To begin, I visited beafreemason.org, the active freemason sight online now. On the site I found very lofty language of a higher purpose in life. From the site's front page I got:
Become the best version of you. Answer the call. Begin the journey
Freemasonry (or Masonry) is the oldest fraternal organization in the world. Though its origins can be traced to the stonemasons and cathedral builders of Medieval times, Freemasonry remains a vital force in the daily lives of millions of men across the globe.
Through a series of degrees and ceremonies, the values of Freemasonry are passed from generation to generation, Mason to Mason, in a timeless and tireless effort to make good men better. These degrees provide a framework that affects every aspect of modern life and are based on the values of brotherly love, relief, and truth.
Every year in virtually every city and town across America, thousands of men join the ranks of Freemasonry. Men of honor and integrity. Of charity and obligation. Each with a vow to be the best they can be. To be more than just a man. To be a Mason.
The core ethical principles of Freemasonry are about compassion and tolerance for all mankind. Freemasons do not use their position in the fraternity to advance an agenda, whether it be political, professional, religious, or secular.
THE THREE TENETS OF FREEMASONRY INCLUDE:
BROTHERLY LOVE
Devotion to and caring for each other and our community
RELIEF
Concern for and selfless giving to those in distress
TRUTH
Using knowledge, honesty, and understanding to build ourselves into better men
So now you have their landing page elovater pitch. But what do they have to do with listed page sponsors the Scottish Rite Temples? My mom was at one of those back in the day when she was in Job's Daughters, she said. And they are located everywhere in the states.
I found ScotishRite.org who stated that the first meeting was first held in 1717. The Scottish Rite Temples are where freemasons congregate and hold events. Mystery solved.
So we dig now into where were Freemasons were founded and by who?
In a recent book review about Freemasons: The life and times of a men’s cult by Vincent G. Ole 5/9/22, Ole reviews the book "The Craft: How the Freemasons made the Modern World, by Author John Dickie "
From the article:
A secret society created in Scotland in the 18th century, the Freemasons have spread across the world. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin even founded a Masonic lodge on the Moon.
John Dickie, author of "The Craft" says that Freemasonry is best understood as a paradox: it is a secret society, but the secrets are clear; it adheres to Enlightenment values, but its members have committed great cruelty.
Dickie, who is a professor of Italian Studies at University College London, says it is the ceremonial aspect of Masonry that unites the membership, whose rituals include the tearing of clothes, giving of symbols, kneeling or swearing.
The professor says that Freemasonry can also be understood as a kind of religion, due to its focus on death.
Indeed, under fire from the secular revolutions of Europe, the Church was deeply threatened by the arrival of the Freemasons in the 18th century.
In 1850, Pope Pius IX gave the Jesuits “a crucial role” …[who] lashed out at the Masons, blaming them for “all the ills of the world”. In doing so, the Jesuits made the conflict between the newcomers (Masons) and the Church highly visible, and the Freemasons only won more members.
Wow. Freemasons vs. Jesuits. Set the cult time machine to wayback. So you see the roots are that Masonry competed with pop religion in the 18th century.
The Craft makes note of the contradictions between the humanistic ideas of Freemasonry with the sometimes brutal actions of its members. For example, Freemason U.S. President Harry S. Truman, ordered the dropping of the first atomic bomb and caused hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths.
The Craft names a number of historical figures who have belonged to Freemason lodges throughout the world, including Garibaldi, Simón Bolívar, George Washington, Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle, Goethe, Oscar Wilde, Sibelius, Peter Sellers, Isaac Newton, Oliver Hardy, Walt Disney, Buffalo Bill, Nat King Cole, Mozart, and Haydn.
As many influential secret societies do, they appeal to those searching for the meaning of life.
The author of Craft, Is not a Mason himself, explaining that “I am an atheist and to be a Mason you have to believe in God, in a supreme being.”
The Catholic Church does not approve of Freemasons. According to CatholicEducation.org
Many Catholics view Freemasonry as a dangerous — even Satanic — conspiracy founded to destroy the Faith. On the other hand, the Craft likes to present itself as "an ancient Order dedicated to the Brotherhood of Man and the Fatherhood of God." Some of the "Brethren" may take that description seriously, depending on which room of the Masonic edifice they inhabit. But the Lodge has many suites, annexes, and outbuildings whose inmates are not necessarily fraternal towards each other, much less filial towards God.
A fervent minority of Anglo-American Masons acquire additional degrees teaching more sophisticated symbolism in separate organizations called Appendant Bodies that are not controlled by the Mother Lodge. These are the York Rite (10 more grades) and the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite (30 more grades) which is subdivided into Northern and Southern Jurisdictions. Holders of the highest degrees in either Rite are eligible to join the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (Shriners) for philanthropy and fun.
The Craft originated in the British Isles and the overwhelming majority of its members still live in English-speaking countries. According to the Masonic Service Association, there are about 1.2 million Freemasons in the United States, down from a high of 4 million in 1958. Far fewer men in Latin countries belong to the separate Grand Orient system, whose components are not usually recognized by the Mother Lodge.
But the real origin of the Craft, as Masonic historians now admit, lies in Renaissance esotericism, injected into the guild traditions developed by medieval stoneworkers.
Spreading throughout the world, Freemasonry reached the Continent by 1721 and America by 1730. Exiled Scottish supporters of the Catholic Stuarts brought the Craft to France, where it proved especially popular among aristocrats and men receptive to the Enlightenment.
The Lodge's initial appeal was as a place for men of different faiths to socialize and speculate in peace, for discussing religion and politics was forbidden.
They were conspicuous in both the original and the revived Ku Klux Klan. The Knights of Columbus, founded by Fr. Michael J. McGivney in 1882, offered Catholics an alternative to the Lodge.
Furthermore, the higher degrees of Masonry's Appendant Bodies are frankly blasphemous. The Royal Arch Degree of the York Rite reveals that the true name of God is JAH-BUL-ON, a fusion of the Hebrew Jaweh (Yaweh) with the names of pagan gods Baal and Osiris. The Scottish Rite's eighteenth degree (Rose Croix) reinterprets the Cross and its I.N.R.I inscription as pagan symbols. A candidate for the thirtieth degree (Knight Kadosh) must trample the papal tiara crying: "Down with Imposture!"
But what about right now in society, in U.S.A.? I found something on this at listverse.com. Here are a few facts.
It is said that there are currently millions of Freemasons currently (as many as six million, according to some reports).
The Anti-Masonic Party is seen by historians as the first third party in United States history.
Apparently Freemasons were so dominant they needed a new party.
Despite the Illuminati and Freemasons both being elite secret societies, scholars have been unable to find a clear, provable connection.
Due to its secretive nature, Freemasons are regularly associated with a number of different conspiracies. They are associated with the New World Order conspiracy, which alleges a shadow government is running the entire world. Some believers in this conspiracy connect the New World Order with Freemasonry. Other conspiracies connect the Freemasons to the Illuminati or the Knights Templar,.
It's clear that the Freemasons are hiding in plain sight in our midst, are showered in fraternal secrecy and that their rituals are very a cult-like in nature, and that they have done some serious world outreach if you can visualize a temple near you, in every city in America. What's unclear is how they are funded, if rituals include sex, if they have undue political influence, and if they are in fact racist. The society is kinda white.
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Source: https://english.elpais.com/culture
Source: http://ScottishRite.org
Source: https://www.catholiceducation.org
Source: https://listverse.com
Photo: catholiceducation.org