The Masonic Religion
by William A. Whalen
Masonry Encompasses All Elements of a Religion of Naturalism
The basic Christian objection to Freemasonry is that the Craft
constitutes a religious sect in opposition to the revealed truths
of the Gospel. Whatever the religious doctrines of the Masonic
sect it is plain that they do not embrace the central Christian
doctrines of the Trinity, the Fall, the Incarnation, the
Atonement. To the lodge these essential Christian beliefs are
completely irrelevant. No one need accept the Christian
revelation, acknowledge Jesus Christ as God and Man, or receive
baptism in order to attain salvation and enjoy the eternal
happiness promised by the lodge.
Not all the religious systems in the world are exclusive;
Christianity is. A Chinese may combine elements of Confucianism,
Buddhism, and Taoism and a Japanese may successfully blend
Shintoism and Buddhism. A Christian owes complete loyalty to
Jesus Christ, God made man; he may not divide his allegiance
among other gods.
Most Masons who deny that Masonry is a religion confuse religion
with the Christian religion. They know Masonry is not Christian
since if it were their Jewish and Moslem brethren would object.
Since it is not Christian they assume that it is not religious.
Or their views of Christianity as primarily a system of character
building and as synonymous with the decent. kindly. and
gentlemanly coincide with their appraisal of the lodge and they
see no conflict between the two institutions. The fact is,
however, that the lodge is essentially religious and possesses
all the elements of a religion of naturalism.
Masons themselves have testified again and again to the religious
nature of the lodge while denying that Masonry should be
classified as "sectarian" religion. By this they mean that the
various religious faiths represent on a lower plane that pure and
undefiled universal religion of mankind represented by
Freemasonry. For example, Pike states:
Masonry is not a religion. He who makes of it a religious belief
falsifies and denaturalizes it. The Brahmin, the Jew, the
Mohometan, the Catholic, the Protestant, each professing his
peculiar religion, sanctioned by the laws, by time, and by
climate, must needs retain it, and cannot have two religions; for
the social and sacred laws adapted to the usages, manners, and
prejudices of particular countries are the work of man.[1]
Masonry is willing to humor those brethren who go along with the
local and tribal cults so long as they realize that the sectarian
doctrines of these cults are simply necessary evils. Pike
explains:
But Masonry teaches, and has preserved in their purity, the
cardinal tenets of the old primitive faith, which underlie and
are the foundation of all religion. All that ever existed have
had a basis of truth; and all have overlaid that truth with
errors . . . Masonry is the universal morality which is suitable
to the inhabitants of every clime, to the man of every
creed.[2]
He adds, "Religion, to obtain currency and influence with the
great mass of mankind, must needs be alloyed with such an amount
of error as to place it far below the standard attainable by the
higher human capacities."[3] Masonry, however, strips sectarian
religion of these encrusted errors and reveals itself as the
universal religion. While religion gathers the barnacles of
superstition and error, Masonry remains pure and undefiled. It
becomes Christianity without Christ, Judaism without the Law,
Islam without the Prophet.
Some Masonic partisans seem to believe that Masonry could not
qualify as a religion because it lacks the complex dogmatic
systems of the denominations in their hometown. The lodge demands
only belief in a Supreme Architect and in the immortality of the
soul. As Mackey states: "The religion of Masonry is pure theism."
He boasts, "The truth is that Masonry is undoubtedly a religious
institution . . . which, handed down through a long succession of
ages from that ancient priesthood who first taught it, embraces
the great tenets of the existence of God and the immortality of
the soul."[4] In his Encyclopedia he restates this: "The
Religious Doctrines of Freemasonry are very simple and self
evident. They are darkened by no perplexities of sectarian
theology but stand out in broad light, intelligible and
acceptable by all minds, for they ask only for a belief in God
and in the immortality of the soul."[5]
Although Freemasonry is not a dogmatic theology, and is tolerant
in the admission of men of every religious faith, it would be
wrong to suppose that it is without a creed. On the contrary, it
has a creed the assent to which it rigidly enforces, and the
denial of which is absolutely incompatible with membership in the
Order. This creed consists of two articles: First, a belief in
God, the Creator of all things, who is therefore recognized as
the Grand Architect of the Universe; and secondly, a belief in
the eternal life, to which this present life is but a preparatory
and probationary state.[6]
Simply because Masonry reduces its theological statement to these
two propositions we may not deduce that it does not constitute a
religion. This bare minimum compared to the dogmatic structure of
Christianity is nevertheless more than is asked of many
religionists: Unitarians, Reform Jews, Buddhists. A Unitarian in
good standing may doubt the existence of a personal God and
flatly deny the immortality of the soul; his Unitarianism
nevertheless constitutes a religion.
