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."

Membership

Freemasonry accepts members from almost any religion, including Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and so forth. While atheists and agnostics are unreservedly accepted in Lodges working in the Continental tradition, most Masonic Lodges have required, since the early 19th century, that a candidate must profess a belief in a Supreme Being. But even there, one finds a high degree of non-dogmatism, and the phrase Supreme Being is often given a very broad interpretation, usually allowing Deism and often even allowing naturalistic views of "God/Nature" in the tradition of Spinoza and Goethe (himself a Freemason), or views of The Ultimate or Cosmic Oneness, such as found in some Eastern religions and in Western idealism (or for that matter, in modern cosmology). This leads some to suggest that even Anglo Freemasonry will, in practice, end up accepting certain kinds of atheists—those willing to adopt a certain brand of spiritual language. Such claims are difficult to evaluate, since many Anglo jurisdictions consider any further enquiry into a prospective member's religion, beyond the "Supreme Being" question, to be off limits. However, in some Anglo jurisdictions (mostly English-speaking), Freemasonry is actually less tolerant of naturalism than it was in the 18th century, and specific religious requirements with more theistic and orthodox overtones have been added since the early 19th century, including (mostly in North America) belief in the immortality of the soul. The Freemasonry that predominates in Scandinavia, known as the Swedish Rite, accepts only Christians.

Related Topics:
Christianity - Judaism - Hinduism - Buddhism - 19th century - Deism - Spinoza - Goethe - The Ultimate - Idealism - Cosmology - Theistic - Scandinavia - Swedish Rite

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Generally, to be a Freemason, one must:

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• be a man who comes of his own free will
• believe in a Supreme Being, or, in some jurisdictions, a Creative Principle (unless joining a jurisdiction with no religious requirement, as in the Continental tradition),
• be at least the minimum age (18–25 years depending on the jurisdiction),
• be of sound mind, body and of good morals, and
• be free (or "born free", i.e. not born a slave or bondsman).

The "free born" requirement is moot in modern Lodges; it remains for purely historical reasons. The "sound body" requirement is today generally taken to mean "physically capable of taking part in Lodge rituals", and most Lodges today are quite flexible when it comes to accommodating disabled candidates.

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See also: List of famous Freemasons

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Women in Freemasonry

The position of women within Freemasonry is complex. Traditionally, only men could be made Freemasons. While this has been slowly changing, especially over the past century, there were exceptions to the rule as early as the 18th century. Perhaps the most authoritative account of a woman being admitted to Freemasonry in these early years surrounds Elizabeth Aldworth (nee St. Leger), who is reported to have viewed the proceedings of a Lodge meeting held at Doneraile House, the house of her father, first Viscount Doneraile, a resident of Cork, Ireland. In the early part of the 18th century, it was customary for Lodges to be regularly held in private houses; this Lodge was duly warranted as number 150 on the register of the Grand Lodge of Ireland. Apparently, she removed a brick and saw the ceremony in the room beyond. After being discovered, Elizabeth's situation was discussed by the Lodge, and it was decided that she should be initiated into Freemasonry. The story is supported by other accounts that record how she was a subscriber to the Irish Book of Constitutions of 1744 and that she frequently attended, wearing her Masonic regalia, entertainments that were given under Masonic auspices for the benefit of the poor and distressed. She afterwards married Mr. Richard Aldworth of Newmarket. It is also reported that when she died she was accorded the honour of a Masonic burial.

Related Topics:
18th century - Elizabeth Aldworth - Viscount - Cork - Ireland - Grand Lodge of Ireland - Regalia

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While Mrs. Aldworth's situation was a very irregular (and perhaps unique) one, the admission of women was systematized when International Co-Masonry began in France in 1882 with the initiation of Maria Deraismes into the Loge Libre Penseurs (Freethinkers Lodge), a men's Lodge under the Grande Loge Symbolique de France. In 1893, along with activist Georges Martin, Maria Deraismes oversaw the initiation of sixteen women into the first Lodge in the world to have both men and women as members, creating the jurisdiction Le Droit Humain (LDH).

Related Topics:
Co-Masonry - France - Maria Deraismes - Le Droit Humain

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In the United Kingdom and France, and most other countries, women still generally join co-Masonic Lodges, such as those under LDH, or they join Lodges under local jurisdictions that admit only women. In North America, it is more common for women not to become Freemasons per se, but to join an associated body with its own, separate traditions, such as the Order of the Eastern Star (OES), which admits only male Freemasons and their female relatives. In the Netherlands, there is a completely separate, although allied, sorority for women, the Order of Weavers (OOW), which uses symbols from weaving rather than stonemasonry.

Related Topics:
United Kingdom - France - North America - Order of the Eastern Star - Netherlands - Order of Weavers

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The GOdF and other Continental jurisdictions give full formal recognition to co-Freemasonry and women's Freemasonry. The UGLE and other Anglo jurisdictions do not formally recognize any Masonic body that accepts women, although in many countries they have an understanding and a kind of informal acceptance that such bodies are part of Freemasonry in a larger sense. The UGLE, for instance, has recognized (since 1998) two local women's jurisdictions as regular in practice, except for their inclusion of women, and has indicated that, while not formally recognized, these bodies may be regarded as part of Freemasonry. Thus, the position of women in Freemasonry is rapidly changing in the English-speaking world. While in many cases North America is following England's lead on the issue of women, the remaining resistance to women in Freemasonry is mostly concentrated there.

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Prince Hall Masonry

In 1775, an African American named Prince Hall was initiated into an Irish Constitution Military Lodge, along with fourteen other African Americans, all of whom were free by birth. When the Military Lodge left the area, the African Americans were given the authority to meet as a Lodge, form Processions on the days of the Saints John, and conduct Masonic funerals, but not to confer degrees nor to do other Masonic Work. These individuals applied for, and obtained, a Warrant for Charter from the Grand Lodge of England in 1784 and formed African Lodge #459. Despite being stricken from the rolls (like all American Grand Lodges after the 1813 merger of the Antients and the Moderns) the Lodge restyled itself as the African Lodge #1 (not to be confused with the various Grand Lodges on the Continent of Africa), and separated itself from UGLE-recognised Masonry. This led to a tradition of separate, predominantly African American jurisdictions in North America, known collectively as Prince Hall Freemasonry. Widespread racism and segregation in North America made it impossible for African Americans to join many so-called "mainstream" Lodges, and many mainstream Grand Lodges in North America refused to recognize as legitimate the Prince Hall Lodges and Prince Hall Masons in their territory.

Related Topics:
1775 - African American - Prince Hall - 1784 - 1813 - Africa - Racism - Segregation

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Presently, Prince Hall Masonry is recognized by some UGLE-recognized Grand Lodges and not by others, and appears to be working its way toward full recognition (see http://www.mindspring.com/~johnsonx/whoisph.htm). It is also no longer unusual for traditional lodges to have significant numbers of African-American members.

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