Can a freemason be a christian as well?If not why there are christian masons and some lodges even require you to confess the trinitarian faith or even aknowldge a belief in God?Why many conservative churches(Like mine )speak up so feversly against it?Is it because of the superstitions they create ?Are they created because of the societys secresy?
What about the popular claim of “devil worshiping”
Controvesial Topic i know but im curious
Ps:Yes i know anyone with any religion can join ,but i was generally speaking about the only Christian lodges.Mind you masonry started with "christians"to say the least
The US dollar bill has freemason symbols on it. Many famous people were freemasons, e.g. Mozart and some presidents of the U.S… What exactly is the big deal?
Im just asking some question about it and whether someone can be a christian as well.Why that attitude?I never write any topic with malicious intent.I didnt even said something negative
It depends on each denomination. I went to a Wesleyan Methodist church once snd just happened to overhear the pastor mention to be a member of the congregation you could not be part of any secret societies and free masons was one of the ones mentioned. I think the majority of rejection comes from older, outdated, denominational creeds during the various superstitious eras of that particular denomination.
First there are different varieties of freemasonry, and, I only have an outsider’s knowledge. The major variety in the US are those lodges recognized by the United Grand Lodge of England. In them the initial three degrees (third degree is for master mason) only require a belief in God (and that one be male and “freeborn”) and no one need go beyond them to be a mason in good standing belonging to a lodge (blue/craft). Once a mason one can but certainly need not do Scottish Rite or York Rite and those are very Christian; they may even have been a reaction to the ordinary lodge emphasizing fellowship across denominational or religious boundaries. Freemasonry certainly has no problem with Christians (or Jews or Muslims or anyone but atheists) joining; however, various groups oppose their members belonging. Reasons include
Sometimes freemasons have discriminated in favor of fellow freemasons in employment or business or policing.
They do cut across religious boundaries which has sometimes been seen as a threat (note they first appeared around 1700 [despite claims of a long history] in Britain at a time when different religious groups tended to be insular).
They are officially secretive about their rites which leads to rumor.
They have at times been centers of radicalism (think of the number of American revolutionaries who were freemasons). This does not hold true in modern US where some lodges still do not accept African American men as candidates (there is in fact a parallel structure of lodges, Prince Hall, for African American men). Politics is also usually forbidden as a discussion topic.
Note lodges associated with the Grand Orient de France (which is not recognized by the United Grand Lodge of England) have somewhat different requirements. They do not require belief in God and may admit women. They also may allow discussion of politics.
I have that thought to!Like they might be asking some things that i would refuse becasue im Christian ,or i domnt believe in swearing an oath to the bible.
I’m not sure whether you wanted me to explain cutting across religious lines or groups seeing that as a threat.
On the first, to quote the Jewish Virtual Library
in 1723 the London Grand Lodge adopted a constitution... The constitution obliged the member only to hold "to that religion in which all men agree, leaving their particular opinions to themselves," a declaration of religious tolerance based on the current Deist trend, which postulated a Supreme Being who could be conceived of by any rational being. It is not known whether the possible aspiration of Jews to be accepted in the lodges influenced the wording of the constitution; yet it is formulated in a way that includes Jews as possible members. Thus, when a Jew asked for admission in 1732, one of the London lodges accepted him.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/freemasons
The whole is interesting reading. Not all Freemasons were as accepting.
Note this is only one aspect. Quakers are extremely unlikely to be freemasons because of the requirement of taking oaths (observant Quakers don’t do oaths). Catholics are forbidden from becoming freemasons by several edicts (Knights of Columbus is the Masonic like organization that Catholic men in the US can belong to). Some info on the Catholic Church view can be found by searching for “A Primer on Freemasonry” https://web.archive.org/web/20160722173752/http://frgeorgewillmann.org/v3/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/A-Primer-on-Freemasonry.pdf
According to Wikipedia Shriners use to be a subset of those masons who had done either the full set of York Rite or the Scottish Rite (which meant they had to be Christian) but now (as of 2000) are open to anyone whose has become a master mason.
Some info at https://www.shrinersinternational.org/Shriners/MasonShriners/Masons
Most take very seriously the support of their Children’s hospitals.
