom, and Beauty in the world—it is important to correct such fantasies. One cannot place one’s pillars on the shifting sands of Falsehood and expect them to stand.

Even on a smaller scale, it is still important to correct false notions about Freemasonry. Such fantasies get in the way of Freemasons doing their real work in the world; people hear that you’re a Freemason, and (depending on the precise fantasy they hold), they either expect you to rule the world, slit their throats, or suck their brains right out of their heads like the alien celebrities on those Hulu commercials. In addition, such fantasies keep men who would be interested in the real thing from finding their way to the Western Gate. (Certainly that much has been accomplished for many men by the German Bishops’ statement.)

Thus, from time to time on this blog, I shall do what I can to correct fantasies about Freemasonry. Today’s entry involves the theories of a gentleman named Gary Osborn.

Mr. Osborn authors a website titled P A R A D I G M S H I F T. He recently commented on a post at another blog of mine, in which I was addressing the fact that, in The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown implies that the pyramid is an important symbol in Freemasonry (which, of course, is not true). Mr. Osborn invited the readers of my blog to look at a specific post on his website, a post titled, “The Pyramid of Washington DC and The Lost Symbol.”

There is a lot on Mr. Osborn’s post. Confining myself just to what was written about Freemasonry, I encountered there a full-blown Fantasy of Freemasonry. I attempted to respond within the limits of a comment on my own blog, but there was insufficient room. In addition, if I am encountering this sort of stuff, surely many other people are as well, and there is value to responding in a full-blown post here to this sort of Fantasy About Freemasonry.

Thus, below I respond to the major points about Freemasonry that I found on Gary Osborn’s post. I consider some points that are particular to what Mr. Osborn claims, and then I describe some general points that will be useful to people interested in learning about Freemasonry and evaluating what they read. My hope is that readers here will find this material useful enough to pass along to others.

Myths About George Washington and the 33rd Degree

Mr. Osborn states in his very first sentence that “As many of us know, the US Capital City is Washington DC, named after the first American President George Washington—a 33rd degree Freemason.”

Oy.

At the risk of mentioning the obvious, George Washington was never a 33rd degree Freemason. Washington died on December 14, 1799. The Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite—the body which confers the 33rd degree—was founded at Charleston, SC, on May 31, 1801, well over a year after Washington was dead and buried. The organizations that were predecessors to the Scottish Rite did not have 33 degrees. Consequently, there was no 33rd degree of Freemasonry for Washington to have received. There is certainly no evidence that I have ever seen presented to the contrary.

Why do people believe things like this? My guess is that it helps to support the Legend of the Mighty Thirty-Thirds, the myth that the holders of the 33° run the world. My sense is that there is a deep psychological need that is fulfilled by this belief—something of a pathological need, quite frankly—and the myth that the Father of our Country was one of the Mighty Thirty-Thirds helps to address that need.

The Street Layout of Washington, DC

Like many others before him, Mr. Osborn makes much of the geometry of the streets of Washington, DC. However, what he already knows about the source of this geometry should be enough to tell him not to read too much into the patterns of triangles that emerges from the layout of the DC streets.

Mr. Osborn notes, correctly, that the streets of DC radiate out from the White House and the Capitol. If one creates a street plan based around streets radiating out from two or more central points, it is inevitable that triangles of various sorts shall show up. It is geometrically unavoidable, in fact.

Masonic Involvement in the Design of Washington, DC

Mr. Osborn says that that it is “officially denied” that Jefferson and L'Enfant were Masons. This subtle choice of wording is actually quite misleading.

There is no centralized authority for Freemasonry, no central registry of all Freemasons that could issue an “official denial.” There is no Masonic equivalent of the White House Press Secretary that could issue an “official denial.” However, to state that something about Masonry has been “officially denied” is to play into the widespread and essentially paranoid fantasy that there is One Über-Lodge to Rule Them All. This simply is not so. Sure, there are various Masonic organizations that may make statements, but none of them is empowered to issue an “official denial” on behalf of Freemasonry.

For the record, neither Jefferson nor L'Enfant were Masons. People who claim otherwise should either cough up the evidence or give up the assertion. This playing about, as Mr. Osborn does, with phrases like “it's likely that so-and-so was a Mason” is just so much twaddle. As it happens, I have taught over a dozen class sections of statistics at the university level: I know from “likely.” I see no evidence to support such an assertion. On what basis is this claim of “likely” being made?

Mr. Osborn states that “there is no question that many of the new city’s [that is, Washington, DC’s] architects were Freemasons.” Actually, there certainly is such a question—and I am raising it. What evidence does anyone have for this assertion? Of course, the real issue is, what evidence does Mr. Osborn have that any of the people who laid out the capital city—not just any architects working in DC, but the people who actually laid out the streets of the city itself—were Masons?

The Scottish Rite, the House of the Temple, and Washington, DC

There are times, I must say, when I wish the Southern Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite were headquartered in Baltimore, Baton Rouge, Bayonne, Brooklyn, anywhere but a mile directly north of the White House, a location that cannot but help to feed the paranoid fantasies that make the Mighty Thirty-Thirds The Rulers of The World. As it is, Mr. Osborn implies that Washington, DC, is built around the headquarters of the Southern Jurisdiction, the beautiful House of the Temple, which Mr. Osborn describes as the “Temple of Freemasonry.”

The simple fact that the Scottish Rite did not exist until 1801 should suggest that Washington, DC was not designed around, let alone at the behest of, the Scottish Rite. The city was founded in 1790. Congress held its first session in DC in November 1800. The Scottish Rite had its headquarters in Charleston, SC, when it was established in May 1801, and there it remained until 1870, when the headquarters moved to DC. The Supreme Council met at several locations until the House of the Temple was constructed, a process which lasted from 1911 to 1915, a full century after DC was laid out; DC was clearly not designed around the House of the Temple.

It is important for people to understand that the Scottish Rite is only one of several "rites" of Freemasonry, and does not run or command Freemasonry as a whole, a matter I described at length in another Dan Brown-related post. The Scottish Rite has no authority whatsoever over the Masons of the Blue Lodge, the York Rite—anyone at all except other Freemasons of the Scottish Rite (who themselves are divided into two separate Jurisdictions in the United States alone). The House of the Temple is, strictly speaking, of administrative importance only to the Southern Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite, not even to other Scottish Rite Freemasons, let alone other Freemasons; it is lovely and impressive, but it is not the “Temple of Freemasonry.”

Pyramid Symbolism and Freemasonry

Like many other people uninformed about the Fraternity, Mr. Osborn insists that the Pyramid is an important symbol to Freemasonry. As I demonstrate elsewhere, there are a few distant echoes of pyramid symbolism in Freemasonry, but the pyramid certainly is nothing important among the many symbols of Freemasonry as these have been recorded over the last three centuries. If some person is so sure that the Pyramid is an important symbol in Freemasonry, then that person should please tell us where exactly the symbol occurs within the ritual or symbolism of contemporary or historic Freemasonry.

Freemasonry and the Illuminati

Mr. Osborn seems to lend support to those who conflate the Freemasons and the Illuminati. As I explained elsewhere on my Dan Brown-related blog, the Illuminati was a very different organization that had very different ideals than Freemasonry. In addition, although the Illuminati did infiltrate Masonic lodges on the Continent, they were unsuccessful in infiltrating Masonic lodges in either Great Britain or North America. Conflating the Masons and the Illuminati is the province of the proponents of some extremely irrational and even pathologically paranoid conspiracy theories. One would not wish to put oneself in the company of people like David Icke, Jim Marrs, or Texe Marrs. And, yes, any Gentle Reader who happens to know any of these gentlemen is welcome to quote me to him or them directly.

(Messrs. Icke and Marrs: if you don't like what I have to say here, you can reach me through my home page. I would delight in debating any one of you—or all three together—in public in New York City. Three writers given to fantasy versus one who insists on evidence: I’d say that the odds favor me.)

The Use of Horrifically Unreliable Sources About Freemasonry

Mr. Osborn mentions the late Reverend Jim Shaw's book, The Deadly Deception, as if it were a reliable source of information about Freemasonry. The nicest thing that one can say about this book is that its late author was a fraud and a liar; my only regret in saying this is that he is no longer alive for me to say this to his face.

I strongly suggest that anyone confronted by this book read Chapter 8 of the book by Arturo de Hoyos and S. Brent Morris, Is It True What They Say About Freemasonry? (New York: Evans, 2004), which is available not only through Amazon but simply off the shelf at many major bookstores; their book demonstrates that the late Rev. Shaw lied extensively about his involvement with Freemasonry.

There are fine sources to use to learn about Freemasonry. I mention several of them in a basic post about Freemasonry. The sources are easy to obtain.

Now it is time to step back from the specifics of Mr. Osborn's claims and consider some general principles.

Basic Principle #1: We Can and Should Tell People That They Simply Don’t Know Much About Freemasonry

The first basic principle that comes to mind is that we should be kind, we should be gracious, but we should also be quite direct in telling people who make wildly inaccurate statements about our Fraternity that they simply do not know that much about real-life Freemasonry.

Yes, I know that, in this feel-good age, that all just seems so very rude.

So be it.

At public and private universities in the Northeast and Southeast, I have taught literally thousands of students, many among them including future physicians, nurses, psychologists, counselors—people who will hold other people’s very lives in their hands some day. I have taught them subjects like statistics, where there are right and wrong answers, and counseling, where right answers are in short supply, but wrong answers abound throughout the kingdom. I have always found that, when these people err, the most merciful way to help these people and their future patients is to tell them, nicely but extremely directly, that they are just plain wrong, and why.

Freemasonry is a real set of principles with a real history. It is not just a matter of someone’s opinion. (Contrary to what many people seem to believe these days, let me state quite clearly: “God was not elected. Truth is not a matter of opinion.”) And yet every day there are people teaching nonsense about Freemasonry—perhaps because the process of actual study and reflection and critical thinking is so challenging. These spun fantasies become so much more rubbish obstructing the way to the Western Wall. Beyond that, every unchallenged Fantasy is another message to the youth of America and the world that The Truth Does Not Really Matter—Just Make It All Up! Not a good message to send, brethren. Remember: these are the people who will be running your nursing home and performing your surgeries some day. (Now that is a scary thought.)

Basic Principle #2: Use Simple But Powerful Logical Principles to Evaluate Claims

This would be a long topic by itself to handle well. For now, it will have to suffice to note that so much wild writing about Freemasonry uses weak logic, as evidenced by phrases like “there is no doubt that,” or “it is likely that.” By contrast, a strong thinker both presents and asks for specific evidence. In addition, as put by Carl Sagan (in paraphrasing Marcello Truzzi): Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. For example:

You want to claim that so-and-so was a Freemason? Fine. Show me a dues card, a signature on a lodge register, a private diary entry or a letter where the writer claims membership. Rumors or traditions simply don’t count.

You want to claim that some Masons actually murdered someone? Okay, I’ll listen. But show me a body, first of all. Show me a reliable eyewitness who is disinterested in the case, who can through personal experience connect persons A, B, and C with crimes X, Y, and Z. Video would be nice. Show me the kind of evidence that you would need to convict someone, if not in criminal court (where one must prove something beyond a shadow of a doubt), then at least in civil court (where a mere preponderance of the evidence will do).

You want to claim that Masons run some sort of conspiracy? Hey, I’m all in—like my wife asks, “where’s my gold bar?” But show me documents, video, signed confessions and affidavits. Show me bank records, travel records, phone records, e-mails, telephone recordings. (“Follow the money,” Deep Throat said to Woodward and Bernstein. Here was a man near the top of a conspiracy run from the office of the President of the United States, the veritable Leader of the Free World. You did not hear him suggest that Woodward and Bernstein settle for rumor, did you? No, you heard him push for hard evidence.)

You want to claim that the Masons are run by shape-shifting aliens who drink human blood? Hey, it’s all good, baby. But you’d better be ready to show me tissue samples collected in the Lodge, video recordings from the Lodge, satellite imagery of their craft, ground radar showing their underground bases. I want samples of scales, alien blood, extraterrestrial implants--all collected from within the Lodge. At this level, simple personal testimony is no longer good enough.

Yet, what we see so often in the world is that, the more outrageous the claim, the less evidence is presented. What we get instead are excuses. It’s as if somehow lack of evidence was itself evidence.

Well, here’s a tip for all those on the fringe of the Fantasy Theories: Lack of evidence is not evidence. Lack of evidence may actually mean there is no evidence—because there is nothing to have evidence about. Lack of evidence should inspire increasing skepticism, not wide-eyed devotion.

Do I sound a little cranky here? I’m sure I do. But there is a reason for crankiness like this. The older one gets, the shorter the days become, and the more one resents having to put up with nonsense. Perhaps now there will be just a little less nonsense to put up with in the world.

Mr. Osborn, I hope you take this in the spirit in which it is intended. I am actually trying to help you. For if there is any bit of Masonic symbolism that should be known to the public at large, it should be this: to really make one’s way in the world, one needs the light of true knowledge, not the darkness of ignorance. Not to put too fine a point on it, but statements such as you have made betray a profound ignorance of real-life Freemasonry. If you intend to connect Freemasonry to your theories, you really ought to learn a great deal more about it, from reliable sources.

[The photo of a Griffin at Kasteel de Haar, in Holland, was taken by Ellywa on 20 July 2003. It was obtained from Wikimedia Commons, and appears here by license under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License.]

(Copyright 2009 Mark E. Koltko-Rivera. All Rights Reserved.)

Comments to This Blog

2009-10-05T23:41:00.002-04:00

I'm sorry to have gotten so behind in responding to comments. I've responded to everything commented to posts from September 1 on, and I'll try to stay current hereafter.

Thank You, Maureen Dowd, for Attacking Freemasonry

2009-10-05T21:59:00.000-04:00

[Photo by Denise Williams. Distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License.]

As reported recently on Brother Christopher Hodapp’s blog, the Sunday, October 11, 2009 edition of The New York Times Book Review will publish a review of Dan Brown’s novel, The Lost Symbol. This review is in large part an attack on Freemasonry by the review’s author, Ms. Maureen Dowd (pictured). That review is available right now on-line, here.

Ms. Dowd’s review is a badly written piece of trash that would have been poor as an op-ed piece (which is what she’s used to writing). She spreads rumors as truth, gives a highly skewed view of Freemasonry, and spreads total inaccuracies about millions of brothers in the Fraternity using such solid sources of information as her chats with her non-Mason father. (Given the two references to her father that appear in the review, which are apropos of almost nothing, I’d have to say that when she points to The Lost Symbol as having an Oedipal aspect, she needs to remember that old saying to the effect that, when we point a finger at someone else, three other fingers are pointing back . . .)

So: Ms. Dowd ridicules the Fraternity, spreads inaccuracies about it, and generally shows a prejudiced attitude that hides behind a snarky persona, where the ability to make a smartmouth remark is more important than getting the facts right.

And I thank her for this, from the bottom of my heart.

The many inaccuracies that Ms. Dowd spreads about Freemasonry are a superb opportunity to spread the truth about the Fraternity. I have started a new series on Discovering The Lost Symbol: The Blog, just to address the many mistakes about Freemasonry that Ms. Dowd makes in her lousy, badly researched review. To paraphrase the late President John F. Kennedy: It is better to write one blog post than to curse the snarkness. (The index post, which has links to all the posts in the series, is here.)

Is this all just much ado about nothing? Well, The New York Times has a daily circulation of about 1.1 million readers; the Sunday Book Review (a section of the Sunday edition of the Times) is probably the most important source of book reviews for the general reader published in the United States. Ms. Dowd’s review—inaccurate as it is, not to mention poorly researched, even prejudiced—will help form the image of Freemasonry held by maybe a million or more people, including many of the better educated opinion makers in the United States. To me, that’s important enough to justify doing something.

So, what might the Brothers of the Craft do about this? I suggest the following:

1. Read Ms. Dowd's review itself. You can’t defend the Craft without knowing the specific inaccuracies being spread about it.

2. Read my responses in my blog, Discovering The Lost Symbol: The Blog. Feel free to comment on my responses. Feel free to refer your friends to this blog, as well, should they bring up anything related to Ms. Dowd’s review.

3. You might wish to suggest to the powers-that-be at the Times that comments like Ms. Dowd’s belong more appropriately in an op-ed column than in a book review. Frankly, it is beneath a paper of the Times’ stature to publish badly researched pieces like this.

Correspondence may be addressed as follows:

Editor of the Book Review: Include your name, address, and telephone number, whether you submit your letter by postal mail or by e-mail. (Neither your address nor telephone number will appear in print.) You may send postal mail to The Editor, The New York Times Book Review, 620 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10018-1405. You may send e-mail to this address: books@nytimes.com .

Letters to the CEO and Publisher (below) may be of any length, and will not be considered for publication. They may be addressed to the CEO and Publisher at the postal address given above (620 Eighth), which is probably the only way to be absolutely sure that your comments reach their intended recipients. Brethren who communicate only by fax or e-mail may take a chance on a somewhat iffier approach, and address their remarks as follows (in a separate message to each of the recipients):

Ms. Janet L. Robinson
Chief Executive Officer
The New York Times

Mr. Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr.
Chairman and Publisher
The New York Times

Fax: 212-556-3622
E-mail: letters@nytimes.com

Points to keep in mind in your letters:

Ms. Dowd is welcome to her opinion about the Fraternity. The problem lies in her portraying her poorly-researched, uninformed, and inaccurate opinion about the fraternity as fact.

Ms. Dowd chose to attack Freemasonry in her review. In doing so, she was not only inaccurate in many important details (which I mention in my Dan Brown-related blog, should you care to mention specifics), but she also showed a very prejudiced attitude that would not have been tolerated in a book review if it were directed towards a religious or ethnic group. The same prejudice should not have been tolerated in being directed at Freemasonry.

Ms. Dowd chose to attack Freemasonry—her journalistic right—but she did so in a book review, which allows those whom she attacked very little room for response. Her ‘review’ did not belong in a book review, but in an op-ed column, where there is more room available for those whom she attacks to respond.

Truly is it said that there is no bad publicity. Let’s make the most of this interesting opportunity, provided—however unintentionally—by Ms. Dowd.

[The image is a photo of Maureen Dowd taken by Denise Williams at the Democratic Debate in Philadelphia, PA on April 16, 2008. It was obtained from Wikimedia Commons, and appears here under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License.]

Copyright 2009 Mark E. Koltko-Rivera. All Rights Reserved.

Is the Pyramid a Masonic Symbol?

2009-09-19T09:12:00.001-04:00

[Photo by Nina Aldin Thune.]

One gripe about Dan Brown's just-released novel, The Lost Symbol, concerns the way that he associates Freemasons with pyramids in his story. For Brown, the pyramid is a Masonic symbol. And, of course, it's not -- or is it?

Actually, the question is a bit more complicated than it would at first appear. I address this issue at some length in an earlier post today on my Dan Brown-related blog, Discovering The Lost Symbol: The Blog. The specific post is titled, "Pyramids, Freemasonry, and The Lost Symbol."

My conclusion is that, although the pyramid is not a Masonic symbol in the 21st century within regular Freemasonry, there was a connection that was posited between Masonry and the ancient Egyptian pyramids in the first days of Grand Lodge Masonry and earlier. In addition, irregular Rites (such as the clandestine Rite of Memphis) have posited such a connection, as well.

Your comments are welcome, on that blog or this one. Enjoy.

[The image of the Great Pyramid is Copyright 2005 Nina Aldin Thune. The image was obtained from the Wikimedia Commons through Wikipedia, and appears under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.]

Now What? Masonic Follow-Up to "The Lost Symbol"

2009-09-16T16:18:00.006-04:00

By now, most everyone knows that the Masons are the good guys in Dan Brown's sure-to-be-blockbuster novel, The Lost Symbol.

Boy, there's sure a sigh of relief to be sighed there, huh?

So I guess we can just all go back to what we were doing, right?

Wrong.

There's more to do now than ever.

