Freemasons Should Gain our Trust
I am not a Freemason (I was a DeMolay, a “Jr. Mason” for a few years). Though arousing the suspicions and fears of Dictators and Religious Zealots through the ages, Freemasonry appears to be (with a few exceptions) a useful brand of universal religious tolerance combined with appreciation for science, plus opposition to tyranny
Freemasonry follows a long tradition, officially traceable to the 17th century, but perhaps going back further to the masonry guilds of the 14th century and/or to the Templar Knights of the Crusades. Many of our founding fathers and leaders have been Masons (roughly 1/3 of US Constitution signers and Presidents), plus prominent figures on both sides of the Revolution and Civil Wars. Freemasonry sometimes exists in conflict with Catholicism and Lutheranism, is especially popular in England and France, and perhaps as an underground political movement in Spain, Italy, and Russia. It has some commonality with Middle Eastern thought (particularly ancient Jewish and Egyptian ritual) but in a good way. There was some overlap with racist organizations in the 20s, but these associations may have been misunderstood (and corrected). Freemasons have been demonized as “Satan worshippers and child molesters” (sound familiar QAnon advocates?) by religious fanatics, dictators, Popes, Fascists, and anyone else with a narrow mind that seeks undo power.
When I was 13 years old, I joined DeMolay and reenacted the incineration of Jacques DeMolay in 1312, he being the last Templar Knight “Grand Master” who was burned at the stake by the Pope and the King of France. Our fathers were all Masons, and we didn’t really understand what was going on (except that we got to go to sporting events and attend dances with the sometimes sexy Job’s Daughters). I never mentioned this membership to anyone, until “The DaVinci Code” was written, and all of a sudden, Freemasonry became kinda cool. It was posited that they were the resurrection of the Knights Templar, a Catholic sect that had led the Crusades, taken Jerusalem, and learned the “real story” of Christianity (not the twisted Roman version, designed to favor Rome). This Templar version was perhaps influenced by the Gnostic gospels (kept alive by the Coptic Christians in Egypt) and certainly by the Jews, who accepted a perhaps more benign version of Christianity, friendlier to women and the underclass, and questioning the divinity of Christ. They drew from the ranks of the wealthy and noble European families (mostly British and French), some of whom gave up their possessions to become guardians of Christian pilgrimages to Jerusalem. Later, the Templars became a kind of bank, that safeguarded wealth. They were envied/distrusted in much the same way as European Jews, and largely disappeared (or went underground) after the burning of DeMolay.
The success of the Templars spawned imitators, notably the Hospitaller Knights (mostly Germanic) who were given much of the Templar wealth after its confiscation, and later broke with the Catholics after the reformation. Later, during the Renaissance, crafts guilds involved in building of large churches, picked up the traditions of the Templars. Since they were involved in the design and construction of large cathedrals, they alone knew of certain building methods critical to society at that time, methods that had perhaps been known through the centuries by the ancients. Since these buildings were made of masonry, and they were allowed to travel and meet freely due to their importance, they became known as “free masons”. Apparently, they not only shared secrets of their “craft” (building methods), but they were also a brotherhood, who considered themselves guardians of universal truths not always respected by churches or governments (which were sometimes corrupt).
Out of this tradition, apparently, came modern Freemasonry, which dates itself from Scotland in the 17th century (Scotland being a place where the Templars may have gone underground) and in the Colonies in the 18th century. The list of American freemasons reads like a who’s who of patriots and trailblazers, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Paul Revere, Davy Crockett, Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt, Mark Twain, Clark Gable, Douglas MacArthur, Nat King Cole, Earl Warren, Buzz Aldrin, John Elway, and Scottie Pippin. Foreign freemasons include Mozart, Garibaldi, Voltaire, Lafayette, Rousseau, Oscar Wilde, Winston Churchill, and many, many more. It is speculated that Daniel Boone, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln were also freemasons, but this has not been proven. In a sense, the list of freemasons is the list of productive and sensible people in history, which would be testament to a) their popularity and b) the efficacy of their beliefs. Their list of detractors is almost a hall of shame, including Pope Clement, Mao Tse Tung, Joseph Stalin, Adolph Hitler, Fidel Castro, Saddam Hussein, Evangelical Protestants, Eastern Orthodoxers, and Conservative Catholics (the Catholic opposition is more like envy, as they set up their own competing fraternal organization, the Knights of Columbus in 1882). Often, their detractors try to portray them as “Satan worshippers who drink the blood of children” which was an old demonization used by Pope Clement when destroying Jacques DeMolay, et al. Ostensibly, these accusations stem mostly from Catholic and Evangelical mistrust and envy, and one will note that the same silly accusations are now hurled against prominent Jews, Democrats and Hollywood Actors (by QAnon and others), with no basis. Are Freemasons (and current Democrats) dangerous to some because they believe in the unification of science and broad religious beliefs opposing tyranny? I believe so. (Hamill, et al.)
This Knights of Columbus reference leads us to a possible blemish upon freemasonry (the revival of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s), but this needs to be placed in a proper context. There were always freemasons in the deep South, and during the Civil War, there were many tales of gallantry involving “brothers” on opposing sides (just as there were between colonists and British during the Revolution). Many of these southern Masons were certainly slave holders, and no apologies are made for that particular behavior. Later, in the 1800s, it cannot be overstated how popular male fraternal organizations became (Oddfellows, Foresters, Druids, E Clampus Vitus among them) as the growth of small towns seemed to foster them. When the KKK revitalized itself around the time of WW I, they set out to copy the Freemasons, as they were the envy of all fraternal organizations. It appears that no one was certain of what the KKK was up to, until stories of cross burnings and lynchings became public later in the 20s. There may have been overlap between some of the rank and file at this time, but certainly this behavior was anti-ethical to the higher principles of Freemasonry. I can only say that J. Edgar Hoover (also a Freemason) subsequently waged war upon the KKK as director of the FBI in the late 20s and 30s (why do I have a picture in my mind of a man in a dress chasing a guy in a hood?), and that several prominent black Americans subsequently joined the organization (called Prince Hall Freemasonry, including Cole, Willie Mays, Pippin, Jessie Jackson, Al Green, Thurgood Marshall, Sugar Ray Robinson and others) so I have to believe that Freemasons dealt appropriately with the KKK subterfuge. (Hodapp, 2019)(Swanson, 2012)
And so finally, what are the Freemasons? My father (a 33rd degree Scottish Rite Mason) used to explain to me how all his ancestors going back to George Washington’s era were masons, and that everyone in the world worshipped the same God. He said that whenever there was tyranny in the world, the Masons would be there to fight it, just as they did during the American and French Revolutions. He knew a great deal about Paul Revere and the “safety committees” (essentially Freemasons who helped engineer the American Revolution, when 50% of Colonists opposed). He said that the Masons didn’t brag, they just quietly got things done. I never knew my father to look down upon others, especially those that worked hard, and he was a comfort to be around, and also a Shriner (a Masonic philanthropic branch). The grandfather from the non-masonic side once told me that “Shriners are just drunken Masons”, so their doubters and detractors exist (often in the same families). So, do Freemasons have Templar treasure buried under the Washington Monument? Do they harbor the Holy Grail or the DNA of Jesus and Mary Magdalene? Are they “Gentiles that act kinda like Jews”? (my theory). We may never know.
Enjoy these other Vern Scott articles regarding ironic American History!