Like Unitarianism the Masonic sect denies the need to accept the
Christian gospel but allows its initiates to entertain their own
peculiar theological views outside the lodge room. Human reason
becomes the only guide to religious belief and the gospel of
Christ stands on a par with the scriptures of Hinduism, the
Koran, and the Book of Mormon.
The lodge unwittingly confirmed the religious nature of Masonry
in a court case in 1903. A certain Robert Kopp, who had been
expelled from the fraternity, appealed against his former
brethren in the civil courts. He lost his case but the counsel
for the Grand Lodge of New York presented the following statement
in his "Briefs and Points":
The right to membership in the Masonic fraternity is very much
like the right to membership in a church. Each requires a
candidate for admission to subscribe to certain articles of
religious belief as an essential prerequisite to membership. Each
requires a member to conduct himself thereafter in accordance
with certain religious principles. Each requires its members to
adhere to certain doctrines of belief and action. The precepts
contained in the "Landmarks and the Charges of a Freemason"
formulate a creed so thoroughly religious in character that it
may well be compared with the formally expressed doctrine of many
a denominational church. The Masonic fraternity may, therefore,
be quite properly regarded as a religious society, and the long
line of decisions, holding that a religious society shall have
sole and exclusive jurisdiction to determine matters of
membership, should be deemed applicable to the Masonic
fraternity.
Mackey asks:
Look at its ancient landmarks, its sublime ceremonies, its
profound symbols and allegories-all inculcating religious
observance, and teaching religious truth, and who can deny that
it is eminently a religious institution? . . . Masonry, then, is
indeed a religious institution; and on this ground mainly, if not
alone, should the religious Mason defend it.[7]
We should not be disturbed by the frequent denials of the
religious character of the lodge offered by ordinary members.
They either do not understand Masonry or they do not know what
constitutes a religion. Many other cults are as insistent on
denying their religious nature. Jehovah's Witnesses have railed
against "religion" for decades and flatly deny that their
eschatological sect resembles religion in any form. A faith
healing cult such as the Unity School of Christianity and an
occult mail order sect such as the Rosicrucians also have their
reasons for rejecting the name "religion" although they must be
so classified by anyone working in the field of religious
sociology or comparative religion. If Freemasonry were to
acknowledge its religious status, it would compromise the
position of thousands of Christian Masons and Protestant
ministers who wear the apron.
The Masonic strategy is simple enough. First deny that Masonry is
a religion and then proceed to prove that it is. For example, the
same Pike who told us "Masonry is not a religion" also tells us,
"Every Masonic Lodge is a temple of religion; and its teachings
are instruction in religion."[8] What religion? Not Christianity
or Judaism or Islam. Rather Freemasonry is a religion which
simply demands belief in God and immortality and inculcates a
natural morality of salvation by character.
Pike explains:
Masonry, around whose altars the Christian, the Hebrew, the
Moslem, the Brahmin, the followers of Confucius and Zoroaster,
can assemble as brethren and unite in prayer to the one God who
is above all Baalim, must needs leave to each of its Initiates to
look for the foundation of his faith and hope to the written
scriptures of his own religion. For itself it finds those truths
definite enough, which are written by the finger of God upon the
heart of man and on the pages of the book of nature.[9]
In other words "for itself" Masonry considers the doctrines of
Christianity quite peripheral and quite unnecessary but if her
initiates must look for other sources of religious authority the
lodge will not object. At no time, however, does the lodge ever
suggest that the religion and morality of the lodge be
supplemented by the Church nor does it direct its initiates to
the Church. In fact, those who wish to bypass the Church and find
their spiritual sustenance in Masonry alone are welcome to do so
and, to be candid about it, are much wiser than their brethren
who accept the dross and barnacles of Christianity. For many
indeed the lodge is church enough and they may testify that they
find Freemasonry a completely satisfying spiritual home. Those
who desert the Christian church for the lodge would receive the
commendation of the Masonic writer Sir John Cockburn who said,
"Creeds arise, have their day and pass, but Masonry remains. It
is built on the rock of truth, not on the shifting sands of
superstition." Obviously those who have chosen the solid truth of
the lodge over the superstition and sectarian dogmas of the
Church have chosen the better part.