The publication of The Lost Symbol presents Freemasonry with an unprecedented opportunity. If we blow this, we have no one but ourselves to blame if, a generation or two from now, we are reduced to nothing but curiosities on the landscape of American life.

We need to understand the situation, brothers. There were basically two generations of American men--those who came of age in the 1960s through the mid-1990s or so--who simply didn't get involved in Freemasonry, anywhere near the degree to which their ancestors had.

This is why we see some lodges with the same brethren rotating through the chairs for a second or third time. This is why we see lodges consolidating and closing. This is why we see new brethren in some lodges thrust into the chairs of leadership prematurely, with all sorts of unfortunate consequences. This is why we see the major Rites languishing. This is why, with American population at an all-time high, Freemasons comprise a smaller fraction of the population than at any time in the last century.

But now Dan Brown comes along, writes a novel that is likely to see 60 to 100 million sales worldwide--30 to 50 million of those in the United States--where the Masons are the heroes!

You know what I say, brethren?

This is our opportunity, our once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, to make up for lost time.

But we have to do our part.

The Lost Symbol will bring those men who are interested in the search for Masonic light to us -- if they know where to find us. The Lost Symbol will bring the right candidates to the Western Gate -- if we present ourselves well, in the finest tradition of our Fraternity.

So let's do this:

Let's hold those Open Houses and let people know where we are, what we stand for, and how to apply.
Then, after they have entered the Journey, let us be sure to give our new brethren the kind of instruction and quality Masonic experience that will encourage them to be active in the Fraternity.

To assist in this endeavor, I'll be doing the following:

On my blog devoted to Dan Brown's novel, "Discovering The Lost Symbol: The Blog" (http://lostsymboltweets.blogspot.com/), I'll be focusing many of my blog posts on the items of Masonic interest that show up in The Lost Symbol. These posts may be of interest to brethren and interested members of the general public alike.
On this blog, "Freemasonry: Reality, Myth, and Legend" (http://themasonicblog.blogspot.com/), I'll focus many of my posts over the next three months or so on material that might be of use in preparing Masonic open house presentations, how to handle publicity, and so forth.
On another blog, "Freemasonry 101" (http://freemasonry101.blogspot.com/) I'll be focusing on material for the interested member of the public. You may wish to refer people here.
I will dust off another blog that I have had in mothballs for awhile, "The Masonic Education Cabal," regarding tips about Masonic instruction.
I will also be writing a manual with "lessons for the Lodge": instructional material, handouts, and so forth -- that will be available through a shopping cart on the blog. (Yes, LVX Publications lives!)

We say a lot about the glorious history of our Fraternity. This is our moment in history. Now is our time to shine. Let us build up our Fraternity in such a way that we can be a greater force for good in our country and in the world.

Or are you thinking there is enough democracy in the world today? Enough focus on wisdom, duty, and honor? Enough emphasis on a balance between reason and devotion to the divine?

I didn't think so.

Do feel free to comment with your questions and ideas.

Two Dan Brown Developments: My NY Post Interview, and the Prologue to The Lost Symbol

2009-09-13T07:51:00.003-04:00

There have been two developments regarding Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol that may be of interest to the brethren of the Fraternity in general.

First, in today's (Sunday) edition of the New York Post, page 3 contains an article that describes my predictions regarding the contents of The Lost Symbol. Links to the online version of the article are found on this post to my Dan Brown-related blog.

Second, it would appear that the Prologue to The Lost Symbol portrays the Third Degree of Freemasonry--under the ritual of the Scottish Rite! My description of the real-life background to this portrayal are found on this post to my Dan Brown-related blog.

Enjoy.

The Fun Begins: Bookazine Claims Masons are Occult, and Implies Satanism

2009-09-10T17:28:00.007-04:00

With the release of Dan Brown's novel, The Lost Symbol, scheduled to occur in less than one week as I write these words, more and more material is appearing about the Fraternity, material widely varying in quality. One publication that will likely have a wide readership has some particularly vile and misleading material about Masonry. This post is meant to alert you to the material, and to the truth behind the fantasy that is in print.

Last night, while searching for some material at the Union Square branch of Barnes and Noble bookstore in New York City, I came upon what some booksellers call a "bookazine": something published in the format of a magazine, and sold on the magazine racks, but that is not actually a regularly published magazine. This publication was titled Unlocking Mysteries With Solomon's Key: Understand the Secrets of Ancient Symbols and Their Meaning. (I regret that I cannot locate an illustration of the cover online.) A header identifies the publication as "A Companion Guide to 'The Lost Symbol' (Dan Brown's New Novel)."

The publication appears to have been designed some months ago, before the final title of Dan Brown's novel was released. (The former working title of Brown's novel was The Solomon Key, and this may be why the bookazine has 28 of its 144 pages devoted to Solomon and figures associated with him in legend, such as the Queen of Sheba.) There is also no hint in the publication of any of the clues that Doubleday has been issuing since late June about the content of the novel.

Oddly, although the bookazine recognizes that Freemasonry is a major focus of The Lost Symbol, almost all it has to say about the Fraternity is in the first 3.5 pages. In addition, what it has to say is often inaccurate. One particular howler is the following:

But there is little doubt that occultism has a place in the society. In his book The Lost Keys to Freemasonry, Manly P. Hall notes, "When a mason learns the key to the warrior on the block is the proper application of the dynamo of living power, he has learned the mystery of his craft. The seething energies of Lucifer are in his hands and before he may step upward, he must prove his ability to properly apply energy."

Hall should have known: As a 33-degree Scottish Rite Mason ..., he was privy to all of the society's secrets. (p. 5)

To borrow a phrase used by comedian Wayne Brady, "That's wrong on so many levels." For the sake of those brethren who find themselves having to address these issues to those who are not members of the Fraternity, I would point out the following:

Far from being some master of Freemasonry, "privy to all of the society's secrets," Hall was not even a Mason when he wrote the words quoted above.

Hall was making a point about the Fellow Craft degree in the quote above. In context, his "Lucifer" comment does not imply any reverence given to the Devil.

Hall's status as a 33rd-degree Freemason, relatively late in his life, does not give him special status as an authority on Freemasonry.

I address each of these points below.

Manly P. Hall's Relationship to Freemasonry

Manly P. Hall was born in 1901 and died in 1990. Hall published The Lost Keys of Freemasonry in 1923, at about the age of 22. However, he did not become a Freemason until over 30 years later, in 1954 (at about 53 years of age). He was not made a 33rd degree Freemason in the Scottish Rite until nearly 20 years after that, in 1973 (at about the age of 72). (All of this is stated clearly in the "Publisher's Note: Manly P. Hall and Freemasonry" in the edition of The Lost Keys of Freemasonry published by Tarcher/Penguin in 2006.)

Thus, Manly P. Hall did not even know Freemasonry from the inside when he wrote The Lost Keys of Freemasonry, as a very young man. Hall had interesting things to say about Freemasonry, but they were things he said as an outsider to the Fraternity.

Hall's "Lucifer" Comment

Hall's statement as quoted in the bookazine occurs in Chapter 4, "The Fellow Craft," of his book (pp. 50-51 of the Penguin/Tarcher 2006 edition). In his book, Hall discusses the three degrees of Craft Masonry in terms of allegorical life-lessons that each degree has to teach the candidate. He discusses these lessons by using the teaching device of a mental representation of the Temple built by Solomon--a representation that has little to do with the actual Temple as described in the Bible. Hall describes the life-lesson of the Fellow Craft degree as involving mastery of emotion:

Life manifests not only through action on the physical plane, but through human emotion and sentiment. This is the type of energy taken up by the student when he starts his labors in the Fellow Craft. ...
On the second step of the temple stands a soldier dressed in shining armor, but his sword is sheathed and a book is in his hand. He is symbolic of strength .... Through each one of us course the fiery rays of human emotion, a great seething cauldron of power behind each expression of human energy. ... [T]he emotional powers cannot be held in check, but break through the walls of restraint and pour fourth as fiery expressions of dynamic energy. This great principle of emotion we know as the second murderer of Hiram [Abiff]. ...
... How long will it take King Hiram of Tyre, the warrior on the second step, ... to teach mankind the lessons of self-mastery? ...
The day has come when Fellow Craftsmen must know and apply their knowledge. The lost key to their grade is the mastery of emotion, which places the energy of the universe at their disposal. ... When the Mason learns that the key to the warrior on the block [that is, King Hiram] is the proper application of the dynamo of living power, he has learned the mystery of his Craft. The seething energies of Lucifer are in his hands and before he may step onward and upward, he must prove his ability to properly apply energy. (pp. 49-51, italics in original)

Hall's point, then, was that the power of emotion can be very destructive. For Hall, part of the point of the Fellow Craft degree is for the candidate to learn how to apply power to control emotion; this is, for Hall, the "mystery," or central lesson, of the stage of life symbolized by the Fellow Craft degree. Otherwise, out of control emotions--which he poetically refers to as "the seething energies of Lucifer"--impede the candidate's progress. (Hall is making an interesting point, although his is a very personal interpretation of the Fellow Craft degree.)

The publishers of the bookazine clearly did not understand Hall's point. They appear to have just seen the words "mystery" and "Lucifer" and come to the conclusion that "occultism has a place" in Freemasonry. (Of course, the publishers do not bother to define 'occultism,' either. They could learn a thing or two from Jay Kinney, who, in his new book The Masonic Myth, titles Chapter 10 with two questions: "Is Masonry Occult? And is occult even a useful word?")

Some would argue that we must have pity on the publishers, who appear not to have the strongest command of English. For example, the publishers state that the film The Da Vinci Code "became the second highest growing film of the year" (p. 15), when they clearly meant that it was the second-highest grossing film of the year.

However, my position is that if the publishers have the nerve to make vague but nasty sounding accusations about Freemasonry, they had better know what they are talking about. They clearly do not.

Hall and the Thirty-Third Degree

People have the idea that Freemasonry runs like a thermometer, from the First Degree through the Thirty-Third Degree, and that someone like Manly P. Hall, being a 33rd-degree Mason, must therefore be someone with a comprehensive understanding of all of Freemasonry. The reality of the situation is far different.

The better model with which to understand Freemasonry is the model of the wagon wheel, not the thermometer. The three foundational degrees of Freemasonry are the hub of the wheel. From that hub there are a number of appendant organizations, many of which offer degrees of their own, such as the Scottish Rite, the York Rite, and many York Rite invitational organizations, such as the Royal Order of Scotland, the Allied Masonic Degrees, and so forth. The 33rd degree is a degree within the Scottish Rite; it holds no more authority over Freemasonry than the highest degree in any of the other appendant organizations.

Conclusion

Manly P. Hall's reflections on Freemasonry, while thought-provoking, were published many years before he became a Mason. The passage quoted above, rather than being evidence of devil-worship in Masonry, is actually an argument that the young Fellow Craft Mason must learn to control emotion rather than let its destructive energies get out of hand. Not only was Hall not made a 33rd-degree Mason until half a century after he published his comment, the status of 33rd-degree Mason does not mean that one has a comprehensive understanding of "all of the society's secrets," as the publishers of the bookazine claim.

Should we be asked about this sort of thing by non-Masons, perhaps, by making the occasion a teaching moment, we can turn the occasion into an opportunity to spread more light about our Fraternity.

Dan Brown Prep: New YouTube Series

2009-09-08T00:28:00.003-04:00

In our ongoing effort to educate ourselves about Dan Brown and his upcoming novel, The Lost Symbol, it may be worthwhile for you to peruse my video series about the novel, the first part of which has just been posted to YouTube here. An index to all the parts of the series, which I shall update as subsequent parts in the series become available, is here.

Incidentally, I owe thanks to two brethren in my mother lodge, Winter Park Lodge #239 F&AM (GL of Florida):

First, I thank Brother Al Fiala, who took time out of a busy schedule to suggest to me that a YouTube video might be just the avenue for me to pursue--something that simply had never occurred to me.
Second, I thank Brother Ricardo Parente for photographing me being installed as Marshall of the Lodge, in late December 2007, a picture that appears in the video; the photo eloquently establishes my masonic credentials for the non-Mason viewers of the video.

As we say here in midtown Manhattan: You guys are the best.

Beliefnet Article: "New Dan Brown Novel Means Extra Scrutiny for Masons"

2009-09-05T19:49:00.005-04:00

I was recently interviewed by a reporter with the Religion News Service regarding Dan Brown's upcoming novel, The Lost Symbol, and what impact it might have on Freemasonry. The RNS feed was picked up and reported in an on-line article on beliefnet; you may read the article here. Enjoy.

Incidentally, friend and Brother Christopher Hodapp (also quoted in the beliefnet piece) has made two posts on his excellent blog, "Freemasons for Dummies," that are relevant to the issue of what Masons should do regarding The Lost Symbol:

In his September 2 post, "The Dan Brown Effect, Part 2: What Next?", Brother Hodapp gives excellent advice regarding what the local lodge can do to be ready for the sudden rise in Masonry's profile.
In his September 5 post, "Just a Novel", Brother Hodapp responds to the frequently voiced idea that The Lost Symbol is 'just a novel, after all,' and will require no response.

Of course, my own 5-part series on this issue is indexed at this post.

As we come out from being 'dark' over the summer months, let's rev up faster than usual to deal with the issues and opportunities raised by the publication of Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol. If Masons are portrayed as the bad guys, then we need to address those negative perceptions. If Masons are portrayed as the good guys, then we need to take advantage of those positive perceptions. In either event (and both may occur!), we need to take the initiative to prepare today.

The Lost Symbol and Masonry, Part 5: An Index to the Series

2009-07-20T18:02:00.004-04:00

On September 15, 2009, Doubleday will publish the sequel to The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown's new novel, The Lost Symbol (cover illustrated). This novel will prominently feature Freemasonry. In a series of blog posts, "The Lost Symbol and Masonry," I described the challenge and opportunity that Dan Brown's book presents to Freemasonry:

In Part 1, I explain that the Scottish Rite (and, perhaps, Freemasonry in general) may be featured in a highly negative light in the novel.
In Part 2, I explain why it is that all Freemasons -- Blue Lodge, York Rite, and Scottish Rite of either the Southern or the Northern Masonic Jurisdictions -- should be concerned about this.
In Part 3, I describe what it is that Masonic organizations -- Grand Lodges, local lodges, York Rite bodies, and Scottish Rite Valleys and Jurisdictions-- can do in reference to this challenge and opportunity.
In Part 4, I explain what it is that the individual Freemason can do.

You may use each of the links above to gain access to each part of the series. You may also use this link to see current posts on this blog, Freemasonry: Reality, Myth, and Legend.

[The image is taken from the website of Doubleday.]

The Lost Symbol and Masonry, Part 4: What the Individual Mason Can Do

2009-07-20T16:59:00.009-04:00

In Part 1 of this series, I explained that the Scottish Rite (and, perhaps, Freemasonry in general) are likely to be featured in a very negative light in Dan Brown's forthcoming novel, The Lost Symbol. In Part 2, I explained why it is that all Freemasons -- Blue Lodge, York Rite, and Scottish Rite of either the Southern or Northern Masonic Jurisdictions -- should be concerned about this. In Part 3, I described what it is that Freemasons could do to address this situation -- and this opportunity -- at the level of their organizations: Grand Lodge, local lodge, Valley and Commandery, etc. In this post, I explain what it is that the individual Mason can do.

What individual Masons can do falls into three categories: interacting with their local Masonic community and leadership, volunteering to help in group actions, and individual preparation. I address each of these below.

Encouraging the Community and Leadership to Take Action

Whether Dan Brown puts Freemasonry or the Scottish Rite in a good light or a bad one, he will reach tens of millions of readers and affect the public image of Freemasonry for at least a decade. Freemasonry can take advantage of this situation by making preparations now to inform a newly curious public about the truth of Freemasonry through interaction with the press and open houses for the public.

However, to make these things happen, we need to use the marvelous capacity that Freemasonry possesses for organized group action. To do that, it is not enough for us to be informed and excited about this ourselves; we need to have the leadership of our organizations informed and excited about this, as well.

Thus, one of the things that you can do, as an individual Mason, is to send this series to your leadership. Part 5 of this series is an index to the entire series. To encourage your Blue Lodge District or Grand Lodge to take action, send a copy of Part 5 to your District Deputy Grand Master. To encourage your Scottish Rite Valley to take action, send a copy to the Personal Representative for your Valley (in the Southern Jurisdiction), or to the Commander-in-Chief of your local Consistory (in the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction). And so on.

You can send Part 5 by e-mail by going to that part of the series and pressing the envelope icon at the end. Add a personal note on the e-mail expressing your thoughts and interest.

Beyond that, you can send a copy of Part 5 to your Masonic friends, and encourage them to pass it on to their leadership, and their friends, and so on.

Frankly, if I were a Masonic leader and received 5 to 10 e-mails from my brethren encouraging me to consider a project, I would give it very serious consideration.

As of today, there are 24 official "followers" of this blog. The blog is also read by a much larger number of people, some of whom comment now and again, most of whom don't. (I hear about it in personal e-mails and so forth.) Thus, all in all, this blog has a substantial number of readers. If a third of everyone who read this blog -- including non-Masons! -- sent copies of Part 5 out to their Masonic friends and (if Masons) to their Masonic leadership, and so on and so on, pretty soon a large fragment of the Masonic world would be informed about this approach.

Our leadership needs to sit around a conference table (illustrated) and discuss what actions organized Freemasonry will take concerning Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol. Let's fill up that table. (Hey, volunteer to sit at that table!)

We can do this, people. Let's do it.

Volunteering to Help at Public Events

The second thing that the individual Mason can do is to volunteer to help at public events (like open houses) that the various Masonic organizations will organize to respond to The Lost Symbol. Public events need a lot of warm bodies to perform various functions, people who have to be in place before the first visitor arrives at the event. One need not be a Masonic scholar to greet visitors at the door of an open house. Signing up for an hour of service takes that much of the load off the shoulders of the brother who's running this particular show.

Personal Preparation

I expect that, as a rock-bottom estimate, 40 million copies of The Lost Symbol will be sold in the United States. That's something like 1 copy for every 2 to 4 adults in the country. You are going to hear people talking about this book. It would be good for you to prepare to answer questions about its accuracy regarding its depiction of Freemasonry. That means personal study.

Some of the readers of this post will already be well-read regarding Freemasonry; some will not. The suggestions for personal study that I outline below take a soup-to-nuts approach; adapt these to your personal circumstances.

Freemasonry: The Basics

W. Kirk MacNulty, Freemasonry: Symbols, Secrets, Significance (New York: Thames and Hudson, 2006). [Hardcover lists at $45; at the Scottish Rite online store website, $35; on Amazon, $29.70.] This volume covers the basics of Freemasonry, in somewhat less detail than the Dummies or Idiots books mentioned below, but with lavish illustrations (many not previously published), and with a focus on the possible connection of Freemasonry to esoteric spiritual traditions.

Christopher Hodapp, Freemasons for Dummies (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2005). [Paperback lists for $19.99; on Amazon, $13.59.]
S. Brent Morris, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Freemasonry (New York: Penguin, 2006). [Paperback lists for $19.95; on Amazon, $13.57.]

It's impossible for me to tell which of the above two books you will like more; they're both very good about covering the basics of Masonic history, organization, and symbolism. Yet, they are different enough that each offers something special.

Arturo de Hoyos and S. Brent Morris, Is It True What They Say About Freemasonry? The Methods of Anti-Masons (New York: M. Evans, 2004). [Paperback lists for $14.95; on Amazon, $10.17.] Every single Freemason in the entire world should read this book, because it it the only book I know that is entirely devoted to dealing directly with an unpleasant but important reality: the accusations made by anti-Masons. The second chapter is an excellent treatment of the Taxil hoax (where Taxil has Albert Pike supposedly writing "Yes, Lucifer is God": this is the source of the nonsense one reads on the Internet). Chapters 3-9 deal with specific authors of anti-Masonry, such as Rev. John Ankerberg and Rev. James Dayton Shaw (The Deadly Deception), and the falsehoods they have spread about the Fraternity.

