Freemasonry’s Beliefs and Their Struggle for Secrecy

The extended essay project was done on the Masonic group of people who have been an influential part of history as a whole. In this essay I am going to explore the belief system of the group. As well as demonstrate why there is much controversy surrounding the group by expressing the opposing views. The Masons basically are a group of men that have shared feelings about brotherhood, morals and community progress. These men belong to the world's largest fraternity in the world. It spans all nations, races and religions. The group as a whole is very secret. For instance the origin and the time that this group was structured is still uncertain. Many actions and activities of the group are also low key. This makes the group very vulnerable for Anti-Masonic groups. Many famous and important people in the world have belonged to the Freemasons. When criminal acts or injustices in the community take place, the Anti-Masonic groups place blame on the masons. What was found out by the research is that the secrecy of the Masonic organization is to be kept at all times. Some times extreme measures are taken to insure its secrecy. Anti-Mason groups are detrimental to the survival of the group. They dampen their progress and lower their popularity rating with the public. It is an ongoing battle that doesn't seem like it will cease any time soon. There is a society in which many people belong. Many people are your everyday people; people that run the country, people that own business to people that pass you on the street. You wouldn't know they belong to this society because they are everyday people. This society has been around since the earliest of times. The members are dedicated to brotherly love, relief for the community and strong morals. More revealingly this group can be defined as a group of men, banded together in an exclusive lodge to advance, first and foremost, their personal interests and second, the interests of the community or other members of the group (Hoselton). If you know anyone that sounds like he fits this profile they might belong to Masonry also called Freemasonry. Masonry is touted as the world's oldest and largest fraternity. Freemasonry and Masonry are interchangeable words for the same organization, which has its roots in the medieval trade guilds of stonemasons. In Freemasonry the most widely used symbols are the tools of the stonemason, a square, compass and a level. The level for example is a symbol that are men are equal and on the same level. There are signs that point to the first congregation on this organization, which is back in 926 AD, when the first lodge documents were found. There are writings and evidence that date back to the late 17th century. There is no exact answer to when this society, lodge, group first originated. Even so Freemasonry was formally created in London in 1717. The ideas and beliefs quickly spread to the American colonies and across Europe. Today, there are probably four to six million men in the fraternity (Cambell). The Masons in the mid-seventeenth century were a secret society and since they were secret there was no historical document or writings. There are basically three theories that surround their existence before it became public. The first theory is that freemasonry is as ancient as the Masonic ritual claims. It was indeed created as a result of happenings at the building of king Solomon's temple and has been passed down to us through mechanisms unknown. The second theory that scientists believe is that the development of medieval stoneman's guilds, whereby Masonic skills with stone were translated into what masons call moral improvements. The third theory is that masons rituals originally come from the Order Of The Poor Fellow- soldiers of Christ and the temple of Solomon, now better known as the Knights of Templar (Knight). One thing you will learn is that there are no exact answers when it comes to the Masons. This society is held in high regard to its secrecy. The rules and regulations are very sacred and if one is not performed or is broken than severe penalty will be placed in action. The penalties are from removal from the society to death, depending on the act. These rules and guidelines are what gave man his sense of security and sense of well-being back in the times when the world was not as civilized as it was today. When the world was not as stable as it is today and lands were forever changing hands, masons were still united because it is widespread. Masonry is not confined to one race or nationality, creeds or faiths. This organization encompasses almost everyone. In Masonry there is a meeting place for the members. This place is called a lodge. There is a set hierarchy of Lodges. All the states in the U. S have a Highest ruling lodge, The Grand Lodge. This Grand Lodge is used as the presiding lodge over all of the small branches of lodges. The jurisdiction of a Lodge determines its exact beliefs and rules. There is no higher authority than the Grand Lodge of a state. Every month there is a specific meeting for the Master Masons. This once a month meeting is named a â€Å"business meeting† (Virginia). In the lodge religion is encouraged, nothing in particular, but Christianity is the most popular in the United States. Religion though, along with politics is strictly forbidden inside the lodge. Both subjects are very controversial and would cause too much of a divide between men. One of the beliefs that the Masons have is an interesting initiation ceremony. There are a few phases to complete this process but it is what is done to each new member. It has been carried out since the creation of the fraternity so now it is just a belief. The first phase of the ceremony is when the initiate must swear his allegiance to God and his fellow Masons. When that part of the ceremony is over the second part of the initiation begins. This way the initiate can become Master Mason. He is blindfolded and is asked to act out the part of Hiram Abiff. Hiram Abiff was the murdered master in a legend of the