Freemasonry

Freemasonry is a worldwide fraternal organization. Its members are joined together by shared ideals of both a moral and metaphysical nature, and, in most of its branches, by a common belief in a Supreme Being. Freemasonry is an esoteric art, in that certain aspects of its internal work are not generally revealed to the public. Masons give numerous reasons for this, one of which is that Freemasonry uses an initiatory system of degrees to explore ethical and philosophical issues, and this system is less effective if the observer knows beforehand what will happen. It often calls itself "a peculiar system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols."

Contemporary challenges

Like many other fraternal organizations in the post-World War II era, Freemasonry in some districts of the United States, the UK and other Anglo jurisdictions has been losing members, through attrition, faster than it can replenish its rolls. In the United States, the average age of members is around 45. In contrast, the number of Masons is generally on the rise in South America and Continental Europe.

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Many Grand Lodges in the U.S. have tried a variety of often-controversial measures to address declining membership, including "one-day" ceremonies of the three degrees for large groups of candidates (as opposed to individual degree conferrals taking months or years to complete), advertising on billboards, and even active recruitment of new candidates by members (as opposed to the tradition of considering only those who actively seek membership for themselves). Some Masons object to the traditions and principles of Freemasonry being diluted by these changes, feeling that the Fraternity has survived centuries of social change without changing itself; others cite a need for Freemasonry to modernize and make itself relevant to new generations.

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U.S. Freemasonry also faces an image problem because some people perceive it as being racist. This is due in part to the fact that only three Grand Lodges in the states that were part of the Confederacy during the Civil War era now recognize their Prince Hall counterparts (all those in the Northern part of the U.S., including Alaska and Hawaii, recognize their Prince Hall counterparts; see http://bessel.org/masrec/phamapshistorical.htm).

Related Topics:
Racist - Confederacy - Civil War - Prince Hall - Alaska - Hawaii

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In Britain, Freemasons are strongly associated with the various police forces throughout the island. In Scotland, they have long been accused of being anti-Catholic. Scotland has a large Catholic minority.

Related Topics:
Britain - Scotland - Catholic

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Anti-masonry in Estonia is connected with nazism and anti-semitism.

Related Topics:
Estonia - Nazism - Anti-semitism

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