Masonic History

See Angel Millar's book, listed in the next section.
Christopher Hodapp, Solomon's Builders: Freemasons, Founding Fathers, and the Secrets of Washington, DC. (Berkeley, CA: Ulysses Press, 2006). [Paperback lists for $14.95; on Amazon, $10.17.] This accessible book focuses on the Revolutionary Period, and also considers in detail the whole idea of Masonic symbolism built into the streets of Washington, DC--each of which is sure to be a focus in Dan Brown's novel.
Mark A. Tabbert, American Freemasons: Three Centuries of Building Communities (Lexington, MA: National Heritage Museum, and, New York: New York University Press, 2005). [Paperback lists for $24.95; on Amazon, $16.47.] An excellent and well-illustrated academic history, focusing on the Craft in the United States.
Steven C. Bullock, Revolutionary Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the Transformation of the American Social Order, 1730-1840 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1996). [Paperback lists for $30; on Amazon, $23.73.] An excellent academic volume focusing especially on the Colonial and Revolutionary periods through the Anti-Masonic period (1826-1842).

The Esoteric

I do not mean "the esoteric work," as Masons understand this phrase. I'm talking about the possible connections between Freemasonry and other esoteric spiritual traditions, such as kabbalah, alchemy, Rosicrucianism, and so forth.

This is, of course, a highly controversial area. This is not the place to address the merits and problems with each of the several sides of this debate. (I may well do so in future posts.) There is also a lot of looney stuff published in this area. However, Dan Brown will almost certainly be going in this direction in his novel. Consequently, I have selected a few of the better books in this area to give the Mason a sense of the issues involved when Masonry is considered in connection with esoteric traditions of spirituality.

Angel Millar, Freemasonry: A History (San Diego, CA: Thunder Bay Press, 2006). [Hardcover out of print, but available through Amazon for $7 and under.] Brother Millar, an accomplished artist, has written an excellent history of certain aspects of Freemasonry as it developed in England, such as the development of the three degrees. This includes a non-hysterical, and carefully considered, look at the possible connections of Freemasonry to other esoteric traditions, such as the Rosicrucians and alchemy. It is also lavishly illustrated with many pieces not previously published.
Mark Stavish, Freemasonry: Rituals, Symbols, and History of the Secret Society (Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2007). [Paperback lists for $21.95; on Amazon, $14.93.] Brother Stavish writes in a non-hysterical way about the possible connection of different branches of Freemasonry with Rosicrucianism, alchemy, and ritual magic.
W. Kirk MacNulty, Freemasonry: A Journey Through Ritual and Symbol (New York: Thames and Hudson, 1991). [Paperback lists for $19.95; on Amazon, $13.57.] Brother MacNulty's book connects Freemasonry with esoteric traditions involving the Temple built by Solomon, hermetic studies, and other esoteric traditions that emerged during the Renaissance.
The works of Br. Timothy Hogan may also be useful here. (I cannot recommend them in detail because I have not yet read them; however, they come highly recommended by others.)

For the sake of completeness, I should mention that I suspect Dan Brown is going in the direction of the authors of The Hiram Key, alleging that Masons had Washington DC laid out in such a way as to align with certain star patterns. It is hard for me to recommend the books in the Key series to anyone, because (a) the books say things that are patently untrue, (b) the authors, in my opinion, violated their Masonic obligations to write these books, and (c) the authors show a decided lack of critical thinking in the way that they use weak evidence in support of some really outrageous claims. However, it may be useful to know something of them (as well as David Ovason's books on the "secrets" of DC streets and the dollar bill's symbolism), if only to be able better to explain to people that Masonry "isn't like that."

The Scottish Rite

It is clear that Dan Brown is going to do something with the Scottish Rite, and probably with Albert Pike; my sense of the situation is that he's going to slam Albert Pike as a conspirator with the pro-Confederate Knights of the Golden Circle, planning a second Civil War. Brown's publisher's clues also show an interest in Scottish Rite symbolism. So, to learn more in this area, I recommend the following:

Arturo de Hoyos, Scottish Rite Ritual Monitor and Guide, Second Edition--Revised and Enlarged (Washington, DC: The Supreme Council, 33rd Degree, Southern Jurisdiction, 2009). [Hardcover available for $65 through the Scottish Rite, SJ website, or for $35 bundled as part of the Master Craftsman program -- making the Master Craftsman program one of the greatest bargains in Masonry.] Pages 75-118 give an excellent brief history of the Scottish Rite, and the development of the Scottish Rite rituals. Scottish Rite symbols are the focus of pp. 139-167. Traditional Scottish Rite ciphers (i.e., codes) are illustrated on pp. 963-973; his fans know how much Dan Brown loves codes. Of course, the lion's share of the book, pp. 169-914, deal with the ritual, symbolism, and ethical theory of the 4th through 32d degrees, as conceived in the Southern Jurisdiction.
Rex R. Hutchens, A Bridge to Light: The Revised Standard Pike Ritual: A Study in Masonic Ritual and Philosophy (Washington, DC: The Supreme Council, 33rd Degree, Southern Jurisdiction; 3rd ed., 2006). [Paperback available for $15 through the Scottish Rite, SJ website.] This 2006 edition is well worth reviewing as a guide to the basic Scottish Rite experience in the Southern Jurisdiction, and how the degree symbolism connects with the symbolism of several spiritual and esoteric traditions.
William L. Fox, Lodge of the Double-Headed Eagle: Two Centuries of Scottish Rite Freemasonry in America's Southern Jurisdiction (University of Arkansas Press, 1997). [Hardcover lists at $49.95.] This is the best available one-volume history of the Southern Jurisdiction. It is full of detail regarding the history of Albert Pike, as well.

Conclusion

This is our moment in history, the moment of our lifetimes when the popular culture is shining its spotlight of attention, however briefly, on Freemasonry. While the moment lasts, let us do what we can to let men of good character and good will know about us, and to prepare ourselves to give a good accounting of our Fraternity to the many curious people who will have questions.

[The image above of a conference table was obtained from Wikimedia Commons. It is used here under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.]

The Lost Symbol and Masonry, Part 3: What Masons Can Do About This

2009-07-15T13:00:00.016-04:00

In Part 1 of this series, I explained that the Scottish Rite (and, perhaps, Freemasonry in general) are likely to be featured in a very negative light in Dan Brown's forthcoming novel, The Lost Symbol. In Part 2, I explained why it is that all Freemasons -- Blue Lodge, York Rite, and Scottish Rite of either the Southern or Northern Masonic Jurisdictions -- should be concerned about this. In this post, I begin to describe what it is that Freemasons could do to address this situation -- and this opportunity.

The Right Perspective on Dan Brown and The Lost Symbol

The first thing for every Freemason to do is to keep the right perspective on Dan Brown and The Lost Symbol. That perspective is this: Dan Brown is doing Freemasonry a favor, whether he portrays Masons as heroes or villains -- whether he wants to or not!

Well has it been said that there is no such thing as bad publicity. I am told that, many years ago, one much-maligned celebrity, when asked how this person felt about being the subject of so many scandalous stories in the press, simply replied: "I just ask them to spell my name right."

I have made the case in Part 2 of this series that every Freemason ought to care about Dan Brown's portrayal of Freemasonry in his new novel. That is certainly true: Dan Brown's novel will shape the public's perception of Freemasonry for a generation. However, this is not to say that care should turn to fear. Rather, we should make it our business to seize the day and take advantage of this tremendous opportunity.

If The Lost Symbol sells "only" as well as The Da Vinci Code, somewhere over 80 million people worldwide are going to hear about Freemasonry; at least 45 million of those are going to be in the United States. When the movie comes out, as it inevitably will, there will be tens of millions more people who hear about us. That kind of exposure -- exposure on a scale we could never hope to buy! -- will create curiosity. A culture that thought Freemasonry was extinct will come to understand that we are still around, and that Masonry has something to offer.

Our job, then, is to capitalize on that curiosity, to reach the right kind of man, and to give him the opportunity to take the initiative to ask about Freemasonry. (He can't take the initiative if he doesn't know we exist, or what we stand for, right?)

And just what is "the right kind of man"? The man who is interested in improving himself, in making a real contribution to society, in building something of value rather than just existing and consuming. The man who is interested in basing his life on deeper values, not the shallow values put forth by popular culture. The man who has a belief in a Supreme Being, whatever his formal religious affiliation (if any). The man who -- regardless of his race, color, nationality, ethnicity, or any of the other ultimately meaningless accidents of birth -- the man who wants to base his life on the search for philosophical Truth, the company of a Brotherhood of good men from all walks of life, and the rendering of Relief and service to the needy.

To a large extent, these guys don't know where to find us or how to approach us. Our job? Show them where and how. And Dan Brown has given us the perfect vehicle with which to accomplish this.

So, regardless of what he says about us, let us not focus any anger or irritation at Dan Brown. He's doing us a favor. (Although, I will admit, if he slams us, that Lower East Side Kid who lives in the tenement apartment neighborhood in my soul will be thinking, "Lost your symbol, Dan? I've gotcha lost symbol ri-i-i-ght here, buddy boy . . ." Not that the Masonic Gentleman in my soul would ever even think anything like that, mind you. No sirree.)

There are two levels of action that we should pursue: action on the organizational level -- the Grand Lodge and the Particular Lodge within the Blue Lodge, the local York Rite Bodies, and the Scottish Rite Bodies on the level of the Orient and Valley -- and action on the part of the individual Mason. In the remainder of this post, I describe the actions that Masonic organizations should take; in Part 4 of this series, I shall address actions that the individual Mason should take.

The Organizational Level of Response

Every organization within Freemasonry should take some part in responding to Dan Brown's novel and its portrayal of Freemasonry (whether that be good, bad, or ugly). This means, in the Blue Lodge, every Grand Lodge, District, and Particular Lodge (that is, the local lodge where you meet). In the York Rite, this means the York Rite Bodies of a particular locale. In the Scottish Rite, this means both the Southern Jurisdiction and the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, each Orient, and each Valley within each Orient. It's time for a full-court press.

(The other concordant and appendant organizations are also welcome to participate. My suggestion, however, is that you give strength to your local Blue Lodge, York Rite, and Scottish Rite organizations, rather than divide our efforts.)

In many areas, it will be necessary and sensible for the Blue Lodge and the Rites to simply work together. However, the fact of the matter is that some brethren affiliate more with the Rites than with the Blue Lodge; to maximize our manpower, we should engage them through the Rites.

In addition, each organization has something special to add in the drive to get the word out about Freemasonry. The Blue Lodge has our history and basic symbolism to discuss. The York Rite has its ties to Templarism to describe, and its focus on the Temple of Solomon. The Scottish Rite can explain the way that it draws from various traditions for its degrees; the Scottish Rite also needs to address the real history of Albert Pike, as opposed to the fantasy that I think will be put forth by Dan Brown.

Consequently, what I say below applies to each level of each of these three organizations, the Blue Lodge, the York Rite, and the Scottish Rite. When it comes to public communications, each of these organizations should coordinate with the others. Events like open houses should be held in coordination and conjunction among these three branches of Masonry.

In this connection, I think of the February 2008 open house hosted by the Scottish Rite Valley of Orlando, Florida. The Scottish Rite made its building available for the event (it has the largest Masonic building for miles around), and the Blue Lodges in the district, as well as the Orlando York Rite Bodies and the Scottish Rite itself, provided manpower. The open house was well attended, and a surprisingly large number of local men came forth to submit petitions to the Fraternity.

I see two specific types of activity at the organizational level: public relations, and public events. I describe each of these below.

Masonic Public Relations

When The Lost Symbol is published on September 15 of this year, you can expect at least a small-scale media circus, such as attended the publication of the last few Harry Potter novels, except that this time adults will be the focus of the midnight bookstore parties and the TV interviews. News organizations will be hungry for anything to broadcast. We can help to fill that need.

Sometime shortly after Labor Day, each Masonic organization should send a press release to its local media, in which they mention the following:

Dan Brown's novel features the Freemasons.
The Freemasons really exist today, in your community.
The local Freemasons will be glad to answer questions about Freemasonry, its history, and its symbolism, for the news media.
Questions should be addressed to specific people, e-mail addresses, and telephone numbers.

If these press releases are in the hands of local media in advance of the publication of The Lost Symbol, then media representatives are much more likely to contact the local Masonic organization involved.

Masonic Open Houses

As you can tell from the illustration above, I suggest that Masonic organizations host open houses that revolve around the theme of The Lost Symbol.

Elsewhere, I have posted an August 2007 white paper on preparing an open house to address Dan Brown's Masonic novel. (This paper also addressed what turned out to be a bust for Masonry, the second National Treasure movie. The Lost Symbol, however, is not a movie where the script can be changed at the last minute; presses are printing this book at this very moment, and the publisher's clues definitely point to Freemasonry, as I note here.)

Given the clues that Dan Brown's publisher has posted since late June regarding the novel, I would amend the white paper to suggest the following as points to focus on in an open house:

The basic symbolism of Freemasonry
Freemasonry, the Founding Fathers, and the American Revolution
The role of Freemasonry today: the search for Truth, as expressed through our symbolic initiations; the promotion of Brotherhood, through the fellowship of the lodge involving men from all walks of life; the providing of Relief, both locally and through our charities.

In addition, we should take on directly a number of topics where it will likely be necessary to correct Dan Brown:

The Illuminati and Freemasonry. The two were separate organizations. The Illuminati were antithetical to the spirit of Freemasonry. The Illuminati took over some Masonic lodges in Europe, but died out during the period 1784 to 1795.
The Knights of the Golden Circle. Despite the novel, there is no connection between them and either the Scottish Rite or Albert Pike.
The Great Seal of the United States. It's not a Masonic symbol or set of symbols.
The Streets of Washington, DC. They are not full of Masonic symbols.
Political conspiracy. It's not a Masonic activity.
Whatever else Dan Brown says about us that isn't true

Preparing some of this material, of course, will need to wait until the novel is published. However, most of the text to be presented, either orally or in poster form, can be prepared beforehand.

I would suggest October as a prime time for the open houses. This novel is going to sell quickly, and interest will be highest at that time. However, this novel is also going to be a big winter holiday gift item, and so perhaps February would be a good time as well.

Next time: What the individual Mason can do to prepare for the opportunities presented by the publication of The Lost Symbol.

The Lost Symbol and Masonry, Part 2: Why Freemasons Should Care About Dan Brown

2009-07-14T13:09:00.009-04:00

In my preceding post, I explained why I believe that the Scottish Rite, and Albert Pike, are going to take it in the chops in the forthcoming Dan Brown novel, The Lost Symbol. I expect that Albert Pike will be portrayed as a treasonous scoundrel who worked with the Knights of the Golden Circle to accumulate assets for a second War Between the States -- using the Scottish Rite, in both the North and the South, to create and perpetuate this conspiracy. I expect that today's Scottish Rite will be portrayed as a conspiratorial organization in our very day.

Dandy.

In this post, I address one simple question: Why should Freemasons care? (In my next post, I address the question, what should we as Freemasons do about this?)

It would be easy to just kick back and forget about all of this. Here are what seem to be some good reasons to do so:

"It's just a novel, for pity's sake -- who cares?"

"I'm Scottish Rite in the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction -- why should I care about this?"

"I'm not even Scottish Rite -- why should this matter to me?"

I can understand these positions. However, I believe that they are deeply flawed. To understand what is wrong with these attitudes, we need to consider the power of fiction.

The Power of Fiction

Best-selling novels can be powerful in forming public opinion. Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) was the best-selling American novel of the 19th century, outselling everything but the Bible; it is credited with forming the American debate about slavery, and shaping events leading to the Civil War. Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind (1936) sold 30 million copies, and had an effect on the self-image of the Deep South that is still evident today. George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) sold 25 million copies, and gave our vocabulary such terms as "Big Brother" and "Orwellian." Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) sold 30 million copies, and is influencing attitudes towards race in this country to this day. Joseph Heller's Catch-22 (1961) sold 10 million copies and left its title as part of the English language. Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1970) sold 40 million copies and influenced the attitudes of a generation of Americans regarding what they could do with their lives.

When novels become movies, they can be even more powerful in affecting public attitudes and behavior. Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather (1969) sold 21 million copies, and was made into a blockbuster movie in 1972; half the guys I know still quote from that movie as if it were scripture, even if they weren't born until a decade after the film was made. Shaft (1971) was a novel before it became a film (surprise!), and affected urban fashion in some communities for years.

And Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code (2003) was bigger than all of them.

This novel has sold 81 million copies in six years. The 2006 movie was the second-highest grossing movie of the year, and its $230 million opening weekend gross currently stands as the seventh-highest of all time.

Dan Brown has had six years to come up with something to top that. And he has.

Brown's publisher has such confidence that Brown's new novel, The Lost Symbol, will be a huge bestseller that it is printing 6.5 million copies in the initial print run -- the largest 'first print' in the history of Random House. (It is doing this, knowing that bookstores have the right to return unsold copies to the publisher!)

The point of all this is that Dan Brown has the power to shape the nation's (even the world's) attitude towards Freemasonry for many years to come. If The Lost Symbol even sells "only" as well as The Da Vinci Code has, then there will be about 16 to 20 copies of the book sold for every Freemason on earth. We no longer live in a society, even in the United States, where people's attitudes about Freemasonry are shaped by their experience with actual Masons; rather, their attitudes are shaped by books and other media.

It doesn't matter whether or not you are a member of the Scottish Rite yourself. What Dan Brown says about today's Scottish Rite will be the the opinion that his readers carry about Freemasonry in general.

It doesn't matter whether you are a member of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction or not. I doubt that Brown is going to spend a lot of time on the fine points of Masonic jurisdiction. In addition, the people whom I suspect he depends on for part of his back story -- Warren Getler and Bob Brewer, authors of Shadow of the Sentinel, also titled Rebel Gold -- simply don't care about any of that; in their fantasy land, Albert Pike controlled both the Northern Masonic and Southern Jurisdictions. Thus, the brethren of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction shall be tarred with the same broad brush as the brethren of the Southern Jurisdiction of Scottish Rite Freemasonry.

Sort of gives a whole new slant on Masonic brotherhood, doesn't it? I am reminded of words attributed to brother Benjamin Franklin, supposedly said after the signing of the Declaration of Independence: "We must hang together, gentlemen--or, assuredly, we shall each hang separately!"

What it comes down to is this: If I am right, and Dan Brown does sock it to Scottish Rite Freemasonry in his new novel, it will be the biggest black eye for the Fraternity since the Morgan incident of 1826 -- and we should all know how well that turned out. Brown's novel has the potential to shape public attitudes towards Freemasonry for the next generation. We need to do something about this, something to take our fate, and the destiny of our Fraternity, into our own hands.

The Traditional Masonic Hands-Off Attitude Towards Criticism

I am well aware that the traditional Masonic attitude towards criticism is to ignore it, to stay above the fray and wait for the truth to prevail.

This was a fine approach to take when public discussion was civil, educated, and proceded according to the rules of the Marquis de Queensbury. We don't live in that world any more.

As I have explained at length in my white paper, "How Should Masons Respond to Anti-Masonry?", the traditional Masonic practice of ignoring criticism no longer serves the Fraternity well at all. In the landscape of the 21st century, if one does not respond to criticism, one might as well wear a big sign around one's neck that reads "YES, I'M GUILTY." Remember that the English common law principle states that "Silence is assent."

We don't want to assent to the picture that Dan Brown may be painting of the Craft, even through silence.

"But What If You're Wrong?"

Perhaps you're wondering, "but what if you're wrong, Brother? What if Dan Brown does not paint the Scottish Rite or Freemasonry in treasonous terms after all? What if you've read the picture wrong, so to speak, and the Freemasons in general, and the Scottish Rite in particular, are the heroes of Brown's novel?"

Then there is all the more reason for us to do something about this.

If Brown's novel paints a favorable picture of Freemasonry, then we need to be prepared to ride the wave of interest that will follow. I realize that some brethren expect that, with the publication of Dan Brown's Masonic novel, the petitioners will line up outside the lodge door. Actually, we need to keep in mind that we are working against two generations or so where Masonry has been essentially invisible in society at large. Despite all the Shrine circuses, all the service projects, all the efforts that have been made, Masonic membership is at an 80-year-low, even as the population of North America has soared (as noted by the Masonic Service Association here).

