The MWD Masonic Blog

Look for our new banner marching in the Stampede Parade with the Freemasons!  The new site with basic info about Freemasonry in Alberta is:

www.Ask.AlbertaFreemasons.org

Once again, the news feed provides something to comment on in this blog.

From the UK, we see an article that REBECCA (self-proclaimed as “Britain’s First Investigative Website”) has produced an electronic list of 13,000 Freemasons in Wales.  Anyone can access it.  For a fee, of course.  The Website asks that readers send them more information so that they can continue to add members names.

One immediately wonders what good such a list would be to anyone?

Read in context with other material on the Website one sees suggestions that Masons can commit crimes - say child abuse - and not be caught or punished because of their Masonic connections.  The Website argues that the directory will allow the public to draw their own conclusions whether Masons are up to no good.  Of course, this assumes that Masons are “obligated” to protect one another in such circumstances.  This is a surprise to Masons, who are in fact obligated to uphold the law.

And then there’s this very curious disclaimer on the Website:

“Also, just because a man is a mason doesn’t mean he’s up to no good. Common sense dictates that only a very small percentage of the men included in these lists has done anything that can be criticised.”

Common sense, indeed.  It simply takes a small step of logic to realize that “only a very small percentage” of the general public has done anything that can be criticized.  So the list of 13,000 Freemasons is about as useful as a copy of the Welsh telephone book in alerting the public to criminal wrongdoing.

And’s here’s the next logical step:  If “outing” the Welsh Freemasons will put the “Masonic influence” allegations to rest (as REBECCA seems to suggest)  then the distrust of the Craft should evaporate.  Somehow, we doubt that this will be the result.  Perhaps someone is just trying to sell subscriptions?

We recently noticed something in the Masonic-related news stories on the Google News feed to which we subscribe.    Many of the articles have pictures of a Mason or two.  In most cases the image you see is of an old man, resplendent in his well-earned regalia.  Occasionally the scene is less formal - old men in golf shirts.  And very occasionally one finds a younger man - if by younger we include a fellow in his 50’s.  Men under 40 do show up, though very, very rarely.  So what’s the problem, you ask?

The problem is the perpetuation in the public mind that Freemasons are old men in aprons.  If the image of Freemasonry should reflect the membership then we should be seeing images that include men of a variety of age group from 21 to 101.  The current tendency to concentrate on the aged doesn’t do a lot to attract young men to the Craft - if all they see is grey hair then they will naturally assume the organisation doesn’t appeal to their age group.  No amount of text in the article is going to make up for the more powerful message being given by the photos.

We need to start thinking about image in terms of accuracy instead of seniority.  There’s still plenty of room for a published photo of a senior mason, but maybe get a better cross-section of the membership in the picture as well.  It’ll do us good.

Have you ever noticed how negative some Masons can be?

We have.  Seems to some people that everything has been tried before.  And it was a failure.  If it hasn’t been tried before then it won’t work because it hasn’t been done.  You know that Grand Lodge needs to approve it, but they never will.  Why can’t kids these days understand that this Internet thing is just a fad?  Yes, doing such-and-such might be free but what’s it going to cost?  And whatever it costs they can’t afford it anyway so why bother?  And speaking of bothering, your proposed solution doesn’t make everybody happy so what’s the point?  Better that everyone all just sit here and be unhappy about it.  Misery loves company.  And it isn’t the way THEY used to do it.  Which, by the way, didn’t work.

Dan Brown’s new novel “The Lost Symbol” has been out for a couple weeks now and there’s been time for many a Mason to get through the book.  So, we have to ask, did Brown get it right?

We can report that the general consensus appears to be:  “Mostly”.

Some of the “ritual” outlined in the book has us scratching our heads and wondering what part of Mr. Brown’s imagination it came from.  Detail aside, Brown does a fairly respectable job characterising the Order.

In media interviews Brown appears to be rather appreciative of the ideals of Freemasonry.  So much so that some have been asking whether he himself is a Freemason.  Don’t bother asking us, we’re not telling.

Where do we go from here?  And by that, we don’t mean when will the inevitable feature film be released (and more importantly, will Tom Hanks have a bad haircut again).  No, in this context we’re asking whether the publicity the book generates will translate into awareness of Freemasonry.

What will Lodges do to respond to that awareness?  Will they hold media events and open houses targeted at The Lost Symbol (as some jurisdictions in Australia, New Zealand, and America have already done)?  Or will they choose to maintain the traditional silence in secret hope that all this will blow over so that they don’t have to deal with it?

Perhaps it’s because Dan Brown’s new book The Lost Symbol is coming out next month.  Perhaps it’s just the phases of the moon.  But it seems that the anti-Masonic Kooks (a.k.a. “Nutters”) are coming out in force.

One “journalistic” website (take that with a grain of salt) is printing daily diatribes against Freemasonry and engaging in puerile banter with every member of the public that chooses to post a comment with another view of the matter.  The supposed “Coup de Grace” in the articles is the Biblical quotes meant to prove the author’s arguments.  Ironically the quotes do nothing of the kind.  We doubt that the author even sees that.

Freemasonry has been a popular “whipping boy” for centuries.  Shortly after Freemasonry went semi-public in England in the early 18th century it was the target of attacks and “exposures”.  One hundred years later in America anti-Masonry rose (or sank) to such a level that an “Anti-Masonic Party” was formed to combat the Masonic influence in American society.  In more modern times we’ve seen attacks by conspiracy nuts and religious extremists, and those willing to make a quid or two from creating controversy where none exists.

