WHAT IS FREEMASONRY?
57 Canon Demant’s observation immediately prompts the questions, What are men applying to join? What is the nature of this organisation whose Obligations they are invited to accept? These are questions easier to pose than to answer simply. Hamill (The Craft, p.l2) writes: ‘To attempt to define Freemasonry succinctly is an almost impossible task... As there is no official dogma, and because an individual Freemason’s response to his Freemasonry is an intensely personal one, it is almost certain that if six members were asked to define what Freemasonry was to them six differing answers would result’.
In August 1985, the Grand Lodge authorised the publication of a leaflet What Every Candidate Should Know, which opens with the statement:
Freemasonry is a society of men historically linked with medieval operative Masons, from whom they derive their private means of recognition, their ceremonial, and many of their customs. Its members adhere to ancient principles of Brotherly love, relief and truth not only among themselves but also in their relations with the world at large, and by ritual, precept and example.
Hamill glosses this:
The candidate for initiation learns very early in his masonic career that the basic principles of Freemasonry are Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth. Brotherly Love in its sense of the promotion of tolerance and respect for the beliefs and ideals of others, and the building of a world in which that respect and tolerance, together with kindness and understanding, can flourish. Relief not in the limited sense of monetary giving but in the widest sense of charitable giving of money, time, and effort to assist the community as a whole. Truth in the sense of striving for high moral standards and in conducting one’s life — in all its aspects — in as honest a manner as possible. In simple terms a Freemason is taught his duties to his God, his fellow man, and the laws of his country. (The Craft, p.12)
58 What is quite clear is that Masons emphatically deny that Freemasonry is a religion. A leaflet Fri~emasonry and Religion, published by the Board of General Purposes of the United Grand Lodge in 1985, states: ‘Freemasonry is not a religion, nor is it a substitute for religion.’ ‘Freemasonry lacks the basic elements of religion’ but ‘is far from indifferent to religion. Without interfering in religious practice it expects each member to follow his own faith, and to place above all other duties his duty to his God by whatever name He is known.... Freemasonry is thus a supporter of religion.’ In their evidence to the Working Group the United Grand Lodge further stated: ‘Freemasonry knows that its rituals do not amount to the practice of religion...
59 What are we to make of these claims on behalf of an organisation whose activities are centred on ‘temples’; whose rituals contain reference to ‘altars’? Why is it necessary for each Lodge to have a chaplain — albeit he need not be in Holy Orders? Is there substance in the claim that Freemasonry with its concept of the G A O T U represents or connives at a syncretistic understanding of religion and representation of God?
60 There is no way in which any responsible answer can be suggested to such questions from non-Masons without reading Masonic rituals themselves. Even then, the assessment of differing interpretations is a peculiar difficulty. How far can we agree that Freemasons are entitled to expect their own interpretation to be accepted and how far, to quote the judge in a recent libel action, are we to prefer ‘the interpretation put on words as they are understood by the common man’ or, in this case, by the non-Mason?