Social Objections

"It is a general popular error to suppose the loudest complainers for the public to be the most anxious for its welfare."
Edmund Burke (1729–97), Irish philosopher, statesman.

It's fashionable today to find boogey-men hiding in every corner. In days of constant news and insatiable curiosity, it should be easy to understand how a three hundred year old institution which has always been quiet (somewhat secretive, in fact) and slow to respond to the charges of its critics could be seen as something to fear. Within this realm, Freemasonry looms large as one of those 'boogey-men'!

The 'social objections' to Freemasonry are primarily presented by those who believe that a horrid 'New World Order' is arriving and that Masons are part of this overarching conspiracy. Many of these who rail against Masons and Masonry are simultaneously 'religious intolerants' but others have a confused message of nationalistic jingoism which berates Masons for founding the United States in a manner which is not to their liking.

Here we address claims such as the following:

Freemasonry is a cult;

It practices racism and one of its leaders (Albert Pike) started the Ku Klux Klan;

Freemasonry has encouraged revolutions;

Freemasons started the American Revolution with the Boston Tea Party

Freemasons caused/supported the French Revolution

Freemasons are somehow related to Nazism

Freemasons are part of the "New World Order" and are intent on taking over the world

Freemasons designed Washington, DC with secret symbols

There's a secret cabal in which Freemasons and Jews have been plotting to take over the world;

If it isn't the Freemasons and the Jews, then it's the Illuminati;

And if it isn't the Freemasons, Jews, and/or Illuminati, it's the 33rd Degree Masons who're running this secret plot;

And regardless of who's running things, it's the Masons who know all about it;

Masons were involved in the assassination of U. S. President John F. Kennedy in 1963;

Masons are building a concentration camp under the Denver Airport as they prepare for world takeover;

The Great Seal of the United States is a secret Masonic symbol;

The Eye of the Pyramid (found in the Great Seal) is yet another Masonic symbol designed to convey secret messages;

The symbols of Masonry are on "our" money (from the folks in the US....)

The Freemasons are keeping some big secret about the US (as seen in the movie 'National Treasure');

Freemasonry is going to take over Japan (A group using this argument felt justified in using nerve gas against the Japanese population);

Albert Pike and Giuseppe Mazzini have planned out three world wars;

Freemasonry is a sexist organization in that it admits only men

Freemasonry 'favors its own' and if you're a member, you get special favors from judges, police and others

Freemasonry has thousands of degrees and no one can take them all

There's no central authority so no one is ever responsible for Freemasonry's actions

Jack the Ripper, the infamous English murder from over a century ago was either a Mason or protected by Masons

Freemasonry has 'bloody oaths' which should not be tolerated by society and which keeps Masons from admitting their evils including the protection of those who commit evil deeds, murder and treason excepted

There are devils in Kenya and it's the Freemasons and Mormons who're manipulating them and/or Freemasons worship Satan

Freemasons killed someone (Captain William Morgan) who tried to expose their secrets

A lodge in Italy (P-2) attempted to overthrow the Pope

Freemasonry requires its initiates to pay homage to a "Master".

Freemasons are required to obey Masonic authority

Freemasonry is part of the ADL (Anti-Defamation League) and supports British Israelism

Freemasonry is a social evil. Hamas, various former Russian politicians, and others say so. (Actually, we think that you can pretty fairly judge Freemasonry by its enemies in nearly all cases!)

Freemasonry won't let me tell my wife the 'secrets' I'll learn

I promised to never take off my wedding ring but in the ceremonies, I'll have to do that. That's unfair!

Disregarding the good that Freemasons have done throughout these past three centuries (see our section on Masonic charities, for just a few examples), insinuations of wrong-doing persist. Common arguments against Freemasonry today will often begin with a tale of political intrigue: the supposed murder of a defecting Freemason! What they fail to mention is that this occurred nearly 200 years ago (William M organ). They may add that a never-identified killer of prostitutes in England (Jack The Ripper) over a century ago was a Mason.

As time passed, Freemasonry found itself linked through innuendo and whispering but without any proof whatsoever to such unsavory things as the Ku Klux Klan, world takeover with a religion (the Jews), and the assassination of US President John Kennedy. Today, paranoia runs rampant, tying both Masons and Masonry in a patchwork quilt of groups who supposedly are attempting to create some type of "New World Order" or to imagined gas chambers under the Denver International Airport. On the right you'll see a listing of the various 'social objections' to Freemasonry. We urge you to examine these in detail.

Are these objections legitimate?

When contemplating some of what we describe as 'social' objections to Freemasonry, it's easy to discern the cataclysmic warnings also found in the religious objections. Particularly, though, from the social perspective, it is both instructive and eerie to re-read Richard Hofstadter's classic essay, "The Paranoid Style in American Politics". This work is one we read in college and again at the outset of this site's creation. We would encourage anyone who wonders what is going on with the world to get a copy of this truly classical work. Hofstadter notes that the conspiratorial bent has infected disparate ideological movements over the course of American history and includes reference to Freemasonry. Anyone surfing the web today can readily observe his hypotheses in action.

Hofstadter found key symptoms that were common in the paranoid style:

"The paranoid spokesman sees the fate of conspiracy in apocalyptic terms--he traffics in the birth and death of whole worlds, whole political orders, whole systems of human values. He is always manning the barricades of civilization...."

"As a member of the avant-garde who is capable of perceiving the conspiracy before it is fully obvious to an as yet unaroused public, the paranoid is a militant leader. He does not see social conflict as something to be mediated and compromised, in the manner of the working politician. Since what is at stake is always a conflict between absolute good and absolute evil, what is necessary is not compromise but the will to fight things out to a finish."

And this is what we find with SO many anti-Masons: that desire to be the 'watchman on the wall' defending - whatever it is they imagine themselves defending. Keep one eye open as you sleep tonight: you never know when this three hundred year old organization will FINALLY get it right and control the world! (PS: I've got 'dibs' on Bermuda in case anyone's interested!)

Updated 24 October 2004. 19 July 2005, 26 December 2005, and 21 February 2006

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