Would the searcher for a religious home find all the elements of
a religion in the Masonic lodge? Unquestionably, he would.
He would worship the Grand Architect of the Universe in a Temple
whose lodge room features two chief articles of worship, an altar
and a Volume of Sacred Law, usually but not necessarily the Holy
Bible. Surely, if Masonry were nothing but a mutual benefit
society, it would have no need for an altar. We find no altars in
the board room of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company or in
the lobby of the American Red Cross headquarters. Mackey tells
us:
From all this we see that the altar in Masonry is not merely a
convenient article of furniture, intended, like a table, to hold
a Bible. It is a sacred utensil of religion, intended, like the
altars of the ancient temples, for religious uses, and thus
identifying Masonry, by its necessary existence in our Lodges, as
a religious institution. Its presence should also lead the
contemplative Mason to view the ceremonies in which it is
employed with solemn reverence, as being part of a really
religious worship.[10]
Like most other paraphernalia in the lodge room the Bible assumes
a symbolic meaning, in this case the scriptures of the majority
of the brethren. It is clear that the Craft recognizes no
particular inspiration of the Bible and places it on a par with
the scriptures of all other religions. Pike explains:
The Bible is an indispensable part of the furniture of a
Christian lodge, only because it is the sacred book of the
Christian religion. The Hebrew Pentateuch in a Hebrew lodge, and
the Koran in a Mohammedan one, belong on the Altar; and one of
these, and the Square and Compass, properly understood, are the
Great Lights by which a Mason must walk and work.[11]
George Wingate Chase is even more explicit:
The Jews, the Chinese, the Turks, each reject, either the New
Testament or the Old, or both, and yet we see no good reason why
they should not be made Masons. In fact Blue Lodge Masonry has
nothing whatever to do with the Bible; it is not founded upon the
Bible. If it was it would not be Masonry; it would be something
else.[12]
The Bible in the lodge room is not a standard of religious belief
but a symbol of a religious attitude toward life. The central
allegory of Freemasonry, the assassination of Hiram Abiff, is
nowhere recorded in the Bible. The lodge usually picks passages
from the Bible for its liturgy which do not mention Christ lest
His name scandalize non- Christian Masons.
Our religious inquirer would know that each candidate for the
lodge' in Anglo-Saxon jurisdictions, must affirm belief in a
Supreme Architect and in immortality. The shock of entrance of
the first degree serves as his Masonic baptism or rebirth as he
moves from self-acknowledged darkness and helplessness into the
light of Masonic teaching. Mackey describes the shock of entrance
in the following words:
There he stands without our portals, on the threshhold of this
new Masonic life, in darkness, helplessness, and ignorance.
Having been wandering amid the errors and covered over with the
pollutions of the outer and profane world, he comes inquiringly
to our doors seeking the new birth, and asking a withdrawal of
the veil which conceals divine truth from his uninitiated
sight.... There is to be not simply a change for the future, but
also an extinction of the past, for initiation is, as it were, a
death to the world and a resurrection to a new life.... The world
is left behind-the chains of error and ignorance which had
previously restrained the candidate in moral and intellectual
captivity are broken-the portals of the Temple have been thrown
widely open, and Masonry stands before the neophyte in all the
glory of its form and beauty, to be fully revealed to him,
however, only when the new birth has been completely
accomplished.[13]
Masonry makes no references to that baptism which makes the
Christian a participant in God's own life, to the sacraments of
the Church, to the revealed truths of the gospel. All men alike
come to the portals of the Masonic Temple ignorant of divine
truths and aimless wanderers.
