(Death, Heaven, Purgatory, Hell)
Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults
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The Masonic Religion
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 threshold 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.