Indeed, even though media events like the National Treasure movies have painted Freemasonry in a positive light, there are other currents in American society that have sought to demonize Freemasonry. This may be why religious-based attacks against Freemasonry are increasing, according to the Masonic Information Center. All of this will work against petitioners arriving at the Western Gate.

Should we care about this? After all, there is also some moral peril in 'worshipping at the altar of bigness,' as pointed out by the Knights of the North in their thought-provoking paper, Laudable Pursuit.

Fair enough. However, Freemasonry is not just some vehicle for our own amusement. It is, or is intended to be, a vehicle for the improvement of society. We need a certain critical mass in order to fulfill our mission. If we don't wish to do that, we might as well roll away our altars and become footnotes to history.

Me, I'd rather make history.

To do that, we need to make Freemasonry available to every man who has a mind oriented to the search for truth, the appreciation of fellowship, and the giving of relief to the needy. In my next post, I'll describe how to use the occasion of the publication of Dan Brown's novel, The Lost Symbol, to further those ends.

The Lost Symbol and Masonry, Part 1: The Scottish Rite Likely to be Slammed by Dan Brown

2009-07-12T18:56:00.015-04:00

As readers of this blog know, my attention lately has been entirely taken up with Dan Brown's forthcoming novel, The Lost Symbol, especially since his publisher began posting clues regarding the content of this novel to Twitter. (I have my own book coming out, Discovering The Lost Symbol: Dan Brown's Novel and the Truth About the Freemasons; it is thus my business to stay on top of every legitimate scrap of information about Brown's novel.) After looking over the 42 clues that Doubleday has issued about the novel (which I considered in detail in my blog, Key to The Lost Symbol Clues), I have come to several conclusions:
Freemasonry is going to be featured prominently in Dan Brown's novel, The Lost Symbol.
The Scottish Rite in particular is going to be featured prominently in this novel.
The Scottish Rite in general, and Albert Pike in particular, are going to take it in the chops.
More precisely: it is my belief that the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry -- in both the Southern and the Northern Masonic Jurisdictions -- are going to be the "bad guys" in the novel. In addition, I believe that brother Albert Pike, the seventh Sovereign Grand Commander of the AASR, SJ (serving 1859-1891), is going to be portrayed as a conspirator with the Knights of the Golden Circle (KGC), a group of Confederate sympathizers during the Civil War era, using the Scottish Rite before, during, and after the Civil War to help the KGC conceal a vast trove of stolen gold to be used for nefarious purposes in our day.

In the remainder of this post, I lay out my evidence for these beliefs. In a future post or posts, I will explain why Freemasons in general (North and South; Blue Lodge, York Rite, and Scottish Rite) ought to do something about this; and, what it is that we might do.

The Evidence

The Lost Symbol will be Dan Brown's third novel to feature Robert Langdon, a "symbologist" at Harvard University who has a talent for getting involved in the investigation of murder mysteries involving centuries-old conspiracies. The previous novels in the series are Angels & Demons (book, 2000; film, 2009) and The Da Vinci Code (book, 2003; film, 2006).

Judging from his earlier two novels, Brown is consistent in using one or more secretive societies to drive his plot. In Angels & Demons, the "bad guys" were supposedly the Illuminati (although those who have read the novel or seen the movie know that, in Brown's story, the Illuminati were merely taking the rap for another person's secret agenda). In The Da Vinci Code, the true "bad guys" are a secret Council of Shadows, working within the Vatican; they use an operative from Opus Dei as an assassin.

In The Da Vinci Code, Brown introduced a new wrinkle: a secret society of "good guys," in this case the Priory of Sion. The medieval Knights Templar are portrayed in a positive light, as well.

I know that many of us had hoped that Brown would feature the Freemasons as the "good guys" of his new novel. Judging from the clues issued by Brown's publisher, Doubleday, it is not going to be as simple as that.

Freemasonry in The Lost Symbol

[Note: below, when I refer to "Clue #x," I mean the xth clue from the bottom of the list appearing on the Twitter clue website. Please ignore the numbers on the left-hand side of the website.]

That Freemasonry will be featured in the novel is certain. The clues include the use of an initial-letter cipher, such as Masons often use to conceal the text of rituals in ritual books (Clue #1). Some clues focus on the Illuminati (Clue #5) or the founder of the Bavarian Illuminati, Adam Weishaupt (Clue #33). Other clues focus on historical personages who are prominent in the real history of Freemasonry -- such as William Wirt, the presidential candidate of the Anti-Masonic Party (Clue #6) -- or who have long been rumored to have been Masons, such as Francis Bacon (Clue #7), the German artist Albrecht Durer (Clues #9 and #22), and Isaac Newton (Clue #17). The symbol of the eye in the pyramid is popularly thought to be a Masonic symbol, of course; this symbol shows up, directly or indirectly, in some clues (including Clues #10, #12, and #35). Freemasonry is often thought by popular opinion to be deist in its religious outlook; deism is featured in Clue #37. Several of the U.S. Founding Fathers who were Freemasons are mentioned or suggested in the clues, including Washington, Franklin, Hamilton, Hancock, Paul Revere.

The Scottish Rite in The Lost Symbol

Beyond this, it is clear that the Scottish Rite will figure quite prominently in The Lost Symbol. Imagery of some Scottish Rite (SJ) degrees shows up in the clues, including the word "INRI" (Clue #18), Jacques de Molay (Clue #23), and the Rose Croix (Clue #25). The biggest indication that the Scottish Rite will show up, of course, is the fact that the newly unveiled cover art of the novel features, right in the center, a blob of red wax with the impression of a seal of a double-headed eagle, a crown, and the number "33" within a triangle -- in other words, a version of the seal of the Scottish Rite Supreme Council (see cover, above, and Clue #31).

Albert Pike and the Scottish Rite Portrayed as Confederate Spies After the War

So far, so good. However, some of the most recent clues have unfortunate implications for the way the Scottish Rite is portrayed in the novel.

A couple of the recent clues make reference to the activities of the Knights of the Golden Circle, or KGC, an actual organization which supported slavery before the Civil War, and supported the South during the war itself (hinted at very subtly in Clues #34 and #36). If the KGC sounds vaguely familiar, that is because they are featured in the film, National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007, also known as "the second National Treasure film," or, "the one that wasn't so good").

The problem here is that the only half-way serious book on the KGC claims that they were aided in a conspiracy to prepare for a second Civil War, funded by stolen gold -- and assisted by Albert Pike, using the resources of the Scottish Rite. I am referring to a book by Warren Getler and Bob Brewer, titled Shadow of the Sentinel (2003) and issued in paperback as Rebel Gold (2004). Getler and Brewer served as consultants on National Treasure: Book of Secrets, and the impression I have is that they are looking to The Lost Symbol to revive interest in their theories.

I say this because someone claiming to be Warren Getler has posted two brief but provocative comments on my blog regarding The Lost Symbol. In relation to Clue #18, he stated the following (posting as "getler99"):

It seems that Albert Pike will be a central figure in The Lost Symbol. Dan Brown said to me back in 2003, while discussing my non-fiction book, Rebel Gold (Simon & Schuster): "My next book will be about Albert Pike."

There is, of course, no way to verify this. As if this were not enough, though, in a comment on Clue #33, the person posting as Mr. Getler mentioned the following, in relation to the book cover:

Notice in the word "CODE" there's a dot in the middle of the letter O. This is the alchemy [sic] symbol for gold. And.....if we take a close look, that symbol for gold lies on top of the zodiac circle in the faint background. This might be a reference to The Knights of the Golden Circle, a Scottish Rite Masonic and Confederate secret society that is the core subject matter for my non-fiction book, Rebel Gold. [Boldface-plus-italics emphasis added.]

Another commenter and I each took "gettler99" to task for claiming that the KGC was in any way connected with Scottish Rite Freemasonry. However, that is what he claims in his book -- with no real evidence, lots and lots of conjecture, and great enthusiasm.

I have since obtained a copy of Shadow of the Sentinel. I plan to publish a brief review of it on this blog, and I shall submit a more detailed review for publication. However, my initial impression is that, as regards the authors' take on Freemasonry and the Scottish Rite, the authors have done an extraordinarily poor job of research. They take possible connection for plausibility, and then for proof itself. They misunderstand the structure, purpose, and nature of Scottish Rite rituals.

However, if Dan Brown is using their book as a central source, he will definitely paint Albert Pike as a KGC secret officer, and the Scottish Rite -- both in the North and the South! -- as an important source of KGC power. Getler and Brewer specifically state that, following the Civil War, Pike used the Scottish Rite, in both the North and the South, to further KGC purposes and prepare for a second Civil War. Of course, this portrays Pike as a treasonous scoundrel, and the Rite as a vehicle of conspiracy.

We need to do something about this. More next time. However, now is the time to reserve your lodge and valley buildings for open houses in late September or early October. It will be an opportunity for us to get the truth out about the Order.

The Cover of Dan Brown's Novel Is 'Centered' on the Scottish Rite

2009-07-07T14:27:00.006-04:00

This morning, Doubleday released the cover art of Dan Brown's forthcoming novel, The Lost Symbol. The center of this cover shows a wax seal. If you click on the cover image above, you'll see a larger version of the image; enlarge that, and you'll see that the seal is actually a version of the seal of an organization that is familiar to many of you: the Scottish Rite.

I go into this in detail on another blog of mine, "Key to The Lost Symbol Tweets," found here. (Should you be reading this a bit down the road, a link to the specific post involved is here.) Enjoy.

(And, no, I haven't abandoned the series. Be back soon.)

Announcing the "Key to The Lost Symbol Tweets" Blog

2009-06-27T00:18:00.002-04:00

The Twitter tweets being generated by the publishers of Dan Brown's forthcoming novel, The Lost Symbol, are generating a good deal of interest. In order to address the subjects raised by these tweets without having them overwhelm this blog, I have founded a new blog, "Key to The Lost Symbol Tweets," at http://lostsymboltweets.blogspot.com . Please drop by, and leave your comments / queries / civil criticisms; even become an official "follower," if you like.

The First Tweet Decyphered for The Lost Symbol

2009-06-25T23:35:00.003-04:00

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Special Note: I now provide a comprehensive key to the Twitter tweets sent out by Dan Brown's publishers to promote The Lost Symbol in a new blog, "Key to The Last Symbol Tweets," available here.

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The first tweet on the Twitter page for Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol had mystified me:

Codes of ethics? T 10 C; 6 P O T SOD; 12 S O T Z

However, Chris Hodapp, in commenting tonight in response to other comments on his blog regarding a post announcing the Lost Symbol website, laid it all out:

The 10 Commandments; 6 points of the Star of David; 12 signs of the Zodiac.

A tip of the hat to Chris.

Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol Will Feature Freemasonry

2009-06-25T19:41:00.011-04:00

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Special Note: I now provide a comprehensive key to the Twitter tweets sent out by Dan Brown's publishers to promote The Lost Symbol in a new blog, "Key to The Lost Symbol Tweets," available here.

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(Your correspondent, following the Residential Move From Heck as scheduled by the Nostradamus Moving Company, is just now returning to the Internet. We will resume our ongoing series on the Roman Catholic Church and Freemasonry shortly. However, some late-breaking news in another part of the Masonic world requires our immediate attention.)

The imminent release of the sequel to The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown's forthcoming novel, The Lost Symbol, brings up one special question for Freemasons and many others: to what extent will this novel feature Freemasonry? Although Brown had once stated explicitly on his official website that the sequel to The Da Vinci Code would be placed in the world of Freemasonry, that website (http://www.danbrown.com/) has now been replaced by a website counting down the seconds to the release of The Lost Symbol (http://www.thelostsymbol.com/). Is Brown distancing himself from his earlier statement about depicting Freemasonry in his novel?

Not at all.

Brown is just creating a bit more mystery. His publishers have provided clues that demonstrate all but conclusively that The Lost Symbol will indeed be placed in the world of the Freemasons. This is shown in the Twitter page that Brown's publisher, Random House, has just created to promote the forthcoming book.

As of the composition of this post, the Twitter page for The Lost Symbol includes 9 'tweets' issued between 6 a.m. on June 23rd and about 6 p.m. on June 25. Several of these tweets name individuals and groups, for whom the only connecting link is a real or purported association with Freemasonry. These include the following:

"Unbroken codes ... mystery continues to shroud the cipher at the Rosslyn Chapel."

This 3rd tweet, sent out at 3:49 p.m. on June 23rd, mentions Rosslyn Chapel, the famous site in Scotland, figuring prominently in The Da Vinci Code. Several authors, such as Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh in The Temple and the Lodge (1989), have stated that Masonic imagery can be found in Rossyln Chapel. Although this claim has been disputed by scholars (most recently by Robert L. D. Cooper in The Rosslyn Hoax?, reviewed here), Dan Brown has always shown a propensity to give controversial rumor a serious hearing in his fiction. For Brown, to mention Rosslyn is to point to Masonry.

"Before they were Illuminati, they were Perfectibilists."

This 5th tweet, sent out at 1:45 p.m. on June 24th, states a simple fact: the Bavarian Illuminati (the revolutionary group founded in 1776 by Adam Weishaupt) were originally called the Perfectibilists, after their belief that humankind could be perfected through rational (not supernatural) means. In real life, the Illuminati infiltrated perhaps dozens of Masonic lodges in Europe to further their interests, before the Illuminati were crushed by various governments around 1790. To the wild-eyed fringe of the conspiracy community, the Illuminati and Freemasonry are connected to this day.

"Who stole William Wirt's skull?"

This 6th tweet, sent out at 3:36 p.m. on June 24th, refers to William Wirt (1772-1834). Wirt was Attorney General for the United States during 1817-1829. Today, he is mostly remembered for the work he did helping to prosecute Aaron Burr for treason in 1807. However, he is a footnote to history for something he did after resigning as Attorney General. In 1832, he accepted the nomination for U.S. President running for the first national 'third party' and single-issue party in American politics: the Anti-Masonic Party, the sole plank of whose public platform was the elimination of secret societies. (He carried Vermont, received seven electoral votes, and a popular vote of over 33,000 voters.) Of course, the second-weirdest aspect of all this is that Wirt was himself a Mason, and delivered a pro-Masonic speech at the nominating convention. (The party was actually more anti-Andrew Jackson than anything else, one suspects.)

The very weirdest aspect of Wirt's history is that, indeed, his skull was stolen, and many years later returned under mysterious circumstances (2005); read about it here.

So: we have a prominent 19th century Mason--an associate of some of the American Founding Fathers--who ran for President under the anti-Masonic Party, and who then had his skull stolen. Why wouldn't Dan Brown write about this?

' "If we begin with certainties, we shall end in doubts; but if we begin in doubts, and are patient in them, we shall end in certainties." '

This 7th tweet, sent out around 9 a.m. this morning (June 25), is a famous quote from Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626), noted English philosopher who laid the foundations of what we know today as the scientific method. In his utopian work New Atlantis, he writes of a fictional community that included a scientific institution known as "Solomon's House." On the one hand, this institution was said to be the inspiration for the British Royal Society, founded in 1660, perhaps the oldest scientific society now existing in the world. On the other hand, the connection to Solomon, for some writers, is a connection to Freemasonry.

Was Bacon a Freemason? We have no direct evidence to indicate that, although Bacon's Masonic membership has been speculated at least since the time of Christopher Friederich Nicolai (1733-1811). (Read about the dispute here.)

However, what is indisputable is that a number of early Freemasons of the pre-Grand Lodge and early Grand Lodge era were prominent in the Royal Society:

Sir Robert Moray, the first person initiated on English soil (1641, in a Scottish military lodge), was the acting founding president of the Royal Society (1660-1662). (Some have claimed that these were two separate people.)

Elias Ashmole, long known for his 1646 diary entry being the first documentation of initiation into an English Lodge, was a member of the Royal Society.

John Theophilus Desaguliers, the third Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of England (1719-1720), had become a member of the Royal Society in 1714.

Seven other early Grand Masters of the Grand Lodge of England were members of the Royal Society. (See p. 73 of Alain Bauer's Isaac Newton's Freemasonry: The Alchemy of Science and Mysticism.)

In sum, mentioning Bacon's quote brings up the long-standing mystery of his association with Freemasonry, as well as the connection of early Freemasons with the Royal Society--a scientific enterprise that, in the world of Dan Brown's Angels and Demons, was probably a cover for the Illuminati as Brown conceived them.

"Albrecht Durer, whose father was a goldsmith, was trained as a metalworker at a young age."

This 9th and most recent tweet, sent out about 5 p.m. today (June 25), references the famous artist Durer (1471-1528). Because some of his pieces contain compasses (Melencolia, above, which contains other esoteric symbolism, and Astronomer), and one shows someone holding a square (Portrait of an Architect), some have speculated that Durer was some sort of very early Mason.

Conclusion

Out of 9 tweets on the Twitter page for Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol, 5 involve a site or individuals with either a documented or reputed connection to Freemasonry. If that does not very strongly suggest that Freemasonry will be featured in The Lost Symbol, I don't know what would, short of an ad in The New York Times where Dan Brown says "Yes, it does feature Freemasonry, folks!" I'll continue to follow those tweets from time to time, and report them here.

A Brief Hiatus

2009-06-06T23:50:00.002-04:00

For the next week, I am bound to focus entirely upon the task of packing my possessions and moving my residence. Thus, I shall have to suspend new entries to the blog and the current, ongoing series for this period. Assuming that all goes well and my Internet access is properly restored in my new residence, I hope to be back up and running with the series on or about Monday, June 15. I look forward to getting back to this important subject.

Incidentally, it has been very gratifying to hear from a number of you through my various e-mail connections regarding the series. Any reader is also welcome to leave reflections or questions through the Comment feature at the conclusion of any post.

Part 7: Masonic Rituals. (Series: The Roman Catholic Church and Freemasonry)

2009-06-06T19:24:00.009-04:00

(See Part 1 for the context of this presentation.)

In his lecture on "The Catholic Church and Freemasonry," the Rev. Mr. John J. McManus quotes an article by Monsignor Ronny E. Jenkins, which in turn refers to a document generated by the German [Roman Catholic] Bishops' Conference in about 1980. In that document, the bishops state that membership in the Catholic Church is incompatible with membership in Freemasonry. The German Bishops' Conference apparently reached this conclusion on the basis of twelve areas of Masonic teaching or practice that, they said, conflicted with Catholic teaching. The seventh of these areas is the following, as the bishops put it:

The Masonic Rituals: The rituals of the first three Masonic grades have a clear sacramental character about them, indicating that an actual transformation of some sort is undergone by those who participate in them.

At first glance, a Mason unversed in the intricacies of Catholic doctrine might be inclined to agree with this statement. My Masonic obligations preclude my posting a public statement or picture illustrating any of the details of the first three degrees of Freemasonry, but there are public Masonic ceremonies that will serve just as well to illustrate this point.

Even in a public Masonic ceremony, such as the installation of lodge officers, one can observe a great deal of ritual. Such an installation is depicted in the photo above (click for a much larger image; the photo is described in great detail at the conclusion of this post). Even in just this single photo, one observes an altar, a holy book carefully positioned on that altar, ceremonial clothing (the aprons), ritual objects (the baton, the electric light standing in for a taper or candle), and ritual stances (standing at attention on one side of the altar). Isn't this kind of 'sacramental'? After all, it certainly is ceremonial and ritualistic.

In addition, of course, many people know that one way to describe the purpose of Freemasonry is the time-honored phrase, "to make good men better." Surely, the point of Freemasonry and its rituals is to transform men, right?

The problem with that position is that it assumes that the bishops and the casual reader are using the same language. However, this is not the case. The terms "sacrament" and "sacramental character" each have a technical meaning within Catholic doctrine. As we become aware of these meanings, and how these concepts relate to the term "transformation," we will see that the statement of the German Bishops' Conference is actually grossly inaccurate.

