Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy
lips from speaking guile.
Depart from evil, and do good;
seek peace, and pursue it.
King James Bible
By far, the most vocal opposition to Freemasonry comes from those who believe that they do so in support of their religious beliefs. We've dubbed them 'religious intolerants' because they simply cannot tolerate faith (or other) beliefs that might differ from their own. Although they wrap this in the mantle of "following <whomever/whatever>", in reality it is simply bigotry and hatred.
Freemasonry is an anathema to the person who is intolerant of another person's faith. Freemasonry accepts as members persons who claim to profess a belief in a Supreme Being and Freemasonry mandates no specific prayers or form of prayer nor does it require any set of faith-based beliefs beyond that simple statement that the applicant believes in a Supreme Being.
Virtually all of the arguments from these 'religious intolerants' come from those who adhere to a "fundamentalist" view of their religion. Whether they are Baptist, Catholic, Muslim or some other faith, their views are rigid and inflexible. They consider no thoughts or arguments which might sway their preconceived notions. Believing themselves to be Divinely inspired, they broach no dissent - and will argue with vehemence that they've been led by God (or Jesus, as is often the case) to condemn Freemasonry.
Many of the 'religious intolerants' who object to Freemasonry on religious grounds seem to share common traits:
 | Have had a "born-again" experience which brought them to their current belief in Deity; |
| Believe in the literal interpretation and the absolute inerrancy of the Bible; |
| Do not have formal training in ANY field, much less the relevant ones of theology or classic literature; |
| Are not congregants of 'traditional' religious streams; |
| Have had 'disputes' with local religious leaders causing them to 'leave in a huff' to be with others whom they perceive as more ideologically 'pure'. |
In addition, it appears that the vast majority have no post-high school education and have worked at marginal and/or non-executive jobs. They seem to have limited their reading to religious texts in agreement with their world view, immediately rejecting without consideration the ideas of those with whom they disagree.
These things in and of themselves are not uniquely problematic. There are, of course, many men and women of good-will (and with a high impression of Freemasonry) who share some of those traits. However, in addition, there are these more unsettling commonalities. They
| Do not belong to a 'mainstream' religious group; |
| Are unwilling to publicly identify their church affiliation; |
| Became aware of 'the evils of Freemasonry' through some type of "ministry" which is also against a number of other groups as well (even though their objections might appear to be solely against Freemasonry); |
| Rely on what others have said/written rather than objectively looking at facts; |
| Are loathe to acknowledge that what they've understood might be wrong in the arguments against Freemasonry; |
| Are close followers of a charismatic leader - or totally refuse to accept the religious leadership of another person arguing that each person is a "preacher" in accordance (in their mind) with the Bible; |
| Have limited (if any) training in areas such as the Bible, church history, philosophy, or logic (but may consider what they've read in anti-Masonic books or tracts, found on the internet, or heard from a self-labeled "preacher" - or even a proven liar - as sufficient 'proof'); |
| Are intolerant of other's religious beliefs and ideals, wishing to remain safe and secure in the knowledge that they have the 'ultimate answers'; |
| Have a "spiritual advisor" and demand others identify the person whom that they have for this purpose in order to somehow 'vet' the religious beliefs held; and |
| Often loudly and vigorously differ with others over religious theories and interpretations. |
Another common - although not universal - trait amongst this small group is a hatred of those of the Jewish faith and of people of color.
Many of the arguments against Freemasonry arise from the perceived (and argued to be God-inspired) need by this 'religious intolerant' to "witness" at all times and in all places. Finding Freemasons allows one such opportunity - and particularly in the electronic world where anonymity and a potentially wide audience exists. They see it as a wonderful way to serve their religion.
Religious intolerants do their
religion and themselves a disservice, though, by 'turning off' those who are
willing to listen to provable evidence.
On related pages, we present a couple of more thoughts about those who are religiously intolerant. These editorial comments will, perhaps, be meaningful to readers who can't understand how people could be so rigid, inflexible and ..... intolerant!
Updated November, 2003
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