The Masonic initiate knows that:
A Lodge is said to be opened in the name of God and the Holy
Saints John, as a declaration of the sacred and religious
purposes of our meetings, of our profound reverence for that
Divine Being whose name and attributes should be the constant
theme of our contemplation, and of our respect for those ancient
patrons whom the traditions of Masonry have so intimately
connected with the history of the institution.[14]
During the degree workings the initiate has bound himself by
solemn oaths taken on the V.S.L. and asked God Himself to witness
his resolve to keep the secrets of the order and to enter into
specific relationships with his new brethren. All the ritual,
prayers, hymns, candles, and vestments of a liturgical church are
his in the Temple.
The Craft also furnishes him with a moral code which makes no
reference to other religions or to models of conduct except those
of the Masonic hero: Hiram Abiff. At no time is the Christian
Mason encouraged to pattern his life after his Savior or to
cultivate the specifically Christian virtues. This Masonic
morality is selective. In regulating his sex life he may remember
his Masonic oath: "I promise and swear that I will not violate
the chastity of a Mason's wife, his mother, sister or daughter,
knowing them to be such." Presumably all others are fair game and
such seductions and rapes in no way violate his obligation. We
need not speculate on the public reaction to such a moral code if
publicly advanced by a Christian denomination.
His Masonic mentors assure him that fidelity to the principles of
the lodge will win him entry to "Thy lodge on high." In
explaining the term "Acacian" Mackey explains that this refers to
"A Mason who by living in strict accord with his obligations is
free from sin."[15] The Mason wins salvation not through the
passion and death of Jesus Christ but through the mythical
assassination of Hiram Abiff.
He knows that when he dies he will be clothed in the Masonic
apron and buried by his brethren. They will assure his survivors
that if he has lived according to Masonic principles he will
enjoy the bliss of heaven. After the religious services, if any,
the lodge takes charge of the graveside ceremony. The assembled
brethren sing the following funeral dirge written in 1816:
Solemn strikes the funeral chime,
Notes of our departing time;
As we journey here below
Through a pilgrimage of woe.
Mortals, now indulge a tear,
For mortality is here!
See how wide her trophies wave
O'er the slumbers of the grave.
Here another guest we bring!
Seraphs of celestial wing,
To our fun'ral altar come,
Waft a friend and brother home.
Lord of all, below, above,
Fill our souls with truth and love;
As dissolves our earthly tie,
Take us to Thy lodge on high.
Perhaps during his lifetime he had the opportunity to witness the
consecrating and constituting of a new lodge. This ceremony with
its obvious religious character is described by the English
Masonic historian Jones:
The Consecrating Officer, acting on behalf of the Grand Master,
opens a lodge in three degrees, and, to the accompaniment of
suitable prayers, scripture readings, and addresses, uncovers the
lodge board and scatters corn (the symbol of plenty), pours wine
(the symbol of joy and cheerfulness), pours oil (the symbol of
peace and unanimity) and sprinkles salt (the symbol of fidelity
and friendship). He then dedicates the lodge, and the Chaplain
takes the censer three times round the lodge and offers the
prayer of dedication. The Consecrating Officer then officially
consecrates the lodge, and there generally follows the
installation of the first Master, the election and appointment of
officers, the approval of bylaws, etc., etc. In the old rites,
still followed under some of the American jurisdictions, there is
placed upon a table in front of the Consecrating Officer an
emblem known as the "lodge" an oblong box of white fabric, to
hold the warrant and the constitutions-and round it are placed
three candles and the vessels containing the consecrating
elements.[16]
Masonry meets all the essential requirements of a religion. It is
not Christianity but it is religion. Mackey states:
Speculative Masonry, now known as Freemasonry, is, therefore, the
scientific application and the religious consecration of the
rules and principles, the technical language and the implements
and materials, of operative Masonry to the worship of God as the
Grand Architect of the Universe, and to the purification of the
heart and the inculcation of the dogmas of a religious
philosophy.[17]
Man arrives at an understanding of this religious philosophy
through reason alone, says Masonry. Consequently, this religion
of naturalism never rises above the level of any of the
non-Christian "higher" religions. For some a blending of Masonry
and their own religion may be a possibility; such a course is not
open to the Christian.