The Meaning of "Sacrament" and "Sacramental Character" in Catholic Teaching

The sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church are not merely rituals or ceremonies, nor even just very important ones. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (online edition here), the seven sacraments were specifically instituted by Jesus Christ (paragraphs 1114 and 1117), and include Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist (that is, Holy Communion), Penance, the Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders (that is, ordination to the priesthood), and Matrimony (par. 1113). (In all the quotations from the Catechism below, italics are in the original, and internal footnotes have been omitted.) As noted in the Catechism, some specific characteristics of the sacraments include the following:

Sacraments are meant to bestow spiritual sanctification upon the recipient. "The purpose of the sacraments is to sanctify men ..." (par. 1123). In turn, sanctification involves a thoroughgoing transformation into a state of holiness through supernatural means: "The Holy Spirit is the master of the interior life. By giving birth to the 'inner man,' justification entails the sanctification of his whole being" (par. 1995).

Sacraments confer grace, a special blessing from God that transforms the recipient by divine power, thus sanctifying the recipient. "... the sacraments confer the grace that they signify. They are efficacious because in them Christ himself is at work: it is ... he who acts in his sacraments in order to communicate the grace that each sacrament signifies. The Father always hears the prayer of his Son's Church which, in the epiclesis of each sacrament [that is, in the portion of the sacramental ceremony in which God is invoked], expresses her faith in the power of the Spirit. As fire transforms into itself everything it touches, so the Holy Spirit transforms into the divine life whatever is subjected to his power" (par. 1127). 'Grace' is also a special term, of course: "Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us" (par. 1996). "The grace of Christ is the gratuitous gift that God makes to us of his own life, infused by the Holy Spirit into our soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it. It is the sanctifying or deifying grace received in Baptism. It is in us the source of the work of sanctification" (par. 1999).

Sacraments bestow a spiritual transformation that is necessary for salvation. "The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments ... are necessary for salvation. 'Sacramental grace' is the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each sacrament. The Spirit heals and transforms those who receive him by conforming them to the Son of God. The fruit of the sacramental life is that the Spirit of adoption makes the faithful [into] partners in the divine nature by uniting them in a living union with ... the Savior" (par. 1129).

The term 'sacramental character' means that an action places an indelible spiritual seal, lasting forever, on the soul of the recipient. "The three sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders confer, in addition to grace, a sacramental character or 'seal' by which the Christian shares in Christ's priesthood and is made a member of the Church according to different states and functions. This configuration to Christ and to the Church, brought about by the Spirit, is indelible, it remains for ever in the Christian as a positive disposition for grace, a promise and guarantee of divine protection, and as a vocation to divine worship and to the service of the Church" (par. 1121).

The power behind the sacraments is the power of God. "... [The] sacraments act ... by virtue of the saving work of Christ, accomplished once for all. It follows that 'the sacrament is ... wrought ... by the power of God.' From the moment that a sacrament is celebrated in accordance with the intention of the Church, the power of Christ and his Spirit acts in and through it" (par. 1128).

The sacraments involve a special connection between the recipient and God. The sacraments "manifest and communicate to men, above all in the Eucharist, the mystery of communication with ... God" (par. 1118).

Now, which of the above characteristics of the Catholic sacraments in any way resembles either the rituals of Freemasonry in general, or the initiatory rituals of the first three degrees in particular? None at all. Consider this:

The rituals of Freemasonry do not pretend to bestow spiritual sanctification upon the initiate. The ritual may inspire a man to live a better life--we certainly hope this--perhaps even a holier life, but there is nothing about the ritual that says it bestows a supernatural blessing of sanctification upon the candidate.

Masonic ritual does not pretend to confer transformative grace, as this is defined in Catholic teaching. Of course, Masons ask for the blessing of God upon their endeavors, including their efforts to become better men. However, there is no place where the ritual says it calls power from heaven (or anywhere else) to work some sort of spiritual transformation upon a man.

Masonic ritual does not make any reference to having any effect upon salvation. Masonic ritual is spiritual, in the sense that it is meant to focus the mind of the participant upon his spiritual duties. However, there is nothing in the ritual that pretends to have any effect on the initiate's eternal salvation.

There is absolutely, positively nothing about Masonic ritual that has a 'sacramental character,' as this is defined in Catholic teaching. There simply is no part of the ritual that pretends to put some kind of spiritual seal on the soul of the participant.

The Masonic rituals do not pretend to have the power of God behind them. The rituals say nothing about being backed by or founded upon divine power. Yes, it is publicly known that Masons take their solemn obligations on the Holy Bible, but Masons do not pretend that they conduct these rituals through some special divine power bestowed by God or God's representatives, or that the ritual puts participants in some sort of spiritual communion with God.

Thus, contrary to what the German Bishops' Conference states, the rituals of Masonic initiation--either the three basic degrees in the Blue Lodge, or the high degrees--do not have a "sacramental character" about them at all. This is true, whether we understand "sacramental character" in the technical sense described in the Catechism, or in the more general sense of meaning "like a sacrament."

In addition, although through Freemasonry we seek to become better men, this is not remotely like some kind of transformation wrought by spiritual powers, to which the bishops are making reference when they mention that "an actual transformation of some sort is undergone by those who participate in them [that is, the first three degrees of Freemasonry]."

Freemasonry simply has different goals and means than sacramental religion. Sacramental religion seeks for eternal salvation through grace and divine power that thoroughly transforms a man into a different kind of being. Freemasonry seeks to make good men better, through exposing them to important principles and symbolic teachings; it is these men's own pondering upon these principles, teachings, and symbols that helps to change their lives.

Of course, in reading this, it is important to understand that Freemasonry is not proposing itself as some kind of substitute for sacramental religion. As in all things religious, Freemasonry leaves the choce of a religion to the conscience of the individual Mason; however, Masonry does not propose itself as a potential candidatefor a personal religion.

In sum, there is nothing in Masonic ritual that poses the kind of problems that the Conference report says it does. Sacraments involve rituals, it is true, but by far most rituals are not sacraments. Masonic ritual, in particular, does not pretend to be sacramental in nature.

Next time (Part 8): The Perfection of Humankind.

[The image above shows (l.-r.) Mark E. Koltko-Rivera and W:. John E. Devlin, PM, at the installation of officers at Winter Park Lodge #239 Free and Accepted Masons (Grand Lodge of Florida), December 29, 2007. W:. Bro. Devlin is serving as Marshal for the installation ceremony; he carries the Marshal's baton in his left hand, and wears the ornate apron of a Past Master of the lodge. Bro. Koltko-Rivera is being installed as the regular Marshal of the lodge--the most junior of lodge officers--for 2008; he wears the Marshal's apron, with the crossed batons that are a symbol of the Marshal's office. These brethren are standing west of the altar, facing east, where the presiding Installing Officer stands outside the frame of the picture. Friends and family are visible in the background on the left; the annual Winter Park Lodge installation of officers, like perhaps all such ceremonies in Florida, is a public event. Atop the altar on the left, an open copy of the Holy Bible represents the Volume of Sacred Law. Just to the right of the Bible is an electric light bulb on a post, standing in for a ritual taper or candle. The table covered with a white cloth on the right holds a variety of ritual objects, including an ornate ceremonial collar that Br. Koltko-Rivera will wear as Marshal of the lodge. Photo by Bro. Ricardo Parente of Winter Park Lodge.]

Part 6: Masonic Toleration. (Series: The Roman Catholic Church and Freemasonry)

2009-06-06T02:58:00.014-04:00

(See Part 1 for the context of this presentation.)

In his lecture on "The Catholic Church and Freemasonry," the Rev. Mr. John J. McManus quotes an article by Monsignor Ronny E. Jenkins, which in turn refers to a document generated by the German [Roman Catholic] Bishops' Conference in about 1980. In that document, the bishops state that membership in the Catholic Church is incompatible with membership in Freemasonry. The German Bishops' Conference apparently reached this conclusion on the basis of twelve areas of Masonic teaching that, they said, conflicted with Catholic teaching. The sixth of these areas is the following:

Masonic Toleration: The Masons promote a principle of toleration regarding ideas. That is, relativism teaches them to be tolerant of ideas divergent or contrary to their own. Such a principle not only threatens the Catholic position of objective truth, but it also threatens the respect due the Church's teaching office.

Here again, the German Bishops' Conference has mixed some accurate information about Freemasonry with some seriously mistaken information. In this case, however, the Conference then went even further, and misrepresented Catholic teaching itself. (What?! Am I saying that the bishops got Catholic teaching wrong? Yes, that's exactly and precisely what I am saying.) Let me try to untangle this theological mess, one strand at a time.

The Masons and Toleration

The first sentence of the paragraph quoted above from the Conference report is, in fact, accurate as an expression of Masonic values: Masons do promote a principle of toleration regarding ideas. This can be seen in a number of ways, throughout the multifaceted structure of Freemasonry. In Part 2 of this Series, I quoted a portion of "The Charges of a Free-Mason" from Anderson's Constitutions (1st ed. 1723); the "Charges" fairly represent the values of perhaps all the Grand Lodge jurisdictions in the United States today. In the portion I quoted, it is clear that the basic Blue Lodge of Freemasonry is supposed to embody a toleration for different religious beliefs.

The usual standard in today's Blue Lodge Freemasonry is that religious or political beliefs should carry no weight when it comes to deciding whether to admit a man to the Fraternity, as long as he believes in God. This certainly reflects a principle of toleration. (In addition, the stated standard practice is that neither sectarian religious nor political discussions are to come up during a Lodge meeting.) In the high degrees, the Scottish Rite in particular explicitly promotes toleration of different religious and political ideas (in both the Southern and Northern Masonic Jurisdictions' rituals), as I described in detail in Part 4 of this Series.

However, things fall apart with the second sentence of the paragraph that I quoted above from the German Bishops' Conference report. The bishops state that "relativism teaches [the Masons] to be tolerant of ideas divergent or contrary to their own." That is, the bishops are saying that Masons are tolerant of different ideas because Masons believe that no beliefs are ultimately true, which is the philosophical position of Relativism, particularly Moral Relativism. However, Freemasonry does not, in fact, take the position of Relativism; rather, as I imply in Part 3, if anything, Masonry takes the opposite position, the philosophical position of Universality--the idea that some truths are indeed objectively true for all people, in all times and places. However, Freemasonry introduces some wrinkles into its position regarding Universality:

Freemasonry is highly selective regarding the specific truths that it explicitly puts forth as universally true. These are ideas like the notions that it is good to seek truth, that it is good to promote brotherly love among humanity, and that it is good to give relief to those who suffer. These are, of course, publicly known to be explicit values promoted by Freemasonry. Some other values and truths are promoted explicitly but confidentially within the Fraternity; these may be found, for example, in the three degree lectures.
Freemasonry presents some truths only symbolically (as in the degree rituals), and exhorts the individual Mason to ponder these and discover their meanings for himself.
When it comes to differences of religious and political opinion, Freemasonry promotes toleration, from a position of respect, specifically in order to strengthen the bonds which tie Masons together. (Consider the working tools of a Master Mason.)

Thus, it is an ethic of respect, not a philosophy of relativism, that impels Masons to show tolerance for different positions and opinions.

If Masonry did promote the position of relativism, this would be a problem from a Catholic point of view. Catholicism has always condemned relativistic positions. For example, in 1996, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the Vatican office known as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, gave a formal address titled "Relativism: The Central Problem for Faith Today." (Of course, the author of that discourse is now known as Pope Benedict XVI.)

However, as I have shown, Freemasonry is not founded on philosophical relativism. Masonry combines philosophical universality with an ethic of respect, which is the basis for Masonry's principle of toleration. As it happens, understanding that ethic of respect, not in Freemasonry but within Catholicism, is key to understanding the errors that the bishops made in the remainder of the paragraph of their report quoted above.

The True Catholic Position on Toleration

The bishops go on, as I quote above, to say that "such a principle [that is, a principle of toleration regarding different ideas] not only threatens the Catholic position of objective truth, but it also threatens the respect due the Church's teaching office." As it happens, the notion that toleration of different ideas is a 'threat' to Catholicism is completely opposed to current Catholic teaching, as this can be found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (second edition, revised; paperback edition, 2000); an authorized online edition of this book is available here.

There is a good litmus test available regarding current Catholic teaching on toleration of different ideas. One would think that, if toleration is such a threat, nowhere would this threat be more apparent, or greater, than in the case of toleration or respect regarding religious ideas that differed from Catholic doctrine. As it happens, the Catechism is crystal-clear on this issue: Catholic doctrine and teaching insist that respect (and, by obvious implication, toleration) must be rendered to religious views that are different from Catholicism. Let's look at some examples of Catholic teaching on this issue. (Note: You can find the text of any numbered paragraph of the Catechism by going to the online edition and using the Search engine there to conduct a search using the number of the paragraph. The text of the paragraph will usually be given as the first search result. After choosing that search result, if you wish to see the paragraph in context, select "Enter the CCC at this paragraph.") Consider these points:

The Catechism urges respect, even for non-Christian religions. In a section titled "The Social Duty of Religion and the Right to Religious Freedom" (paragraphs 2104-2109), the Catechism makes reference (par. 2104) to a "sincere respect" that should be shown to different religions. In the course of using this phrase, the Catechism makes reference to Nostra Aetate, the "Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions" (promulgated by the Pope in 1965), an important document emerging from the Second Vatican Council, or Vatican II; for background, see here. Nostra Aetate, in turn, presents a fascinating message of respect and toleration for religions very different from Catholicism. Specifically mentioning Hinduism and Buddhism in one location (section 2, second paragraph), this Declaration states: "The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions. She regards with sincere reverence those ways of conduct and of life, those precepts and teachings which, though different in many aspects from the ones she holds and sets forth, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men." Later on (section 3, first paragraph), the Declaration notes, "The Church regards with esteem also the Moslems," several of whose teachings the Declaration singles out for approbation.
The Catechism specifies that it is the duty of each Catholic to show 'respect for the human person' (pars. 1929-1933). This involves "the duty of making oneself a neighbor to others and actively serving them" (par. 1932), and the Catechism notes that "this same duty extends to those who think or act differently from us" (par. 1933, emphasis added); this would seem to be the essence of toleration.
In discussing the balance between freedom and responsibility, the Catechism states that the right to religious freedom must be respected. "The right to the exercise of freedom, especially in moral and religious matters, is an inalienable requirement of the dignity of the human person. This right must be recognized and protected by civil authority within the limits of the common good and public order" (par. 1738; emphasis in original). "The right to the exercise of freedom, especially in religious and moral matters, is an inalienable requirement of the dignity of man" (par. 1747). (See also pars. 1906-1907.)
The Catechism states that religious discrimination must be eradicated. In a portion titled "Equality and Differences Among Men" (pars. 1934-1935), the Catechism quotes from section 29, paragraph 2 of a document known as Gaudium et Spes (promulgated 1965): "Every form of ... discrimination ... on the grounds of ... religion must be curbed and eradicated as incompatible with God's design." As it happens, Gaudium et Spes, the "Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World," is considered one of the major accomplishments of Vatican II; for background, see here.

Okay, then: Catholic teaching is fully supportive of respect and toleration for religious beliefs that are different from their own. However, this brings up some penetrating questions.

How Could the German Bishops' Conference Be So Wrong About Catholic Teaching Regarding Toleration?

Let's review. The single most authoritative printed source regarding current Catholic teaching--the Catechism of the Catholic Church--makes reference to documents insisting that the Catholic Church regards with "sincere reverence/respect" the teachings of Hindus and Buddhists, and that this church "regards with esteem" the Muslims. In another location, this same source says that Catholics should make themselves neighbors to those who think differently than they do. In multiple places, this same source vigorously emphasizes that religious freedom must be preserved, and states that religious discrimination must be eradicated. And the German Bishops' Conference criticizes Freemasonry for encouraging tolerance of those who have different ideas? Why is there this monumental discrepancy between the German Bishops' Conference's position on toleration and respect, and the position on toleration shown in the Catholic Catechism?

The plain fact of the matter is that Vatican II in the mid-1960s was a major development in teaching, doctrine, and practice that the Catholic Church is still working to come to grips with today, over 40 years later. The German Bishops' Conference, issuing their report only 15 years after Vatican II, clearly had not considered the implications of these developments in teaching and doctrine as they applied to the Freemasons and their tolerant, respectful ways. It is highly unfortunate that the many Catholic and other authors and websites that continue to make reference to Msgr. Jenkins' article fail to realize how out of step the German Bishops' Conference was, in comparison with the way that Catholic teaching on tolerance developed during Vatican II.

Summary and Conclusion

In sum, then: Yes, the Masons really do "promote a principle of toleration ... of ideas ... contrary to their own," but this principle proceeds from a profound sense of respect for others and their beliefs, not from a position of philosophical relativism. In addition, this principle of toleration and respect poses no threat to "the Catholic position on objective truth," or to "the respect due the Church's teaching office." Rather, this principle of toleration and respect is in many ways similar to the post-Vatican II Catholic position on respect for others' beliefs, a position put forth in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and in such Vatican II documents as Nostra Aetate, Gaudium et Spes, and Dignitatis Humanae (see background here).

Next time (Part 7): Masonic Rituals.

[The image above is Norman Rockwell's famous painting, "Freedom of Worship," from his series Four Freedoms, done as an homage to U. S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's 'Four Freedoms' speech (1941).]

Part 5: The Masonic Notions of God and Divine Revelation. (Series: The Roman Catholic Church and Freemasonry)

2009-06-04T09:49:00.021-04:00

(See Part 1 for the context of this presentation.)

In his lecture on "The Catholic Church and Freemasonry," the Rev. Mr. John J. McManus quotes an article by Monsignor Ronny E. Jenkins, which in turn refers to a document generated by the German [Roman Catholic] Bishops' Conference in about 1980. In that document, the bishops state that membership in the Catholic Church is incompatible with membership in Freemasonry. The German Bishops' Conference apparently reached this conclusion on the basis of twelve areas of Masonic teaching that, they said, conflicted with Catholic teaching. The fourth and fifth of these areas are the following, as the bishops put it:

The Masonic Notion of God: The Masons hold a deistic notion of God which excludes any personal knowledge of the deity.

The Masonic Notion of God and Revelation: The deistic notion of God precludes the possibility of God's self-revelation to humankind.

It is utterly false to say that "the Masons hold a deistic notion of God." In this installment, I shall describe what Deism is, why the German Bishops' Conference was concerned about Deism, and what the real position of Freemasonry is, regarding the nature of God and divine revelation. I conclude by considering why the German Bishops' Conference might have thought, however mistakenly, that Masons are deists.

Theism vs. Deism

There are many ways to conceive of God. One set of ways comes under the heading of Theism, a group of ideas about God that encompasses Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

A theistic notion of God takes the position that God created the universe and is vitally concerned with its affairs, including the affairs of humankind; God watches over us, individually and collectively (part of the meaning of the 'Eye of God' symbol, illustrated above). A theistic God communicates the Divine Will to people from time to time, for their benefit--the process of revelation, which may result in the accumulation of scriptures as records of revelation. A theistic God may work miracles to serve divine purposes. Those who believe in a theistic notion of God are called theists.

A different way to conceive of God is the position of Deism. In the deistic perspective, God created the universe, but does not particularly intervene in the affairs of the universe or humankind. To some extent, humankind may come to know a deistic God through the workings of human reason, but a deistic God does not communicate through revelation; thus, whatever people designate as 'scriptures' are merely human creations and interpretations. A deistic God does not interfere with the workings of natural law, and so does not work miracles. A deistic God gave reason and compassion to all of humankind, but otherwise does not actively intervene in the lives of individuals. Those who believe in a deistic notion of God are called deists.

Why the German Bishops' Conference Was Concerned About Deism

The German Bishops' Conference had a legitimate reason to be concerned about Deism. The Deist notion of God does indeed preclude the possibility that God would reveal anything to humankind, either through prophetic revelation (such as the prophecies recorded in the Bible), or through the revelation of God that Christians say occurs though the person of Jesus Christ. Deism is philosophically incompatible with mainstream Christianity, no doubt about it. (Indeed, some prominent 18th century deists felt it was their mission to dispute Christianity.) If Freemasonry were deistic, it would indeed be incompatible with Christianity in general, and Roman Catholicism in particular.

