As a fraternal association dedicated to making good men better, Freemasonry respects the religious beliefs of all its members. Freemasonry has no theology and does not teach any method of salvation. In particular it does not claim that good works guarantee salvation.
Freemasons are united in their desire to be of service to mankind
While Freemasonry supports homes for members and their spouses, most Masonic services, including Shrine medical and burn centers, are available to all citizens. In 1990, American Masonic philanthropy totaled more than $525 million, of which 58% went to the general public.
Freemasonry is an open, not secretive, society
Masonic meetings are announced publicly, Masonic buildings are marked clearly and are listed in phone directories, and Masons proudly wear jewelry identifying their membership. Freemasons inherited a tradition of trade secrets from the cathedral building guilds of medieval Europe. The only "secrets" still belonging to modem Masonry are traditional passwords, signs of recognition, and dramatic presentation of moral lessons. Freemasonry is open to all men of good character who believe in God. Freemasonry does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, or social class.
The Masonic family of organizations is open to all
Freemasonry admits only men, but many Masonic related organizations, such as the Eastern Star, Amaranth, Job's Daughters, Rainbow for Girls and DeMolay for Boys, offer ample opportunities for women and youth.
Freemasonry does not require improper oaths
The solemn promises taken in Freemasonry are no different than the oaths taken in court or on entering the armed services. The much discussed "penalties," judicial remnants from an earlier age, are symbolic, not literal. They refer only to the pain any honest man should feel at the thought of violating his word.
Freemasonry teaches individual improvement through study
Freemasonry encourages study, including literature by the great writers of ancient times. Freemasonry does not sanction the views of these authors but offers them for each individual's reflection and evaluation.
Freemasonry teaches in steps
Masons learn through a series of lessons. These "degrees" of insight move from basic to more complex concepts. This no more hides the nature of Freemasonry from novice members than does having student understand fractions before calculus.Masonry is practiced worldwide.There are approximately 2.5 million Masons in the United States and nearly 6 million throughout the world.
Freemasonry has no single spokesman
Freemasonry is made up of many individuals in numerous organizations, all subordinate to the Grand Lodge within their jurisdiction (i.e. state). None of these members organizations can speak for Freemasonry; that is the responsibility of each Grand Lodge within its jurisdiction. No Masonic body nor author, however respected, can usurp the authority of a Grand Lodge.
Appendant Bodies
Masonry has many groups, each with a special social, educational, or philanthropic focus. A man becomes a Mason in his local Lodge. Then he joins any of the following "Appendant Bodies": the Scottish Rite, York Rite (which includes the Royal Arch and Knights Templar), Shriners, Grottoes, Tall Cedars, etc.
Anti-Masonry
Usually anti-Masonry centers around two subjects: Religion) “A Christian cannot be a Mason” and Politics) Conspiracy theories to “take over the world”. It’s interesting to note that Freemasons are forbidden to discuss religion or politics in the Lodge and yet those are the two subjects most often used to attack the Fraternity.A recent e-mail to the Masonic Information Center said: “A friend told me Freemasonry is a cult.” To substantiate this charge was a quote from the book Cults which stated: “The term So Mote It Be is a witchcraft oath.” The use of the term “Worshipful” is often misrepresented, and the accusation is made that so called “bloody oaths” are part of the obligations.The following attempts to address the above misunderstandings.
"Why is a Master addressed as “Worshipful?”
Few Masonic matters are less understood by the non-Masonic public than this. The word “worchyppe” or “worchyp” is Old English, and means “greatly respected.” In the Wycliffe Bible “Honor thy father and thy mother” appears as “Worchyp thy fadir and thy modir.” English and Canadian mayors are still addressed, “Your Worship.” In some of the Old Constitutions of Masonry it the phrase, “Every Mason shall prefer his elder and put him to worship.” “Worshipful,” therefore, in modern Masonry continues an ancient word meaning “greatly respected.” A Grand Master is “Most Worshipful,” that is, “Most greatly respected” (except in Pennsylvania, where the Grand Master is “Right Worshipful,” as are Pennsylvania’s and Texas’ Past Grand Masters).