building of King Solomon's temple. This would be the exciting section of the initiation, where all the action takes place. He must refuse to tell secrets of the Freemasons and then he is hit and knocked to the floor. This is a reenactment of Hiram's death. The third step to the process is a few more points and symbols are explained in detail to him (Cambell). The Masons are also known as a secret society. Many beliefs that they hold are absolutely forbidden from non-members and also not all Masons can know everything. This is what gives the Masons its â€Å"secret society† name, not because its underground or a small gathering. The secrets started back in the earliest times when stonemasons had special trades that they kept from everyone else. There are many types of secrets that are held in the Mason group, many types of sciences and astrology. When a Mason starts to understand the organization and â€Å"probe his unconscious† these secrets are revealed to him. One belief that the Masons have that seems as though it would be outdated by now but is still intact is the admittance of only males. The lodges of today are available to only males who are at least nineteen years of age. To be more accommodative, a separate division of the Freemasons was developed. The Eastern Star was founded in 1850 and is a group for Master Masons or people properly related to Master Masons, including women. The relation can be wife, widow, sister, daughter, mother, granddaughter, stepmother, stepdaughter, stepsister, half sister, and recently, nieces, daughters-in-law, and grandmothers (Virginia). Basically anyone who is not permitted into the lodge meetings but has relation to a Master Mason can be admitted. The lodges are divided into chapters and there are eighteen offices to be filled in each chapter. Men or women can fill these positions. The head of the chapter is deemed the title Worthy Matron. To gain the membership required, each member must agree to belief in a supreme being. Although, the New and Old Testaments are both part of the five degrees. This makes the Eastern Star a particularly Christian group (Virginia). Since, the Eastern Star is a sort of division of the Masons, this must make them a particularly Christian group (Mackey). Since the Freemasons group of extreme size, controversies are always surrounding them. There is also a great deal of controversy that stems from the secretive nature of the Freemasons. Many prominent figures including founding fathers and presidents have been Masons, and in some cases Freemasons have been accused of giving other Masons unfair advantages in job promotion, and also controlling decisions in government by being a sort of underground government themselves (Virginia). A large part of joining the masons is having that advantage of job promotion over non-mason coworkers (Dumenil, 23). The biggest controversy concerning the Freemasons took place in the United States during the early 1800's. In 1826, one man decided he was going to publish a book that contained all of the secrets that's the Masonic society had hidden. This man was, Captain William Morgan, a regular member of the Masonic society. The place that the book was being published was burned to the ground and the Captain suddenly disappeared. There are many different endings to this story that go around today, but it is said that he was captured by the Masons and killed. Most Masons today say that is not what happened, but Morgan really left the country and went to Canada. It was noted by a anti-Masonic group that a year later the body was found in a harbor. Other accounts say that his body was never found. What the real truth may be is irrelevant. The fact that these stories set the Masons back a step in popularity is important part. There was even an anti-Masonic presidential candidate in the 1820's (Mackey and McClenachen, 508). Protecting secrets is not the only type of controversy that the Freemasons get into. Since they are so large they have contacts and members in all aspects of society. Masons are blamed and accused of all types of other functions and mishaps. During the presidential election of Quincy Adams and Jackson, Adams blamed the mason group when he was not chosen for the presidency. There are writings linking the Freemasons to President Lincoln's assassination, beliefs of Nazi Germany, the murder of Pope John Paul I, establishing the Ku Klux Klan, the Jack the Ripper Murders in England, the JFK assassination conspiracy, and many others (Virginia). All across the world different events have been blamed on their members. These actions might possibly be blamed on the Masons unrightfully. This might be due to their large size and underground secret society, which makes them an easy target to blame. Especially if there is no real suspect is unknown. Most of these accounts do not seem to have much well supported evidence. One thing that does lead one to believe a Mason might kill someone or cheat them out of a position in the work force is the type of penalties they enforce. The Masons preach that they are all about brotherly love and doing good deeds for their fellow members and the community around them; but when you read the types of penalties that they will enforce you have to second-guess the purpose of the group. If one of the members happens to slip and tell the secrets of Freemasonry there are many penalties. The penalties include very vulgar acts which are tearing one's tongue out by the roots, plucking one's heart from its breast, and having one's body cut in two with the entrails burned to ashes (Virginia). This type of language has caused much anti-Masonic sentiment. To be a part of the Mason society it is said that you need to believe in a higher power or god. It is not specified which one to believe in, it does not matter. This issue has some people disturbed; especially Catholics and Methodists who are historically opposed to Masonry. Roman Catholics ban masonry due to the types of oaths and its sincere secrecy. The Methodists have to condemned it as well for the same reasons. Christians have also