However, Freemasonry is not deistic. As I show below, if anything, Freemasonry is not even neutral on the issue, but rather has a distinctly theistic bent.

The Position of Freemasonry on the Nature of God and Divine Revelation

It is the nature of Freemasonry that it avoids making specifically detailed statements about the nature of God. Of course, within the Lodge, Masons often refer to God as the Grand Architect of the Universe--but that's about as specific a statement about the nature of God (God as the Creator) as Freemasonry makes. But is God involved in the affairs of mankind, as far as Freemasonry is concerned? Most importantly, does God engage in the process of revelation to humankind--the crucial point in differentiating between Theism and Deism?

As I mentioned in Part 4 of this series, no Masonic lodge may meet without having, open upon its altar, the Volume of the Sacred Law (usually represented, in American lodges, by a copy of the Holy Bible). Recently, I had the privilege of attending the installation of the incoming Master of St. John's Lodge #1, Ancient York Masons, a lodge chartered in 1757, making it the oldest operating Masonic lodge in New York State. On the altar that evening, as a special treat, I saw the famous and aged Bible upon which George Washington himself had taken his oath of office in 1789 as first President of the United States (a story told here). I was given to understand that every Master of this Lodge since 1770 had been installed as Master using this very Bible as a central part of the ritual.

As special as this experience was, I have seen a Bible open on the altar at every Masonic lodge meeting I have ever attended. The opening of the Bible at the beginning of a lodge meeting, and the closing of the Bible at the meeting's conclusion, is a matter of solemn ritual and high ceremony; I have had the privilege of performing that ritual, and it is powerful. In addition, the Volume of the Sacred Law is central to the rituals of Masonic initiation in the first three degrees of Masonry.

The practice of having an open Volume of the Sacred Law on the altar during a Masonic meeting is universally observed throughout the so-called 'high degrees' of Freemasonry, as well. Whether I am attending a meeting of the Consistory in the Scottish Rite, a Chapter of Royal Arch Masons or a Council of Royal and Select Masters in the York Rite, or a Commandery of the Knights Templar in the York Rite, there is always an open Bible upon the altar.

I have seen this same practice observed by Masonic organizations that are even more esoteric. At Masonic Week in Virginia in February 2008, in the spirit of Masonic fellowship, I helped to set up a meeting room for a special conference session that I myself could not attend, a session to be held for members of a Masonic organization so exclusive that no one is even permitted to apply for membership: the Masonic Societas Rosicruciana in Civitatibus Foederatis, whose Latin name means "Masonic Rosicrucian Society of the United States." The altar they used in the conference hotel was a common folding table with a cloth over it--but there was a Bible there, to be used later, during the ceremony.

I have even had the privilege of being in the Executive Chamber in the House of the Temple in Washington, DC, where the 33 active members of the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite in the Southern Jurisdiction meet. (These are the people whom some conspiracy theorists say rule the world. Inside scoop: they don't. But that is another story.) There, in the center of the Executive Chamber, is a large black marble altar, and on that altar are multiple Volumes of the Sacred Law: a Christian Bible, a Jewish Tanakh, a Muslim Koran, a Hindu Bhagavad Gita, and other sacred books as well. (I count a total of 8 such volumes in the photo of the altar.) It was an interesting experience to see this. (Go on the free guided tour sometime: it's well worth it.)

There's a message here, folks, and it is not a deistic one.

One of the most important and central symbols of Freemasonry is the Volume of the Sacred Law. It is always represented, in every mainstream Masonic lodge in the world, and throughout the high degrees of Freemasonry, by an open volume of revealed religion. In my opinion, this is the most powerful symbolic statement possible of a theistic view of God and divine revelation.

Those purportedly 'Masonic' lodges that tamper with this practice--for example, groups that have no Volume of the Sacred Law on the altar, or that have a blank book there instead--are considered "clandestine," that is, outlaws in the mainstream Masonic world.

Can deists be Masons? Of course they can. What Masonry requires of its candidates is that they believe in a Supreme Being; the specifics of what the candidate believes about that Supreme Being is his own business.

However, the gentle push in the Lodge for the theistic approach to God is unmistakable. Every American Lodge I know of presents a copy of the Holy Bible, the Tanakh, or the Koran to its newly initiated members; typically, the Lodge Chaplain gives a little speech at the presentation, encouraging the new Mason to study this new gift. During a Lodge business meeting, while the Volume of the Sacred Law is open upon the altar of the Lodge, no one is supposed to walk between the altar and the chair of the Master of the Lodge, so that his view of the Volume of the Sacred Law is uninterrupted as he directs the meeting. All of this is a clear endorsement by Freemasonry of the value and importance of Divine Revelation.

Overall, anyone familiar with the way that Masonic Lodges actually operate during their ritual and meetings would have a hard time making a case for Masonry as a deistic organization. Freemasonry is tolerant of different points of view, and it leaves to its members' consciences the choice of religion, but nonetheless it has a clear inclination in a theistic direction.

Why Did the German Bishops' Conference Think Masons Were Deistic?

Given the evidence I cite, why would the German Bishops' Conference think that "Masons hold a deistic notion of God"? I think there were a couple of reasons.

First, the Grand Lodge style of Freemasonry, founded in 1717 in London, is definitely a child of the European Age of Enlightenment. Incorporating many Enlightenment ideals, Freemasonry promotes tolerance of different points of view, education, and the use of logic and reason. As it happens, these ideals were also generally compatible with Deism, and it would appear that the German Bishops' Conference made the logical error of thinking that, because Freemasonry (as an Enlightenment institution) shared some points of view with Deism, therefore Freemasonry incorporated Deism. There is a logical hole here big enough to drive trucks through, of course. (As any of my former students in statistics classes would chant, right about here: 'Correlation does not establish causation!')

Another issue is that some prominent American founding fathers were both deists and Freemasons. Certainly this is the case for George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and James Monroe; the case for their being deists is made convincingly by David L. Holmes, in his brief, excellent, and accessible book,* The Faiths of the Founding Fathers (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006). (Of course, the French philosopher Voltaire, a prominent critic of the Catholic Church, was a noted deist, and became a Mason late in life in the presence of Franklin himself.) It may well be that the German Bishops' Conference made the logical error of thinking that, because these prominent deists were Freemasons, Freemasonry is therefore especially hospitable to deists.

As it happens, Freemasonry is indeed hospitable to deists. It is also hospitable to Catholics, Protestants, Latter-day Saints, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Baha'is, many varieties of Buddhists and Confucians and Taoists, Zoroastrians (Parsees), Shintoists, Wiccans, many 'New Age' religionists and adherents of aboriginal religions--you catch my drift.

In sum, Freemasonry welcomes deists, but is not itself a deist institution. If anything, there is a pronounced inclination within Masonry towards a theistic point of view.

Next time (Part 6): Masonic Toleration.

*My thanks to Sonya Koltko Grover and Miles Grover for presenting this book to me for my birthday last year.

[The image above was obtained from the website of the Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon, which notes that this is a detail from the painting "Supper at Emmaus," by Jacopo Carucci, painted in 1525, and that the Eye of God in this painting is probably an addition by Empoli.]

Part 4: The Masonic Notion of Religion. (Series: The Roman Catholic Church and Freemasonry)

2009-06-03T01:10:00.030-04:00

(See Part 1 for the context of this presentation.)

In his lecture on "The Catholic Church and Freemasonry," the Rev. Mr. John J. McManus quotes an article by Monsignor Ronny E. Jenkins, which in turn refers to a document generated by the German [Roman Catholic] Bishops' Conference in about 1980. In that document, the bishops state that membership in the Catholic Church is incompatible with membership in Freemasonry. The German Bishops' Conference apparently reached this conclusion on the basis of twelve areas of Masonic teaching that, they said, conflicted with Catholic teaching. The third of these areas is the following, as the bishops put it:

The Masonic Notion of Religion: The Masonic teaching holds a relative notion of religion as all concurrently seeking the truth of the absolute.

Here the bishops have put together two ideas as if they were one. The bishops are half right--but, as we shall see, they condemn Freemasonry on the basis of the half that the bishops got wrong.

Religion in the Blue Degrees of Freemasonry

There is no teaching in the Blue degrees of Freemasonry--the first three degrees, the degrees that make a man a Master Mason--regarding the matter of the truth or value of different religions, either individually, or in comparison to one another. Instead, the degrees are imbued with a reverence for Religion and Spirituality in general.

For example, it is a matter of public knowledge that a Masonic lodge may not meet without the Volume of the Sacred Law open upon the altar that is at the center of all American lodge rooms. In the United States, that Volume is usually the Christian Bible. (When a candidate is initiated into Masonry, he is entitled to have a Volume that he holds sacred upon the altar; for example, Jews may have the Tanakh open upon the altar at their initiations.) I have heard of lodges that make it a practice to have multiple Volumes of the Sacred Law open upon their altars at every meeting; these Volumes may include the Christian Bible, the Jewish Tanakh, the Islamic Koran, the Hindu Bhagavad Gita, and so forth.

(Some other Masonic organizations follow the same practice to teach the same object lessons. The House of the Temple, the headquarters of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry in the Southern Jurisdiction, has the four sacred books that I named, and others besides, upon its black marble altar in the center of the dramatic Executive Chamber, where the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite, SJ, meets.)

Religion in the High Degrees of Freemasonry

The Blue Lodge degrees are the foundational degrees in Freemasonry. However, there are also what are known as 'high degrees,' administered by other Masonic bodies, which present additional degrees of initiation to Master Masons. How does high degree Freemasonry--and such bodies as the Scottish Rite and the York Rite--address the issue of the relative value or truth of different religions?

Religion in the Scottish Rite

The Scottish Rite in the Southern Jurisdiction is well known for presenting, in its degree ceremonies, ideas and concepts from different religions and philosophies as found throughout history (for example, Hinduism, Pythagorean mysticism, Kabbalah, Christianity, Rosicrucianism, and so forth). However, here again, the intent is clearly to serve as a sort of "Introduction to Religious and Philosophical Thought 101"-type course. No statement is made regarding the relative or absolute truth or value of the different positions conveyed in the degrees, not even the statement that they are 'equally valid' or some such.

The same can be said for the degrees of the Scottish Rite in the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction (whose rituals are different from those in the South). A recent experience of mine demonstrates the Masonic attitude towards different religions, in the context of this organization.

As it happens, I am a member of the Scottish Rite in the Southern Jurisdiction, now residing in the territory of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction. The officials of the Scottish Rite in New York City recently allowed me, as a guest, to observe the ceremony of the 29th Degree (Knight of Saint Andrew). As conducted in the North, this ceremony focuses on a legend involving an outstanding episode of mutual respect shown between medieval Knights and their Islamic opponents during the period of the Crusades. The stated point of this degree is as follows: "This degree emphasizes the Masonic teachings of equality and toleration. We are reminded that no one man, no one Church, no one religion, has a monopoly on truth; that while we must be true and faithful to our own convictions, we must respect the opinions of others." In some ways, this is parallel to the lesson of the 10th degree (Illustrious Elect of the Fifteen) in the South, the point of which is stated as follows: "This degree teaches us to be tolerant and respect the opinions of others. Freedoms of political and spiritual ideologies should be shared by all." There is nothing here that contradicts authoritative, post-Vatican II Catholic teachings.

Religion in the York Rite

Among the degrees of the York Rite, it is true that the final set of degrees--the Chivalric orders--does give a privileged position to a specific set of religious doctrines. However, it would seem hard to understand why the bishops would have a problem with this, at a surface level. You see, the Chivalric orders are modeled on the legends of medieval knighthood. The two highest of these degrees, the Order of Malta and the Order of the Temple, traditionally considered the highest degrees in the York Rite, are explicitly Christian in nature.

Conclusions: Respect, Yes; Relativism, No

Thus, in its various degrees, Freemasonry teaches respect for different religions. This is not to say that Masonry teaches that all religions are equal in value or truth--because Masonry does not teach that. Such a question is beyond the competence of Freemasonry to make, and Freemasonry knows that. However, if one could put the symbolic teaching of the Volume of the Sacred Law into words, it might be something like this:

"Find the Volume of the Sacred Law that speaks to your soul. Follow it. Center your life upon it. Whatever path you choose, we shall respect it, and, in turn, you must respect the paths taken by others."

Thus, the message is one of respect, rather than one about the ultimate truth or value of a given religion or set of religions.

In Part 2 of this series, I described the historical background to the rise of Grand Lodge Freemasonry, which may explain why the early Masons were concerned about rendering respect to different religious positions. (On that webpage, do a Find function on the phrase, "bathed that land in blood": that's the paragraph of interest.) Freemasonry is supposed to be a place where men of different faiths can peacefully coexist. (See the illustration above; if there were an Eleventh Commandment, this would be it.)

So, the bishops got Freemasonry right, in part--sort of. Freemasonry does take the respectful stance that different religions are well-intended, that is, that "all concurrently [seek] the truth of the absolute."

However, this is also where the bishops got Freemasonry wrong. The bishops said that Freemasonry "holds a relative notion of religion." The word 'relative' is a technical term in philosophy, related to the philosophical position of Relativism. To hold a 'relative notion of religion' would be to teach that no one religion is ultimately true, or more valuable or more correct than another. This, Freemasonry does not teach.

Freemasonry does not take the relativistic stance that all religions are equally valid; it leaves that matter entirely to the conscience of the individual Mason. Freemasonry does not take the stance that all religions actually reach the truth, either; Freemasonry does not pretend to take a position on this. Thus, there is no real conflict with Catholic teaching here: as a secular organization, not a religion, Freemasonry leaves matters of religion to the individual; so do the Boy Scouts.

(Of course, no doubt some Freemasons do believe that all religions are of equal value--just as there are other Freemasons who believe that their own religions are the best routes to the Truth. Freemasonry leaves such matters to individual conscience.)

Here again, what I think the bishops did was to confuse rendering equal respect to different religions with the idea that different religions are equally valid. Why they should have made this error goes beyond the scope of this post--but make this error they certainly did.

Next time, in Part 5: The Masonic notion of God.

[The image above is from a bumper sticker marketed on the website StampAndShout.com. It combines symbols for (l.-r.): Islam, Wicca, Science, Judaism, Buddhism (the dot over the "i": the wheel of Dharma), Taoism, and Christianity. Other versions of this graphic concept exist, but this is my favorite so far. This is not an endorsement of all the bumper stickers marketed by this organization--but I do rather like this one.]

Part 3: The Masonic Notion of Truth. (Series: The Roman Catholic Church and Freemasonry)

2009-06-02T03:58:00.008-04:00

(See Part 1 for the context of this presentation.)

In his lecture on "The Catholic Church and Freemasonry," the Rev. Mr. John J. McManus quotes an article by Monsignor Ronny E. Jenkins, which in turn refers to a document generated by the German [Roman Catholic] Bishops' Conference in about 1980. In that document, the bishops state that membership in the Catholic Church is incompatible with membership in Freemasonry. The German Bishops' Conference apparently reached this conclusion on the basis of twelve areas of Masonic teaching that, they said, conflicted with Catholic teaching. The second of these areas is the following, as the bishops put it:

The Masonic Notion of Truth: The Masons deny the possibility of an objective truth, placing every truth instead in a relative context.

This is simply false from beginning to end. There is nothing in Masonic teaching or ritual that denies "the possibility of an objective truth." On the contrary, the various ritual initiatory ceremonies of Freemasonry--what Masons call 'degrees'--are chock-full of various philosophical truths. Some of these truths are presented through allegorical stories (such as the legend of the Third Degree). Other truths are conveyed through symbolic object lessons (for example, treating as symbols various tools of the stonemason trade, or astronomical objects, and so forth; see the illustration above). Yet other truths are illustrated through ritual. However they are conveyed, all of these teachings are presented as objective truths. (This is why 19th century and earlier Masonic literature sometimes referred to Freemasonry as a 'science.')

Some of the less complicated truths that are meant to be conveyed by Masonic symbolism, and which have percolated into society at large, are these:

People should center their journey through life on the truths contained in their Volume of the Sacred Law--whatever it is that they understand that volume to be. (So: you are free to choose your own religion, or your own approach to spirituality--but then practice it, for heaven's sake.)
In the eyes of God, all people are created equal. (If this sounds like the American Declaration of Independence, this is probably not an accident.)
We should be careful to distribute our daily activities so as to allow time for work, time for service to God and to others, and time for rest and refreshment. (Consider this an early approach to prioritized time management.)
We should make learning a life-long endeavor, across a broad range of subjects. (This is yet another of those instances where 18th century Freemasonry sounds strangely modern.)

These Masonic truths will be familiar to anyone who has experienced the first three degrees of Freemasonry, and remembers the experience.

This is hardly a "relative" approach to truth. The German Bishops' Conference claims that Masons place "truth ... in a relative context." Moral relativism is the philosophical position that there are no absolute truths at all, and that what is true or good in one situation can only be determined on the basis of context. Overall, moral relativism would have a hard time finding friends among the symbols or teachings of the Masonic Lodge.

Instead, what one has in the Masonic Lodge (when it functions as it should) is a respect for different positions, particularly different sectarian religious positions and political positions. This is entirely appropriate for a society (like, say, the Boy Scouts) that is meant to include men of many different religions and political groups. Thus, there is no real conflict with Catholic teaching here.

Here is how it seems that the German Bishops' Conference proceeded. For this group, if one shows respect for other people's positions and beliefs, this means that one is saying that no position is ultimately true. (This is a logical error of epic proportions, but we will run into it several times throughout this web series.) In that context, then of course the Masonic approach of mutual respect appears to be moral relativism--but only after passing through the pretzel logic that makes respect for different points of view to be something bad.

Next time (Part 4): the Masonic notion of religion.

[The image above is found on the website of the Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon, which has some web pages of downloadable Masonic graphics.]

Part 2: The Masonic Worldview. (Series: The Roman Catholic Church and Freemasonry)

2009-06-01T05:49:00.009-04:00

(See Part 1 for the context of this presentation.)

The first reason given by the German [Roman Catholic] Bishops' Conference for saying that membership in the Catholic Church is incompatible with membership in Freemasonry is the following, as the bishops put it:

The Masonic Worldview. The Masons promote a freedom from dogmatic adherence to any one set of revealed truths. Such a subjective relativism is in direct conflict with the revealed truths of Christianity.

This is a serious distortion of the position of Freemasonry. Like many such serious distortions, it would appear that the authors have taken some aspects of Masonic practice very far out of context.

Freemasonry has long taken the stance that membership in the fraternity is available to men who believe in a Supreme Being, whatever their other religious opinions may be. This attitude is found in one of the earliest major documents of the Grand Lodge era of Freemasonry, James Anderson's The Constitutions of the Free-Masons (first edition, 1723; frontispiece above). In a chapter titled "The Charges of a Free-Mason," Anderson presented what he said were extracts from very ancient records. The first section or 'general head' of this chapter, titled "Of God and Religion," includes the following:

A Mason is oblig'd by his Tenure, to obey the moral Law, and if he rightly understands the Art, he will never be a stupid Atheist nor an irreligious Libertine. But though in ancient Times Masons were charg'd in every Country to be of the Religion of that Country or Nation, whatever it was, yet 'tis now thought more expedient only to oblige them to that Religion in which all Men agree, leaving their particular Opinions to themselves; that is, to be good Men and true, or Men of Honour and Honesty, by whatever Denominations or Persuasions they may be distinguish'd; whereby Masonry becomes the Center of Union, and the Means of conciliating true Friendship among Persons that must have remain'd at a perpetual Distance.

In plain modern English, Anderson is saying that Freemasons must obey the moral law, must not be atheists or libertines, and must be good men of honor and honesty; beyond that, as far as Freemasonry is concerned, individual Masons may hold privately whatever religious opinions they choose, and belong to whatever religious organizations that they wish. Freemasonry itself, Anderson says, is to be a place where people who might otherwise be separated by religious issues can come together in friendship and peace.