Freemasonry’s philosophy of tolerance is -  ironically  - attacked by the intolerant.  It’s philosophy of attaining knowledge and understanding is attacked by the ignorant.  It’s philosophy of equality has been suppressed by despots.  It’s philosophy of Fellowship is attacked by those who wish fervently to segregate, demean, and eternally condemn.

So, you Anti-Masons out there - do you wonder why we refuse to bow to such hatred?

In the last week there’s been quite a bit of media activity around a developing situation in the State of Georgia in the United States.  At issue is the opposition of some few members of the Masonic community in Georgia to the admission of Bro.  Victor Marshall into Gate City Lodge No. 2.   More specifically, the issue is that Bro. Marshall is Black.

We’re not going to pull any punches here;  anyone who thinks that a Black Man (or a man of any other colour) shouldn’t be a Mason is just plain wrong.  Freemasonry is about equality.  It is about tolerance.  It is about fighting against ignorance.  Opposing membership on the basis of racial background runs contrary to everything for which Freemasonry stands.

Alberta’s Freemasons come from every walk of life, and every background, and every colour.  And that’s just the way it should be.

Excitement is in the air with the film adaptation of Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons hitting the big screen any day now.  Since the book was published before The DaVinci Code, the movie version of Angels and Demons is a prequel sequel.  Or is it a sequel prequel….?

Perhaps even more noteworthy is that it looks like Brown’s next book - rumour has it that it is now called The Lost Symbol and centers on Freemasonry - will be published this fall after years of anticipation.

And that brings us to a conversation we had today with a Brother Mason, who said that he was looking forward to the flood of new members that Mr. Brown’s book is going to bring.  That got us thinking.

Is a flood of new members thanks to a book (and maybe a movie) such a good thing? We decided that the awareness of Freemasonry is a good thing, but that the challenge will be to ensure that men applying for membership want to be Freemasons for all the right reasons, not the fictional ones.

And by the way, a sub-plot of Angels and Demons is that a secret society called “The Illuminati” is at the center of Freemasonry.  Perhaps future books will reveal that at the center of The Illuminati is found the sinister presence of the South Mayfield Ladies Bridge Club (meets the second Wednesday of each month.  Bring a snack).   And inside that is a chocolate center that melts when you leave it on the dash of your car in the summer.

So here’s how it always seems to go:  The Lodge meeting ends, and some well-meaning Brother comes over to you and says - with deep, sober seriousness - “You missed a word.  You forgot the word “being” in the first sentence of the such-and-such lecture.”

Yes, one word.

The scenario can vary.  Sometimes the issue is that you substituted a word.  “In” instead of “into” for example.  Now while most Brethren probably didn’t catch on, or if they did, don’t think anything of it, there are a few who can’t get past the fact that a memorized lecture wasn’t perfect.  In their minds the whole point is to say the exact words that are in the book - no more and no less - and then everybody goes home having been good Masons for another  night.   These are also probably people who are so excited about the new paint job on a used car that they never bother to look under the hood.

They’re also probably the people who treat the Little Blue Book like Gospel - handed down in this form since before time was time and men knew how to write.  Unchanging.   Immovable.  Let’s hope they don’t wander into the Masonic Library and look at the prior versions and realize that changes do happen.

There’s nothing wrong in taking pride in the memory work and striving to give a lecture well and accurately.  But we submit to you that energy put into unthinking perfection is not returned in thoughtful understanding.

Let’s keep our eyes on the ball, guys.

In our regular scanning of news items referencing Freemasonry, we noted one story that had a reader comment attacking the Craft because it does not allow women to become members.  The comments echoed the thoughts of many who are critical of Freemasonry for being “sexist” or - more pointedly in their opinion - “anti-female”.

We’ll forget for a moment that there are womens’ groups in the Masonic family of affiliations and just take this as criticism of the Fraternal core of the organization.

It would be hard to argue that Freemasonry isn’t sexist in some manner.  Fraternities - by definition - are composed of members who are male.   Equally, sororities have female membership and exclude males from joining.  One would think that those who have a problem with Freemasonry “excluding” women from membership would also have a problem with a Sorority excluding men from joining.  Oddly, this never seems to be the case.

Strangely enough, pretty much everyone seems to think it reasonable for organizations to exclude men.  There are womens’ fitness clubs that men cannot join.  Womens’ business clubs that won’t allow male membership.   There are lots of them around.  In fact, a Google search using the term “womens’ club” yields almost 40,000 web pages.

And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with womens’ organizations.  They provide services that are targeted at women, that appeal to women, and that benefit women.  Just because an organization is geared to a female membership doesn’t  mean that it should be labeled “anti-male”.

Exactly the same reasoning holds true for Freemasonry.  The Masonic fraternity is geared towards meeting the philosophical needs of a male membership using tools designed to appeal to, and to benefit men.  “Making Good Men Better” doesn’t involve diminishing women in any way.  If anything, Freemasonry teaches that Good Men should respect the women in their lives be responsible towards them.

Yet there are still those who pull on blinders and vigorously attack the Fraternity for being a fraternity.  They do so without taking any time to bother understanding it, for if they did, they’d simply see a reflection of other organizations they readily choose to accept.