Anti-Masonry

Freemasonry around the world may differ from place to place, but it always stresses nondogmatism and tolerance (albeit often within certain defined limits). This openness has led to friction between Freemasonry and organizations which view ecumenism with a negative eye, or insist on intolerance towards other forms of belief and worship. Masons have thus been opposed throughout their history by various conservative religious groups, such as conservative Protestants and radical Muslims. The most vigorous opposition to the fraternity, however, has come from the Catholic Church (primarily because of the religious tolerance of Masonry). The first papal condemnation of Freemasonry came in 1738 from Pope Clement XII in his papal bull "Eminenti Apostolatus Specula," repeated by several later popes, notably Pope Leo XIII in the encyclical[?] "Humanum Genus" (1884). The 1917 Code of Canon Law[?] explicitly declares that joining Freemasonry entailed automatic excommunication; the revised Code issued in 1983 does not explicitly name Masonic orders among the secret societies condemned in canon 1374. However, in a letter to the United States Bishops from the Office of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the interpretation was made clear--the prohibition against Catholics joining Masonic orders remains. The general reason given for this opposition is that the Catholic Church views Freemasonry as a "naturalized religion". One reason the Free Methodist Church was founded in the 1860s was that its founders believed the Methodist Church was being influenced by Freemasons and members of secret societies. The Free Methodist Church continues to prohibit its members from also joining societies such as the Freemasons. Recently the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest association of Baptists in the United States, also stated that participation in Freemasonry is inconsistent with their beliefs.

The former Spanish dictator Francisco Franco was obsessed about Jew-Masonic conspiracies (contubernio judeomasónico). In this he was echoing many Catholic writers which preceded him, including Fr. Denis Fahey[?]. The Law for the Repression of Freemasonry and Communism (1st March[?] 1940) and its Special Tribunal (1940-1964) crushed Spanish masons. A centre in Salamanca held the seized documents and files for every mason, suspected or real.

It is believed by many non-Masons that Freemasons are involved in worship, and even theurgy, as well as being members of a vast and insidious social network[?] that is constructed to aid and further member interests, and perhaps even control world politics. Hence, many conspiracy theories involve the Freemasons. Masons overwhelmingly deny these claims, and indeed there is little evidence for their veracity. While the practice of theurgy, or other magical or mystical systems, is not particularly associated with Freemasonry (mainstream Masonry has always tended more to rationalism than to mysticism), there are some groups of Masons, such as Masonic Rosicrucians, that may interpret Masonic ritual magically (or "hermetically"), which is their right as Masons, given the fraternity's nondogmatic stance. But the very existence of "fringe" hermetic interpretations within Masonry has lead some conservative Christians to label Freemasonry as "Satanic". This charge, vehemently denied by most Masons, has been exacerbated by numerous fraudulent attacks through the years, many of which have propagated these ideas, such as the famous Taxil hoax.

The traditional Masonic obligations, sworn to by a candidate during the initiation ritual, are sometimes called "blood oaths", particularly by those critical of the fraternity. The candidate wishes severe physical punishment on himself should he ever reveal the secrets of Freemasonry to a non-Mason. While many non-Masons are horrified by this, Masons defend the traditional obligations as no more literal than the commonplace childhood "blood oaths", like "cross my heart and hope to die"--a very psychologically powerful way to express a serious bond or promise. In addition, some Masons argue that the bloody punishments mentioned in the obligations are, historically, references to the punishments that the state used to inflict on defenders of civil liberties and religious freedoms, such as Freemasons. But in spite of repeated attempts to defend them, by the early 1980s, the "blood oaths" had become quite problematic from a public relations standpoint, and most Masonic jurisdictions replaced them with more politically correct "bloodless oaths".

Many non-Masons mistakenly believe that individuals become Freemasons through invitation, patrimony, or other non-democratic means. This is incorrect, as an individual must ask freely and without persuasion to become a Freemason in order to join the fraternity. This in itself causes some criticism, insofar as it would seem that one would only approach the masons based on rumours. The popular television program The Simpsons once featured an episode revolving around the "Stonecutters," a group obviously meant as a satire of Freemasons and similar organizations. This episode promoted the myth that, in order to join the group, one must "... be the son of a ... [Freemason] or save the life of a ... [Freemason]", which is, again, untrue.

Many of these myths have taken hold in the public imagination partly because Freemasons tend to be low-key and somewhat secretive, although this is changing to some extent, as Masons have attempted in recent years to make their organization more open to public view, and have begun to deny the charges of the anti-Masons more vigorously (see [1] (http://www.masonicinfo.com/)).

Many conspiracy theories have arisen around the Freemasons. This seems to have happened not only because of the fact of their secrecy, but also because the reasons for condemning them for religious plurality do not make sense to most people in modern day religiously plural societies (thus they invent a new reason why the Freemasons must be bad).

See also: United States Anti-Masonic Party