It is very important to understand what this means, and what it does not. No one is saying here that Freemasonry takes the position that "Masons should be free of dogmatic adherence from any one set of revealed truths"--in fact, this is not a Masonic position at all. As far as Freemasonry is concerned, the individual Freemason is permitted to hold as tightly as he wishes to whatever he holds to be revealed truths. However, what he may not do is to pressure others, in the confines of the Lodge, to adopt his religious opinions. (Indeed, discussion of sectarian religion is forbidden in the Lodge itself.) Beyond that, it may be said that Freemasonry extends to people of all beliefs the courtesy of respect. Thus, there is no real conflict with Catholic teaching here.

Of course, there are individual Masons who do believe that it is a mistake to hold to any religious beliefs dogmatically--just as there are individual Masons who hold very firmly and dogmatically to their particular religious beliefs. Freemasonry simply leaves all such matters up to the individual Mason, to consider in the privacy of his own conscience.

Anderson's writings are not some kind of Masonic 'scripture,' but they do represent an early expression of a number of Masonic ideals. Indeed, in the United States, many Masonic jurisdictions include "The Charges of a Free-Mason" as part of their own official Constitutions. Thus, what Anderson says here can be trusted as representing the mainstream of Masonic teachings.

But then, that raises the question: What did James Anderson believe? Did he promote some sort of 'liberation' from adherence to any one set of revealed truths? I think it is a safe bet to say that he did not think this at all--given that he was a Presbyterian minister.

The German Bishops' Conference seems to have made a fundamental error. They have confused the true Masonic practice--give respect to all religious positions--with a distorted idea: 'don't be bound to any religion or revealed truth.' Why they should make this error is an interesting question, beyond the scope of this essay--but make this error, they certainly did.

It may be of interest to know the background to the Masonic practice of treating different religions with equal respect. The Grand Lodge style of Freemasonry, established in 1717, arose in England after centuries of religious wars had bathed that land in blood. It may be that the founders of Freemasonry, consciously or otherwise, were trying to find a way for people of different religions to live together in peace. Such ideals were later embodied in the American Constitution, which specifically forbids the federal government from establishing a state church. (Of course, several Masons were prominent in passing the Constitution.) The modern world, where so much violence and pain result from religious intolerance, has a lot to learn from the example--and the worldview--of the early Freemasons.

[The image above is the Frontispiece to the first edition, 1723, or Anderson's Constitutions. The image was obtained from the website of the Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon, which maintains one of the best websites in the world for information regarding the history of Freemasonry and other Masonic topics, including anti-Masonry.]

Part 1: The Context. (Series: The Roman Catholic Church and Freemasonry)

2009-06-01T03:54:00.012-04:00

From time to time, I come upon material published about Freemasonry that is not just inaccurate, but spectacularly wrong--material that apprehends Masons and Masonry so very deeply wrongly that it cries out for a response. I have come upon such material this day, consisting of a number of persistent falsehoods that have caused a great deal of trouble and pain for many people. I am speaking of the image of Freemasonry that, it seems, is held by many members of the Roman Catholic Church.

Greg Stewart, in his valuable on-line magazine Freemason Information, published on May 30 the remarks of the Reverend Mr. John J. McManus, JD, JCL, titled "The Catholic Church and Freemasonry." This talk was delivered in May at the fifth installment of the 'Religion and Culture' lecture series held by Gate City Lodge No. 2, a regular Masonic lodge in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Rev. Mr. McManus is a member of the Roman Catholic Church, and he is an ordained Deacon in that church. He is an attorney, which allows him to practice in the secular courts of the land, and he also holds a pontifical licentiate that allows him to practice Canon Law in the courts of the Roman Catholic Church. In his presentation, his aim was to explain, from the perspective of Roman Catholic teaching and canon law, why it is that Freemasonry and Roman Catholicism are incompatible, to the point where canon law provides for excommunication for Catholic Masons.

In the course of his presentation, the Rev. Mr. McManus cites a number of sources regarding Catholic canon law. He notes that he relies heavily on an article by Monsignor Ronny E. Jenkins, one of the Rev. Mr. McManus' former instructors at The Catholic University of America, regarding the evolution of the Catholic Church's position on Freemasonry. In this article, Msgr. Jenkins in turn quotes from a document generated in about 1980 by the German [Roman Catholic] Bishops' Conference, a document in which the bishops state that membership in the Catholic Church is incompatible with membership in Freemasonry. The German Bishops' Conference apparently reached this conclusion on the basis of twelve areas of Masonic teaching that, they said, conflicted with Catholic teaching.

I was stunned, reading the supposed twelve areas of Masonic teaching that are at issue here, stunned for two reasons. First, the Freemasonry described by the German Bishops' Conference is not remotely like the Freemasonry that I know and have studied for many years. Second, many of the historical reasons for the Catholic Church's long-standing antipathy towards Freemasonry--reasons that are plain to read in the papal encyclical Humanum Genus (1884)--were not mentioned at all.

So it is that I have determined to respond to this material in some detail. In this series, I shall respond to each of the 12 points about Freemasonry mentioned by the German Bishops' Conference. Following that, I shall describe the real historical reasons for the antipathy towards Freemasonry, as described in Humanum Genus.

My basic points here are twofold: (1) The Roman Catholic hierarchy's attitude towards Freemasonry is based on a thoroughly inaccurate understanding of the fraternity. (2) The real historical reasons for the Catholic Church's antipathy towards Freemasonry are a set of attitudes that the world--including the Catholic world--have left behind.

In turn, the reasons why I am going to the trouble of generating this series is also twofold: (a) Many Catholic Masons suffer unnecessarily because of the misunderstandings that their ecclesiastical leaders hold concerning Masonry. (b) The same misunderstandings held by the German Bishops' Conference are often held by the leadership of other churches and other religions. I hope that articles like mine will contribute to more accurate understanding, and perhaps even further evolution in the stance of the Catholic Church and other religious bodies regarding Freemasonry.

I certainly recognize the right of any religious body to determine its own stance regarding Freemasonry; however, I think we all can agree that it is important to base any such stance on an accurate understanding of Masonry, its teachings, values, history, and practices. Of course, it should be obvious to all that Freemasons have the right to correct misunderstandings and falsehoods held by anyone, regarding their fraternity.

And so to begin.

An index to each post of this series follows. Of course, the title of each post corresponds to the title of one or two paragraphs of the German Bishops' statement.

Part 2: The Masonic Worldview (June 1, 2009). Do Masons really teach that one should abstain from believing any one set of revealed truths?

Part 3: The Masonic Notion of Truth (June 2, 2009). Do Masons really "deny the possibility of an objective truth," as the German Bishops claimed?

Part 4: The Masonic Notion of Religion (June 3, 2009). Do Masons really teach a relativistic approach to religion?

Part 5: The Masonic Notions of God and Divine Revelation (June 4, 2009). Do Masons really teach a Deist view of the Divine?

Part 6: Masonic Toleration (June 6, 2009). Is what the Masons teach about toleration for different ideas actually a threat to Catholic notions of truth and authority?

Part 7: Masonic Rituals (June 6, 2009). Is Masonic ritual actually "sacramental" in character--in the Catholic sense of "sacramental"?

- - - - -

I now turn from the German Bishops' statement to Humanum Genus, the 1884 encyclical by Pope Leo XIII that constitutes the "classical" statement of the Roman Catholic objections to Freemasonry.

Part 8: Humanum Genus: Introduction and Overview (October 16, 2009). An orientation to the document, with a summary of its objections to Freemasonry.
Part 9: Humanum Genus: Are Masons "Naturalists"? (October 17, 2009). Considers the claim that Masons are philosophical Naturalists who deny Divine revelation and the very existence of God. Explains the basis of this misconception in the conflating of Freemasonry with the historical Illuminati and, perhaps, the revolutionary Marxists.

(The image above, depicting the emblem of the Roman Catholic papacy, was obtained from Wikipedia. The image itself has been released into the public domain for copyright purposes; anyone may legally use it for any legal purpose.)

Happy 208th Birthday to the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry

2009-05-31T07:47:00.006-04:00

On May 31, 1801, a group of Freemasons met in Charleston, South Carolina, and opened "the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree for the United States of America ... agreeably to the Grand Constitutions." This body was the first Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree in the world, and is sometimes known as the Mother Supreme Council of the World. It exists today as The Supreme Council, 33rd Degree, Southern Jurisdiction. This date, then, marks the birth of what is known today as the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry.

I invite you to read my remarks upon entering the Rite in the Spring 2007 class of the Valley of Orlando, Orient of Florida, as they appeared in the July-August 2007 issue of The Scottish Rite Journal.

I am very glad to be a member of the Rite. I invite my other Scottish Rite brethren to reflect today on the meaning of their involvement in the Rite, 'the university of Freemasonry.'

(For more on the history and symbolism of the Scottish Rite, I recommend the superb book edited by Arturo de Hoyos, Scottish Rite Ritual Monitor and Guide, which has just been issued in a second edition, revised and enlarged. The illustration above is from this volume.)

Calling All Masonic Cryptographers: The La Profezia Cypher

2009-04-21T13:36:00.013-04:00

In an earlier post, I made the case that the 'Robert Langdon' home page, created by Doubleday as a way to promote the forthcoming publication of The Lost Symbol, presents evidence that this novel is set in the world of Freemasonry. Here, I make a call to Masonic code and cypher enthusiasts around the world to break the code shown on that home page, inscribed on the parchment titled "La Profezia" (pictured; click to enlarge). This cypher looks like half a dozen legitimate Masonic cyphers that have been published by reputable Masonic authors just over the last three years (as I document in my earlier post). In this post, I give some tips for how to crack "La Profezia." This post is a bit of a technical journey into the world of Masonic cryptography. True, I have not a fraction of the cryptographic skill of Arturo de Hoyos or S. Brent Morris. However, perhaps I'll mention something that will make it possible for you to break this code.

The Aiq Bekar Coding Scheme

The cypher shown in "La Profezia" looks to me like a modification of the Aiq Bekar cypher, a kabbalistic code which, I suspect, dates back at least to medieval times. All Aiq Bekar cyphers are based on what is essentially a tic-tac-toe grid. The letters of the alphabet are distributed among the nine sectors of this grid. (In the original Aiq Bekar, three Hebrew letters are placed within each sector.) Then, to code a message, you draw the sector, and place a dot where the letter would appear. In the original Aiq Bekar, the Hebrew letter aleph was placed on the far-right side of the upper-right sector of the tic-tac-toe grid. To represent aleph, you drew that sector of the grid (like a capital English letter L), and placed a dot in the far-right of that sector. (For a clear understanding of how to work the Aiq Bekar cypher--not something you'll get from Googling "Aiq Bekar," I'm sorry to say--see pp. 928-929 of the 2007 book by Arturo de Hoyos, Scottish Rite Ritual Monitor and Guide, available at substantial discount through the "Master Craftsman" program.)

The difference here is that "La Profezia" appears to involve the distribution of only two letters per sector. But this would only allow for 18 letters. What alphabet has 18 letters?

Given that this prophecy is purportedly by Da Vinci, it makes the most sense to look to either Italian or Latin as candidates for the appropriate alphabet. Latin has 23 letters (including three, K, Y, and Z, that are only used to represent letters of Greek origin). Take the Latin alphabet, and drop the letters of Da Vinci's initials, as shown on the parchment itself; This leaves us, very neatly, with 18 letters of the ancient Latin alphabet:

A B C E F G H I K M N O Q R T X Y Z .

Super. But, how to distribute the letters in the modified Aiq Bekar matrix?

Good luck on that one. Different schemes of the somewhat similar "pig pen" or so-called "Freemasons" cypher (see my earlier post) illustrate many different schemes: put the first letter in the upper-left corner--or the upper-right corner, or elsewhere; then move horizontally--or vertically; move from up to down--or down to up. Hey, start somewhere and move in a spiral. Depending on the guiding assumptions one makes, there are many potential grids.

How Many Possible Grids Are There?

Let's get the nightmare out of the way right from the beginning. If we allow for the possibility that some perverse fiend at Doubleday--perhaps a certain best-selling author--placed the letters randomly through the grid, there are 18-factorial, or 6,402,373,705,728,000 possible grids, that is, well over 6 quadrillion possible grids to check. That's about 1 million possible grids for every human being now alive on the Earth today. Good night, Dolores.

However, the whole point of making an Aiq Bekar grid is not to randomly distribute the letters, but to come up with a distribution scheme that is easy to remember, so that the code person can easily reproduce it. Thus, the likely number of possible grids is far, far smaller than the maximum possible. Here are the parameters involved, roughly speaking:

Where does one start? That is, where does one place the letter "A"? There are 18 possible places. However, I suggest that the aspiring codebreaker focus on only 4 of them: (1) the far left position of the upper-left sector, (2) the far right position of the upper-right sector, (3) the far left position of the lower-left sector, and (4) the far right position of the lower-right sector.
In what direction do you then move--that is, working from "A," where do you place "B"? There are two main choices here, each followed by four sub-choices. The two main choices are: (I) place the second letter right next to the first letter, in the same sector of the grid, and (II) place the second letter in the next sector of the grid. (Of course, what is "next"? Your call: the sector to the left, right, up, or down of the sector where you placed "A.") Within each of these main choices, the sub-choices are these: (a) move horizontally to the right, (b) move vertically down, (c) move horizontally to the left, and (d) move vertically up.
When you get to the end of the row or column, what do you do? That is, when you fill up the first set of positions with A, B, and so on in a straight line, where do you move? Here again, four choices: left, right, up, down.

I estimate that this brings the number of potential grids down to something like 256--a lot, but not impossible to work with, especially for a group of cryptographers working together.

Please note: It is also possible that our fiend is working in a spiral distribution of some sort. This makes for a larger number of grids, but it is still likely hundreds, not millions.

I have not looked at the possiblity that the seemingly ornamental flourishes under Da Vinci's initials may have some significance here.

Good luck, my brethren. Let's crack this one.

Will Dan Brown's Forthcoming Novel The Lost Symbol Feature Freemasonry?

2009-04-21T04:02:00.022-04:00

Major news hit the publishing world yesterday, with the Knopf Doubleday Group announcing that it will publish the sequel to the hyper-blockbuster novel, The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown (pictured standing below the codes), on September 15, just a little under five months from now (a typical interval between a publication announcement and actual publication). The sequel is titled The Lost Symbol, not The Solomon Key. Dan Brown's website has been updated to reflect this announcement. This is really going to happen.

Beyond that, however, there is room for disagreement and conjecture aplenty.

I first learned of this announcement through Chris Hodapp's post on his most excellent blog, "Freemasons For Dummies." Later in the day, Chris posted an update, noting that Doubleday had put up a web page purporting to be that of Dan Brown's character, Robert Langdon. Chris noted that this web page seemed to suggest that Brown's novel would not be focused in a Masonic direction.

I can see why good Brother Hodapp would say this. After all, the web page focuses on a parchment (headed "La Profezia," pictured above--entirely fictional, of course). The parchment purportedly was written by Leonardo Da Vinci, supposedly containing a coded message regarding a prophecy of the future. Given that Da Vinci died almost two full centuries before the founding of the premier Grand Lodge of Freemasonry, this would seem to put Masonry out of the picture, as it were.

I think otherwise.

Go and take a good close look at the cypher on this scroll titled "La Profezia," purportedly by Da Vinci in Dan Brown's fictional world.

Doesn't the form of this cypher seem a little, well, . . . familiar?

Not the same as something some (not all) Masonic brethren have seen elsewhere, but familiar. Reminiscent.

I would direct your attention to the publication of different versions of various Masonic cyphers of centuries past, in reliable publications by experienced Masonic authors:

Consider the unnamed code (illustrated above in black-and-white) published in the most important Masonic exposure every published in the United States, David K. Bernard's Light on Masonry (5th ed., 1829). This was reprinted in 2008 by what I consider to be the most important Masonic research organization in America today, the Scottish Rite Research Society, in an edition edited by Arturo de Hoyos. (The book was given as a free premium to members of the Society--membership therein being one of the finest bargains in the Masonic world; and you don't even have to be Scottish Rite to join the Society!) See page 138 of the original 5th edition, page 358 of the reprint.

To me, the fictional "La Profezia" cypher resembles the very old Kabbalistic cypher known as Aiq Beker, or the 'Kabbalah of the Nine Chambers.' However, the Aiq Beker itself is the basis for a cypher used in 1827 by the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite, described in a letter written by Ill.: J.J.J. Gourgas himself. The Aiq Beker and the Gourgas cypher are described in detail on pp. 928-931 of Arturo de Hoyos's 2007 book, Scottish Rite Ritual Monitor and Guide (available at substantial discount through the"Master Craftsman" program of the Southern Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite).

The "La Profezia" cypher also bears resemblance to some French Masonic cyphers, reprinted and distributed to Scottish Rite officers by Albert Pike in the latter half of the 19th century. (See de Hoyos' Scottish Rite Ritual Monitor and Guide, p. 932.)

Two forms of the so-called Pigpen or Freemason's Cypher are given on p. 269 of W. Kirk MacNulty's lavishly illustrated (and really wonderful) book, Freemasonry: Symbols, Secrets, Significance (New York & London: Thames and Hudson, 2006); these have a certain resemblance to the "La Profezia" cypher.

Finally, Bro. Hodapp published a version of this sort of Masonic cypher code on p. 206 of his fine myth-busting book, Solomon's Builders: Freemasons, Founding Fathers and the Secrets of Washington, D.C. (Berkeley, CA: Ulysses Press, 2007)

The upshot of all this: the fictional cypher, attributed to Da Vinci, used to promote Dan Brown's new novel, The Lost Symbol, looks a great deal like various Masonic cyphers from a later era than Da Vinci's. Based on this evidence, I will go out on a limb here: I conclude that it is highly likely that The Lost Symbol will prominently feature Freemasonry. Years ago, Dan Brown said that the sequel to The Da Vinci Code would be set in the world of the Masons--a statement still on his website today (click here and search "Masons"). Hey, the "La Profezia" is supposed to be a prophecy, right? Perhaps it prophesies of the rise of Freemasonry, or--more likely, I think--the founding of the United States, a project in which at least the ideals of Freemasonry played an important part.

The very publication date of the novel supports this idea. Early last year, the then-president of the Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group stated that "Dan Brown has a very specific release date for the publication of his new book, and when the book is published, his readers will see why." Note that the publication date of the novel, Sept. 15, is quite close to Constitution Day, Sept. 17, which commemorates the signing of the American Constitution in 1787; many of the values embedded in the Constitution are distinctly Masonic, and highly unusual for the era. Of course, many have pointed out that the publication date is close to the anniversary of the Masonic ceremonies held at the laying of the foundation of the Capitol, Sept. 18, 1793. The long-standing rumor is that the sequel to The Da Vinci Code would involve Masonic conspiracies dating to the founding of the nation. It would be difficult to find a better publication time to resonate with Masonic involvement with the founding of the nation than the vicinity of September 17 and 18. (Dollars to donuts, Langdon peeks in the Capitol's cornerstone.)

There is a point to making this call--"yeah, The Lost Symbol features Freemasonry"--early, well before publication. Even though Freemasonry was only mentioned in passing in The Da Vinci Code, that passing reference seems to have resulted in a substantial spike in interest in the Fraternity (a spike fed further by the motion picture, National Treasure). If The Lost Symbol really does feature Freemasonry very prominently, as I suspect it will, this will drive a substantial increase in interest in Masonry. I would suggest that we prepare for that, a subject to which I expect I shall return in future posts.

What would preparation look like? A few thoughts:

Let every Grand Lodge and even every Masonic District--hey, every particular lodge--have someone assigned to answer questions about Freemasonry from media personnel who want to know how accurate The Lost Symbol is in its depiction of Freemasonry. (And pick people who are going to read the book!)
Plan Lost Symbol-themed Masonic open houses (on the lodge or District or Grand Lodge level) around the release of the book, trailing that release by a month or so (say, late October). (How's this for a title for an open house: "Finding the Lost Symbol"?)

