PREVIOUS CALLS FOR AN ENQUIRY

10 It is worth noting that, time and again, reference was made in the evidence submitted to the Working Group to the work of Walton Hannah — Darkness Visible (1952) and Christian by Degrees (1954). It was Hannah’s article, ‘Should a Christian be a Freemason?’, published in Theology, January 1951, which had sparked off a debate in Church Assembly in June of that year on a motion introduced by the Rev. R. C. Meredith (Oxford), a Freemason himself, proposing:

That, in view of the widespread publicity which has been given to the article by the Revd Walton Hannah... a Commission be appointed (including among its members persons learned in the science of Comparative Religion to examine the statements made by Mr Hannah in that article and to report whether, in their opinion, the attention of the House of Bishops should be directed to anything therein set forth. (Church Assembly Proceedings, vol.XXXI,1951, p.232).