Introduction

1 At the February Group of Sessions, 1985, the General Synod passed a Private Member’s Motion moved by Mr R.E.C. Clark (then a lay representative of the Diocese of Lincoln) in the following terms:

That this Synod requests the Standing Committee to bring forward for debate a report which considers the compatibility or otherwise of Freemasonry with Christianity.

2 What was being proposed was a working group of five people meeting five times to prepare a short report costing about £800 or £1600 if account is taken of staff time (Report of Proceedings, vol. 16, no. 1, p.l2 I).

3 It is also important to note that it was suggested in the course of the debate and fully accepted by the proposer of the Motion, that ‘it would be a good idea if practising Freemasons were included in any working party that might be set up’ (ibid., p.l2⁶).

4 The imminence of the election of a new General Synod in the Autumn of 1985 delayed the appointment of a Working Group by the Standing Committee. However, it was possible to announce at the meeting of the new General Synod on 4th February 1986 that the membership of the Working Group would be:

5 The first brief meeting of the Working Group was held on 6th February 1986.

6 On 10th February 1986, the Secretary to the Working Group, Mr N. D. Barnett, issued a Press release inviting written evidence and asking that it be submitted to him no later than 30th April 1986.

7 As a matter of courtesy, Mr Barnett had informed the United Grand Lodge of England that the Standing Committee of the General Synod were now activating the 1985 resolution and the Grand Secretary of the United Grand Lodge issued his own Press Statement on the same day:

Freemasons would regret that an investigation was necessary but will be pleased to know that the Grand Lodge will be invited to give evidence.

8 The Working Group was thus able to rely on the co-operation of the United Grand Lodge, an exclusively male organisation, in pursuit of their task. Unfortunately, despite two separate invitations to do so, no evidence has been submitted by the Honourable Fraternity of Ancient Freemasons, an exclusively female organisation. The Working Group therefore had to rely on press articles concerning the organisation, articles on which their Most Worshipful Master preferred to offer no comment.

9 In addition to the substantial evidence submitted by the Grand Lodge, the Working Group received 106 written submissions, of which five were from members of the General Synod. At its first meeting the Working Group agreed that all letters received should remain entirely confidential to the Group and to the Group alone. For this reason we have not included a list of those from whom evidence was received. Similarly we do not attribute quotations from that evidence — except in the case of the United Grand Lodge, which confirmed to us that we are free to do so.

On analysis, the number of submissions from non-Masons and Masons appeared to be fairly well balanced. The evidence from non-Masons included some from relatives of Masons, as well as some from Masons who had either left the Craft or ceased to be active members. The evidence from active Masons was heavily weighted by the number of submissions from Church of England clergy, including some from dignitaries now mostly retired.