Nowhere in Masonry is it suggested that a man be born again in
baptism, that God became man in Jesus Christ, that He died for
man's sins, that He founded a Church with authority to teach what
is necessary for salvation. These become secondary,
supplementary, and "sectarian" dogmas in the eyes of the lodge.
Under no circumstances should they violate Masonic etiquette by
dragging these dogmas into the lodge or mention the name of Jesus
Christ aloud among their brethren. This is the real apostasy of
the Christian Mason. Here is where the Christian Mason assumes
the role of Peter on the night of the crucifixion. While he
stands in the lodge among those who deny and ignore Christ and
participates in worship and prayer from which his Redeemer's name
is carefully excluded he is testifying before men: "I know not
the man."
The lodge has tried to eliminate the slightest reference to
Christianity in its rituals and monitors. Mackey remarks:
The Blazing Star is said, by Webb, to be "commemorative of the
star which appeared to guide the wise men of the East to the
place of our Savior's nativity." This, which is one of the
ancient interpretations of the symbols, being considered too
sectarian in its character, and unsuitable to the universal
religion of Masonry, has been omitted since the meeting of Grand
Lecturers at Baltimore, in 1842.[18]
Christ has told the Christian Mason "No man cometh to the Father,
but by me," but the Mason supports the lodge which promises
eternal happiness to all who live by Masonic principles. He
stands at the grave of an unbaptized brother and answers "So mote
it be" to the Worshipful Master's assurance that the deceased has
attained "Thy lodge on high." He knows he has been commanded by
Christ to go and teach all nations and yet he submits to a gag on
religious discussion in a religious organization dedicated to the
worship of God.
This dilemma does not face the Catholic since he knows that his
Church has exposed the religious pretensions of the lodge for
more than two centuries. Many Protestants and Eastern Orthodox
also belong to denominations which forbid any compromise with the
lodge. Furthermore, this choice between Church and lodge does not
face modernist Protestants, Unitarians, and Jews who deny the
exclusive claims of the Christian faith, doubt or deny the
divinity of Jesus Christ, dismiss the inspiration of the
Bible.
The problem of dual membership in lodge and Church weighs
heaviest on those evangelical Protestants, particularly
ministers, who attempt to combine the religious tenets of
Christianity with those of Masonic naturalism, who try to serve
Hiram Abiff and Jesus Christ on alternate evenings. As the
Lutheran writer, the Rev. Theodore Graebner, put it: "The
difficulty for a Christian remaining a Freemason, then, consists
in this, that Christ is not satisfied to share His homage with
Allah and with Buddha."[19]
In practically every respect Masonry resembles the mystery
religions and as such represents not Christianity but a return to
paganism. Mackey points out that Masonry "is not Christianity,
but there is nothing repugnant to the faith of a Christian."[20]
But this is the point: Masonry is admittedly and obviously
religious but it is not Christianity and this in itself is
repugnant to the faith of a Christian.
ENDNOTES
1 Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. 161.
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid., p. 224.
4 Albert G. Mackey, Textbook of Masonic Jurisprudence, p. 95
5 Albert G. Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, p. 731.
6 Ibid., p. 192.
7 Ibid., p. 619.
8 Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. 213.
9 Ibid., p. 226.
10 Albert G. Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, p. 60.
11 Albert Pike Morals and Dogma, p. 11.
12 George Wingate Chase, Digest of Masonic Law, p. 207
13 Albert G. Mackey, Masonic Ritualist, p. 23.
14 Ibid., p. 14.
15 Albert G. Mackey, Masonic Lexicon, p. 16.
16 Bernard E. Jones, Freemasons' Guide and Compendium, p.
347.
17 Albert G. Mackey, Masonic Ritualist, p. 75.
18 Ibid., p. 56.
19 Theodore Graebner, Is Masonry a Religion?, p. 60.
20 Albert G. Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, p. 641.
Chapter 5 of "Christianity and American Freemasonry" by William
J. Whalen published by Bruce Publishing Company, 1958.
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