Let's prepare for Dan Brown's Masonic novel. We've got about six months to do so. I have made the point in another post that part of Freemasonry's challenge in our generation is that it is basically invisible in the larger society anymore. The publication of The Lost Symbol gives us a chance to do something about that, in a highly direct way.

Urgent Need for Masonic Assistance for Mena, Arkansas

2009-04-11T19:20:00.008-04:00

I was alerted by Chris Hodapp's blog, Freemasons for Dummies, to the fact that the tornado survivors of Mena, Arkansas are receiving assistance through the Shrine temple in Little Rock. Using the telephone number on Chris's post, I called the Shrine, and spoke to the Scimitar Shrine Potentate, who said that they were in need of non-perishable food items, toiletries, and water. These items may be sent by mail or delivery service directly to this address:

SCIMITAR SHRINE
1 SCIMITAR CIR
LITTLE ROCK AR 72209-3732

I urge all readers of this blog to send supplies to the Scimitar Shrine, and to inform their lodges of this opportunity for service as well--along with the address!

The brothers of the Scimitar Shrine are to be commended for their service to the citizens of Mena. It's not everyone who would be answering the phone at their fraternal organization's building at 6:15 on a Saturday night, collecting supplies for the needy, telling me that they'll be there for the next hour or two if I wished to come by and drop off supplies. (They forgave me for not dropping in tonight, once I explained that I was calling from New York City.) Another star in each of your crowns, brethren, and more power to you.

(Thanks to the online newspaper, the Daily Contributor, for their photo.)

Shriner Hospital Potential Closings Hit the News

2009-04-09T18:29:00.007-04:00

A story, reported April 1 on Chris Hodapp's "Freemasons for Dummies" blog, has now hit the national news. The Associated Press reports today that the Shrine may have to close 6 of its hospitals, one-quarter of its hospitals nationwide, due to various causes associated with the current economic crisis (such as declining endowments due to the stock market fall, and declining donations).

All of this is very sad news. My personal hope is that the recent rally in the stock market over the last couple of weeks will help bring up the hospital endowments, and that the economy changes--and quickly enough--to bring in more donations. The Shriner Hospitals are an important way in which the Shrine and its members give service to the general public.

Having said this, I find it interesting to consider the AP press release in terms of what it says, and does not say, regarding Freemasonry in general. Two things in particular stand out.

First, the AP press release says nothing whatsoever regarding the relationship of Freemasonry to the Shrine. For those members of the general public who follow this blog, it is important to note that, for a man to become a Shriner, he must already be a Master Mason in a local lodge of Freemasons. Every hospital supported by Shriners is supported by Freemasons.

In our era, so much conspiratorial nonsense is written about Freemasonry. Some people actually think we worship the devil; others, that we are engaged in plots with the Illuminati to rule the world; one prominent author states that we are lackeys for reptilian aliens from space. It would do some good to have a good word put in for Freemasonry now and again. I hope it would not be thought amiss if I (though not a Shriner myself) suggest that the Shrine ought to make it a point to emphasize to the press that every Shriner is a Freemason. At the risk of mentioning the obvious: No more Masons, no more Shriners.

Second, the AP press release gives no hint of the interest of younger men in Freemasonry and the Shrine; rather, it implies that the membership is static. A source associated with an academic research center on philanthropy is quoted as saying that the drop in donations reflects "a generational shift," presumably away from involvement in fraternal organizations.

This suggests to me that the entire Fraternity needs to do more to get out the news that Freemasonry continues to attract new members. Yes, as I document in a recent post, we do face a significant membership problem. However, at the same time, anecdotal evidence strongly suggests that, in recent years, a significant number of younger men have entered the fraternitity. The point is not recruitment; rather, it is to let people know that Freemasonry still exists. As I have mentioned in another previous post, Freemasonry is largely invisible in our society. Men cannot petition a fraternity that they think is extinct.

(Thanks to the "Public Art in LA" site for this image of the Shriners' famous "Editorial Without Words.")

Pt. 2: Masonry's Invisibility, and the Unfilled Hunger for Light. (Series: Building Freemasonry in the 21st Century)

2009-04-03T16:22:00.006-04:00

(For the previous post to this series thus far, see link at the end of this post.)

As I promised I would at the end of Part 1, today I will consider the root causes of the membership problems in the Blue Lodge. I see these as being three-fold:

The general public simply does not know about Freemasonry anymore. This contributes to the low entry rates noted in Part 1.

In many local lodges, the membership is left without understanding either the meaning or application of Masonic symbolism. This leaves some members of these lodges disappointed; some of these members may simply fall away from Masonry. This contributes to the high exit rates noted in Part 1.

Anti-Masonry misdirects sincere seekers away from Freemasonry. Ultimately, this may contribute to both low entry rates and high exit rates.

I consider the first two of these issues below.

The Invisibility of Freemasonry

Freemasonry has made an appearance twice during the 20 seasons of The Simpsons (as I describe in another post), and has been mentioned, almost in passing, in Dan Brown's hugely popular novel, The Da Vinci Code. Of course, Freemasonry was mentioned extensively in the motion picture National Treasure (and briefly in its sequel). However, aside from these noteworthy exceptions, Freemasonry is all but invisible in popular culture and general society. As the Masonic Information Center (MIC) put it, the public's perception of Freemasonry can be summarized by three terms: confused (as in, 'is Freemasonry a religion?'), mistaken ('is it a devil-worshipping religion? Is it just for older gentlemen?'), and oblivious. Concerning this last point, as the MIC stated, "people are not even aware Masonry still exists" (It's About Time!, p. 9).

The Unfilled Hunger for the Meaning of Masonic Symbolism

Many lodges do a very creditable job of instructing their brethren in the details of performing our initiatory rituals. However, all too many lodges need help to guide their brethren in investigating the meaning of Masonic symbolism, and in the application of that symbolism to their daily lives. (Consider, for example, the commemorative plate shown above, which displays several Masonic symbols. Has your lodge discussed the meaning and application of any of these, lately--outside of the degree work?) There is a great hunger, perhaps especially among newer brethren, for this kind of Masonic education; without it, brethren are more likely to slip away into inactivity, or even leave the Fraternity. Consider the following:

We Initiate, Pass, and Raise brothers in ceremonies of high drama and mystery. Then, when these brethren finally are able to attend Stated Communications as Master Masons, in many local lodges they find that these are typically business meetings, with no discussion of the meaning of the complicated symbolism with which these brothers have been entrusted, and about which they thought they would learn more.

At present, in many local lodges, the focus in Masonic Education is almost solely on the memorization and performance of the ritual, not on the investigation of the meaning or application of its symbolism. This must be unsatisfying to our new brethren. Certainly this much was suggested at the 2007 Grand Oration in Florida: "We must strive to stimulate the new Mason and instill in him a thirst for continued knowledge and quest for enlightenment. Without that stimulation many new members can easily become disenchanted and lose interest, resulting in demits and NPDs" (Hudson, 2007, p. 273).

The current mini-spike in Masonic membership, which many have noted anecdotally around the country, apparently is driven by new initiates seeking just the type of esoteric wisdom that Freemasonry has. As Brother G. Cliff Porter, a relatively new Mason in his mid-thirties, stated in the March-April 2007 issue of The Scottish Rite Journal:

The young man approaching the Craft today does so to supplement and add to what his church and family have already given him. A certain tugging at his soul speaks to him to seek a deeper meaning in life, in family, and in God. He researches and desires an initiation into the esoteric and ancient quest for Truth. He requests a petition with these hopes in mind. Why shouldn't he? The eloquent writings of Masonic scholars ... have hinted at the existence of such knowledge, and Masonic writings abound with hints of this very thing. ... We as Master Masons should return Masonry from a primarily social institution to one that studies ancient symbolism and the truths so revealed. (Emphasis added.)

In sum, there is a hunger among the brethren--now, largely going unfed--for a thoughtful consideration of the more esoteric aspects of Masonic symbolism. The more this hunger is left unfed, the more it inclines brethren interested in this material to drift away from Freemasonry.

In Part 3: The challenge of Anti-Masonry; and, an overall approach to meeting the membership challenge.

Reference

Hudson, Phillip A. (2007). Grand oration. In Proceedings of the One Hundred and Seventy-Eighth Annual Communication of the M:. W:. Grand Lodge F. & A.M. of Florida, Held at Orlando, Florida, May 28, 29, and 30, 2007 (pp. 272-275). n.p.: The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Florida.

Previous Post in This Series:

"Part 1: The Membership Challenge"

Building Freemasonry in the 21st Century, Part 1: The Membership Challenge

2009-03-31T18:15:00.011-04:00

Over the last three centuries, Freemasonry has played a major role in improving millions of individual lives; it has even contributed to the development of global democracy. We should not just preserve Freemasonry, but nurture and develop it, as a force for good in the world. However, in the United States today, Freemasonry faces a membership challenge, for several reasons. If Freemasonry is to continue as a force for good, in individual lives and in society, Freemasons must come to grips with this challenge. This will involve activities on the part of Grand Lodges, local lodges ("Particular Lodges"), and individual Masons. In this series, I respectfully offer some suggestions to help Freemasonry to thrive. In the series as a whole, I consider these topics:

the membership challenge in Freemasonry today
an overall approach to meeting this challenge
membership development
membership retention

The Membership Challenge in Freemasonry Today

In 2003, there were about 1.7 million Masons nationwide, a membership figure even lower than during the Great Depression year of 1941. As the Masonic Information Center put it, "Freemasonry is at its lowest membership level in at least 80 years" (It's About Time!, p. 3; see image above). We may think about the Blue Lodge's membership problems in terms of two factors: low rates of entry into the Craft, and high exit rates. Each of these is described below.

Low Entry Rates

It is well known that fewer people enter Freemasonry today than entered in earlier years. The situation in any given Grand Lodge can be established by considering the statistics reported in its Grand Communications. One example--neither better nor worse than the typical Grand Lodge, I would guess--is the Grand Lodge of Florida. In Florida, the number of men initiated was flat over each of two recent years (2004 and 2005), at approximately 1,480 per year, even as the population of Florida itself increased each year. (There was a 7.5% increase in the number of initiations during 2006, to 1,591; of course, 2006 was the year of the release of the motion picture, The Da Vinci Code, which mentioned Freemasons and, more especially, the Knights Templar. It is yet to be seen whether this increase will be permanent or not.)

High Exit Rates

Men exit Freemasonry in several ways: through death; through official voluntary exit, or "dimit"; through suspension, and, through expulsion. Suspension can be for a number of reasons, the most common being suspension for non-payment of dues (NPD); thus, we may think of a suspension for NPD as a sort of 'silent dimit.' Thus, official dimits and suspensions for NPD together can be labeled "voluntary attrition." Again, using the Grand Lodge of Florida only as a typical example, for the period 2004 through 2006 (see References below for sources), we note the following:

The number of deaths averaged 1,449 annually during this period, while the number raised as Master Masons averaged 1,217 annually. Thus, deaths alone outnumbered the number raised as new Master Masons by over 19%.
Voluntary attrition during these years averaged over 1,640 annually. Thus, just by itself, voluntary attrition exceeded the number of those raised as new Master Masons by almost 35%.

The number of those who officially dimitted increased from 2004 to 2006 by a startling 31%.

These statistics are no doubt what led the distinguished Brother giving the Welcome at the opening session of the 2007 Florida Grand Communication to state, "We are one generation away from extinction." This Brother might as well have been saying this to just about any Grand Lodge in the United States.

It is a little-known but crucial finding that the amount of time that many Brothers remain in Freemasonry before attrition has sharply declined in recent generations. In one study, the average number of years between initiation and either dimit or suspension NPD has shown a stunning decline, from 17.8 years (for those initiated in the late 1940s) to 6.5 (for those initiated in the early 1980s). Thus, those who join and then ultimately leave have remained for a much shorter period of time, "about 20-30% of the time they [remained in Masonry] half a century ago," as John Belton put it. As noted Masonic author Chris Hodapp has observed:

In jurisdictions across the U.S. and Canada, the losses of members from deaths have been statistically tapering off, while the losses due to Freemasons walking away from the fraternity have been rising. ... [M]en whom we have initiated, passed, and raised are deciding in increasing numbers to say "No thanks" to what their local lodges offer.

What could be the cause for this painful situation?

In Part 2: The root causes for membership problems in the Blue Lodge.

References

Statistics of annual returns. (2006). In Proceedings of the One Hundred and Seventy-Seventh Annual Communication of the M:.W:. Grand Lodge of F. & A.M. of Florida, Held at Orlando, Florida, May 29, 30 and 31, 2006 (p. 111). n.p.: The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Florida.

Statistics of annual returns. (2007). In Proceedings of the One Hundred and Seventy-Eighth Annual Communication of the M:.W:. Grand Lodge of F. & A.M. of Florida, Held at Orlando, Florida, May 28, 29, and 30, 2007 (pp. 115-116). n.p.: The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Florida.

Statistics of annual returns. (1008, May). In Report of M:.W:. Robert P. Harry, Jr., Grand Master, M:.W:. Richard E. Lynn, Grand Secretary, to the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Florida (p. 65). n.p.: The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Florida.

"The Simpsons" and the Freemasons

2009-03-25T15:39:00.001-04:00

That cultural icon, the television show The Simpsons, has long been known for its depiction of a faux Freemasonry. A 1995 episode titled “Homer the Great” featured a fraternity called the Stonecutters. Now, The Simpsons has mentioned Freemasonry explicitly and at some length, in the recent episode “Gone Maggie Gone.”

The episode identifies itself in its opening moments as a spoof on The Da Vinci Code. During the episode, a couple of groups seek the fabled Jewel of St. Teresa of Avila, which is prophesied to lead to an era of peace.

In an encounter at the foot of the Springfield sign atop Springfield Hill (reminiscent of the climax of Hitchcock’s North by Northwest), sleuthy Lisa—accompanied by Principal Skinner and Comic Book Guy as ‘the Brethren of the Quest’—are confronted by Mr. Burns. Burns explains that a group of high-ranking Freemasons have been searching for the Jewel of St. Teresa for years. In fact, he says, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and King George III conducted the American Revolutionary War just to cover up their entirely amicable association, as they searched for the Jewel. Burns goes on to claim: “I joined the Freemasons before it was trendy. That’s my eyeball on the dollar bill. That’s also my pyramid.” (See image above.)

It is unwise to read too much into a Simpsons episode: the writers simply do things because they’re funny. But it is also unwise to just pass over details in The Simpsons as if they were totally unimportant, either: the writers are famous for working cultural references into their episodes, sometimes quite subtly; if nothing else, a Simpsons episode is an expression, intentional or not, of the cultural Zeitgeist. What, if anything, does “Gone Maggie Gone” have to say about the way that Freemasonry is perceived by the general public? How is this different from the depiction of Freemasonry in its guise as ‘the Stonecutters’ in “Homer the Great”?

The Image of Freemasonry in The Simpsons

I found it interesting that, in “Gone Maggie Gone,” the writers saw no need to explain who the Freemasons are: the writers just made the reference, with the assumption that the audience would know who ‘Freemasons’ are, in the same way that they expected the audience to know who Ed Begley, Jr. is (Begley also showing up briefly in the episode). At least for the Simpsons writers, the Masons are sufficiently well-known to need no introduction.

It was nice to hear Burns refer to joining the Freemasons as now being “trendy.” I wish I had more hard data on this issue, but the notion that Freemasonry is becoming popular again certainly fits with my anecdotal experience, as I see a substantial number of men in their twenties and thirties entering the Fraternity through my mother Lodge in Florida over the last couple of years, and the Lodges and affiliated organizations that I have been visiting in New York City over the last few months.

Of course, having Burns as a Mason does lend at least a slightly sinister cast to Masonry. I was happier when Grandpa Simpson casually identified himself as a Mason during “Homer the Great.”

It is interesting to see how the two Simpsons episodes reflect two different caricatures of Freemasonry. The Stonecutters of “Homer the Great” are heirs to a noble tradition that they have sold out for drunken entertainment. As their Chapter leader, Number One (voiced by Patrick Stewart) tells Homer immediately after his humiliating initiation: “You have joined the sacred order of the Stonecutters, who since ancient times have split the rocks of ignorance that obscured the light of knowledge and truth. Now let’s all get drunk and play ping-pong!” When the Chapter brothers discover that Homer’s birthmark identifies himself as the prophesied ‘Chosen One’ of the Stonecutters, they elevate him to a high rank of leadership—but when Homer tries to lead them into a variety of service projects, the entire membership of the Fraternity defects to form another self-centered fraternal group: the No Homers Club.

In “Gone Maggie Gone,” the Freemasons are shown in the light of the currently popular stereotype, as devoted to the pursuit of secrets and mysteries. Masonry, in this view, is the possession of men like Burns, who hold power, but not a decent character. (At one point, Burns is talked into giving Lisa and others a ride on the skids of his helicopter. During the flight, Burns’ lackey Smithers asks Burns if it feels good to help people. Burns’ response: “No. It feels … weird.”)

What Masons Can Learn From The Simpsons

Of course it is the case that the image of Freemasonry in these episodes is shot through with inaccuracies. (Hey, lighten up, fellas: it’s a cartoon, not a documentary on Discovery Channel or The History Channel.) However, rather than catalog these inaccuracies, it might be worthwhile to consider what these episodes have to say that might have some relevance. What might Freemasons have to learn from these caricatures? Several things come to mind.

First, Freemasonry would do well to look to its noble traditions, and emphasize the unselfish service to others that is a core value of the Fraternity. I have been fortunate to see several lodges and affiliated Masonic organizations of my acquaintance engaged in such service, often in secrecy. I think that this is closer to the norm than The Simpsons would lead one to believe—but one cannot emphasize enough the need for us to remember that our fraternity is supposed to be about something, and service to others is a central part of that something.

Second, we would do well to remember that, in point of fact, part of the mission of Freemasonry indeed is, as Number One put it, to “split the rocks of ignorance that obscured the light of knowledge and truth.” Real Freemasonry uses different language and symbols, but the mission of the Masonic Fraternity is actually rather well expressed in the language of the cartoon episode.

Masons would do well to remember two things about our fraternity: (a) Masonry is supposed to change the individual Mason, to help him on a journey to knowledge and truth that will require serious inner growth; and, (b) Masonry is supposed to help the individual Mason to affect society for the better, dispelling ignorance with knowledge and truth. Not for nothing did the Masons of an earlier era establish public education in different nations. Not for nothing did Grand Lodge Masonry emerge during an era that is now known as the Enlightenment. No, Masons do not possess the secrets of the Pharoahs—but they are supposed to possess a degree of personal enlightenment that is more valuable than any external secret. What are we doing, as individual Masons, as particular Lodges, and as Grand Lodges and affiliated organizations, to further that goal?

Third, we do need to correct the notion that Freemasonry is about gaining unfair personal privilege and power. I have already mentioned the implication of having Mr. Burns as the example of Freemasonry in “Gone Maggie Gone.” In “Homer the Great,” the power trip is even worse, with Homer Simpson (after his initiation as a Stonecutter) obtaining preferential treatment in everything from getting his plumbing fixed to receiving a massage chair at work. In my experience, lodges do emphasize that a desire for preferential treatment is an unworthy motive for entering the Fraternity; we need to emphasize this even more, and counter this image in the mind of the public, as well.

The Buddhists say that ‘one can learn from a stone.’ I hope that we as Freemasons can learn from a cartoon show.

References

“Homer the Great” episode: episode code 2F09; season 6, episode 12, first broadcast January 8, 1995. Written by John Schwarzwelder. Available online at http://wtso.net/movie/402-612%20Homer%20the%20Great.html

“Gone Maggie Gone” episode: episode code LABF04; season 20, episode 13, first broadcast March 15, 2009. Written by Billy Kimball and Ian Maxtone-Graham. Available online at http://wtso.net/movie/448-2013_Gone_Maggie_Gone.html