been very disturbed by Masonry's mixing of beliefs. This would be both pagan and Christian beliefs together. Representing the Pagan solar gods are the Bible, the compass and the square. These are also the Three Great Lights of Masonry (Virginia). There are many other possible examples of mixing religions, which disturbs some members of Evangelical Christian churches (Cambell, 75-76). A recent controversy involves the history of the Freemasons. Some say that Freemasons didn't come from medieval stonemason unions. They have come to the presumption that it has emerged from the Knights of the Templar, a privileged class of soldier monks in Medieval Europe. The Knights were attacked by many authorities for their knowledge of the Muslim and Jewish religions, and in 1307, King Philippe IV of France ordered their arrest and a raid of their preceptories. They supposedly escaped to Scotland with all of their treasures and these scholars say that Freemasonry evolved from the Knights Templar traditions (Virginia). These ideas are offered instead of the stonemason history that the Freemasons tell (Knight). There are Masons at all levels of work force especially in the government. It helps when you are trying to get elected and you are a Mason; but even so there is also a drawback to being a Mason. There are always people who try to find the hole in the system and take what you have earned. For example in 1829, under public pressure, the New York state senate investigated freemasonry and reported that wealthy and powerful masons were found at every level of government. Opponents of President Andrew Jackson, who was a freemason, took advantage of the scandal to form the Anti-Masonic party, the first time a third party was created in the United States. Anti-Masonic candidates were successful in state and local elections but failed to unseat Jackson in 1832. By the late 1830's the Anti-Masonic party had turned to agitation against slavery and the strictly anti Jackson members joined the Whigs. This was a serious blow that took decades for the Masons to recover from (Dumenil). Most of these problems that the Freemasons have are due to the emergence of the Anti-Masonic society. Those who were not offered membership or could not obtain it had jealousy and greed grow inside them. The rest just didn't know how to become a member. The figured it was a group of elites that belong to a secret society and it was nothing but full of evil and conspiracies. This guessing game and non-members jealousy served as the fuel for igniting and inciting hatred for the unknown. The only thing left was for three groups to keep the fire burning. First of all, politicians used this to gain popularity, but making false accusations did this. Thurlow Weed was the most successful and most damaging in his use of the incident and to claim that he was the savior, â€Å"riding in on a shiny white horse† (MIT). William Seward of Auburn and Millard Fillmore of Moravia made hay of the fiasco and gained political clout by using the Morgan affair as an issue (MIT). Secondly, the clergy also lowered themselves to this level of demagoguery. Even former members of the Fraternity saw in this an opportunity to claim that the Freemasons were evil and that only in the church could souls be saved. The clergy knew full well that Freemasonry was not in the business of saving souls. The third mechanism, which grabbed an opportunity to gain notoriety and to sell newspapers, was the press. New papers were born regularly with the one objective, to sell newsprint by leveling accusations at the Fraternity. Any dirt would do despite its veracity. The anti-Masonic movement in itself was a sort of lie, it was a conspiracy to promote certain people or groups at the cost of freemasons. The press could make money. The clergy saw people converting. Lastly, the politicians had an opportunity to promote themselves (MIT). The times were ripe for suspicion and distrust. Uncultivated egos led people to believe that only their church, their politics, their way of life was the correct one. Others were ignorant and in the dark. (Marrs, 17) The masons as a society are very secretive and extremely widespread. The society is formed on the basis that brotherly love, belief in religion and helping the community are musts. These characteristics don't make the masons seem like they have any wrongdoing in their actions and so fourth. Even so there is is much criticism of the freemasons as a group. There have been numerous attacks against freemasons and what the supposedly have hidden from the rest of society. The most potentially damaging attacks of this century have come in the past two or three years. People have tried to convince society that freemasonry is rooted in heresy. Even in the face of extreme large amounts of criticism the masons have chosen to remain silent and not release any secrets. Whatever the actions were, or the motives have been they have always allowed themselves to be easy targets. It seems that the masons have been deliberately accused of certain things therefore they will gain the reputation that will put them under. Whether another society has done this to them is unknown. Everything seems to denounce the Order of the Masons. It is probably not long before the masons come out and set the record straight, rather than just accept the blows of criticism. They rely on their acts of reconciliation and following the principles of brotherhood, relief and truth, which is not enough to keep the largest fraternity in the world operating. It is very amazing that a group of people could persevere through the trials and tribulations that they have been through. It was very hard to gather reliable and large amounts of information because of the secrecy. What was learned is that this group operates for nothing but the good of themselves and others. Many very important figures of the world were members of this organization. This is a reason why there is so much controversy surrounding this group. All in all, its been the most successful attempt at a unified group or â€Å"secret society. â€Å"