"Why do we use “So Mote It Be” instead of “Amen”?
“So Mote It Be” are the final words in the Regius Poem. “Mote” is old English for “may.” Masons have used the phrase since the beginning of the written history of the craft. Freemasonry includes many other words, now obsolete, which bring the sanctity of age and continuity of ritual from ancient days to modern times.
"What Masonic Penalties Are Enforced"?
The only penalties known to Freemasonry are reprimand; suspension from membership; and expulsion from the Fraternity. To these must be added that intangible penalty which comes to any one who loses all or part of his reputation. Other penalties suggested in the ritual are wholly symbolic – are not now and never have been enforced. They were legal punishments in the middle ages, designed with special reference to the religious beliefs of the time that an incomplete body could not “rise from the dead”, that a body buried in unconsecrated ground (as between high and low water mark) could not ascend into heaven. Some Grand Lodges offer an interpretation of the ritualistic penalties, in order to be sure the initiate understands the symbolic char
acter of these otherwise difficult phrases.
Some Famous Masons
COMPOSERS: Irving Berlin, George M. Cohan, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, John Phillip Sousa, Richard Wagner, Franz Joseph Haydn, Franz Listz, and many others.ENTERTAINERS: John Wayne, Gene Autry, Ernest Borgnine, Joe E. Brown, Bob Burns, Eddie Cantor, Charles D. Coburn, William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody, Donald Crisp, Cecil B. DeMille, Richard Dix, Douglas Fairbanks Sr., W.C. Fields, Clark Gable, Arthur Godfrey, David W. Griffith, Oliver Hardy, Jean Hersholt, Harry Houdini, Al Jolson, Charles "Buck" Jones, Harry Kellar, Harold C. Lloyd, Tom Mix, Dick Powell, Will Rogers, Charles S. "Tom Thumb" Stratton, Richard B. "Red" Skelton, Paul Whiteman, Ed Wynn, Darryl Zanuck and many others.
SCULPTORS: Gutzon Borglum and his son, Lincoln Borglum (together carved Mt. Rushmore National Memorial), Johann G. Schadow (Prussian Court Sculptor) J. Otto Schweizer and many others.WRITERS: Robert Burns, Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Author of Sherlock Holmes), Edward Gibbon (Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire), Edgar A. Guest, Rudyard Kipling, Alexander Pope, Sir Walter Scott, Jonathan Swift, Lowell Thomas, Voltair, Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Schiller and many others.
BUSINESS LEADERS: John Jacob Astor (financier), Lloyd Balfour (Jewelry), Lawrence Bell (Bell Aircraft Corp.), William H. Dow (Dow Chemical Co.), Henry Ford, Alfred Fuller (Fuller Brush), King C. Gillett (Gillett Razor Co.), Sir Thomas Lipton (tea), Fredrick Maytag, Andrew W. Mellon (banker), James C. Penny, George Pullman, David Sarnoff (father of T.V.), Leland Stanford (railroads - Stanford Univ.) and many others.
MILITARY LEADERS: Generals John J. Pershing, George Marshall, Douglas MacArthur, Joseph Stillwell, Johnathon Wainwright, Curtis E. LaMay, Omar N. Bradley, Henry H. "Hap" Arnold, Claire L. Chenault, Mark Clark, James Doolittle, Admirals David G. Farragut (First Admiral of the U.S. Navy), Ernest J. King, Richard Byrd, General Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben and many others.
UNITED STATES PATRIOTS: Francis Scott Key (wrote our National Anthem), Ralph Bellamy (wrote our Pledge of Allegiance), Paul Revere, John Paul Jones, Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, Patrick Henry and many others.
UNITED STATES POLITICIANS: Thomas Dewey, Everett Dirksen, Fiorello H. LaGuardia, John Marshall, Barry Goldwater, Hubert Humphrey, Robert Dole, Jack Kemp and others.
UNITED STATES PRESIDENTS: George Washington, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, James Polk, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, James Garfield, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William H. Taft, Warren G. Harding, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman and Gerald Ford.
WORLD LEADERS: Emilio Aguinaldo (Phillippine Patriot and General), Miguel Aleman (Mexican President 1947-52), Eduard Benes (President of Czechoslovakia 1939-48), Sveinn Bjornsson (1st President of Iceland), Simon Bolivar ("George Washington of S. America") Napoleon Bonaparte (and his four brothers), King Charles XIII (King of Sweden 1748-1818), Sir Winston Churchill, Randolph Churchill, King Edward VII and King Edward VIII (Kings of England, 1901-10 & 36, respectively), Francis II (Holy Roman Emperor, 1768-1806), Frederick the Great (King of Prussia 1740-86), George I & George II (Kings of Greece, 1845-1913 & 1922-47), George IV & George VI (Kings of England 1760-1820 & 1820-30), Gustavus VI Adolphus (King of Sweden 1792-1809), Kamehemeha IV and Kemehemeha V (Kings of Hawaii (1854-63 & 1863-72) Leopold I (King of Belgium (1831-65), Peter the Great (Emperor of Russia 1689-1725), William I (King of Prussia 1861-88), William II (King of the Netherlands (1792-1849), William IV (King of England (1830-37) and many others.
RELIGIOUS LEADERS: James C. Baker (Bishop, Methodist Church, organized first Wesley Foundation in U.S.), Hosea Ballou (Founder, Universalist Church), Robert E. B. Baylor (Baptist clergyman, founder of Baylor University), Preston Bradley (founder of the Peoples Church), Father Francisco Calvo (Catholic Priest who started Freemasonry in Costa Rica in 1865), Hugh I. Evans (National head of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.), Most Reverend Geoffrey F. Fisher (former Archbishop of Canterbury), Eugene M. Frank (Methodist Bishop), Reverend Dr. Norman Vincent Peale (Methodist Episcopal minister and author) Titus Low (President of Methodist Council of Bishops), Thomas Starr King, Swami Vivekananda and many others.
ASTRONAUTS: Ed Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, Gordon Cooper, Don Eisle, Virgil Grissom, Ed Michell, Tom Stafford, Fred Haise, and Wally Shirra.EXPLORERS: Hiram Bingham (Discoverer of Machu Picchu), James Bruce (Discoverer of the source of the Blue Nile), Adm. Richard E. Byrd, Christopher "Kit" Carson, William Clark; Merriwether Lewis, and Robert E. Peary.
INVENTORS AND SCIENTISTS: Samuel Colt (firearms), Sir Alexander Fleming (penicillin), Edward Jenner (vaccination) Simon Lake (first practical submarine), John L. McAdam (Macadamized roads), Luther Burbank and many others.SPORTS: Grover C. Alexander, Cy Young, Jack Dempsey, Arnold Palmer, Tyrus R. "Ty" Cobb, Carl O. Hubbell, Christopher "Christy" Mathewson, Mordecai P.C. Brown, Gordon "Mickey" Corchran, Avery Brundage, Albert "Happy" Chandler, Branch Rickey, Knute Rockne and many others.
YOUTH ORGANIZATION FOUNDERS: Daniel Carter Beard (Boy Scouts), Frank S. Land (International Order of DeMolay), William Mark Sexson (International Order of Rainbow for Girls)
View Film - "What it means to be a Mason", produced by the Grand Lodge of Massachussetts
Laudable Pursuit - A 21st Century Response to Dwight Smith by the Knights of the North. A progressive view of Masonic Potential.
Click here to visit a German Language Masonic FAQ web site