Chapter One:
The Religion of Freemasonry

Masonic Temples of Religion

       According to Silas H. Shepherd, "There is nothing better understood among Masons than that [Masonry] is not a religion...."⁽¹⁾ This is the typical Masonic response to critics of the Lodge, but it is misleading. While it is true that Freemasonry does not present itself as a religion (i.e. it is not sectarian), it is nevertheless admitted by its own authorities to be a religious institution:

       Freemasonry is undoubtedly religion.⁽²⁾

       Every Masonic Lodge is a temple of religion; and its teachings are instructions in religion.⁽³⁾

       Masonry... is a system of religious philosophy in that it provides us with a doctrine of the universe and of our place in it. It indicates whence we are come and whither we may return.⁽⁴⁾

       As Masons we are taught never to commence any great or important undertaking without first invoking the blessing and protection of Deity, and this is because Masonry is a religious institution.⁽⁵⁾

       The most important article of furniture in a Lodge room is undoubtedly the altar.... It is a sacred utensil of religion, intended, like the altars of the ancient temples, for religious uses, and thus identifying Masonry, by its necessary existence in our Lodges, as a religious institution. Its presence should also lead the contemplative Mason to view the ceremonies in which it is employed with solemn reverence, as being part of a really religious worship.⁽⁶⁾

       There has been a needless expenditure of ingenuity and talent, by a large number of Mason orators and essayists, in the endeavor to prove that Masonry is not religion.... On the contrary, I contend, without any sort of hesitation, that Masonry is, in every sense of the word... an eminently religious institution — that it is indebted solely to the religious element which it contains for its origin and for its continued existence, and that without this religious element it would scarcely be worthy of cultivation by the wise and good....
       The tendency of all true Masonry is toward religion. If it make any progress, its progress is to that holy end. Look at its ancient landmarks, its sublime ceremonies, its profound symbols and allegories — all inculcating religious doctrine, commanding religious observance, and teaching religious truth, and who can deny that it is eminently a religious institution?...
       Masonry, then, is, indeed, a religious institution; and on this ground mainly, if not alone, should the religious Mason defend it.⁽⁷⁾

       Freemasonry is not Christianity.... It does not meddle with sectarian creeds or doctrines, but teaches fundamental religious truth."⁽⁸⁾

       The individual Mason is assured that Freemasonry will not interfere with or contradict his personal religious convictions. The reason for this was explained by John Blanchard: "[W]hatever may be the religious forms imposed upon you by superstition at a period of your life when you were incapable of discerning truth from falsehood, we do not even require you to relinquish them. Time and study alone can enlighten you. But remember that you will never be a true Mason unless you repudiate forever all superstition and prejudices."⁽⁹⁾ According to Albert Pike, "Humanity has never really had but one religion and one worship. This universal light has had its uncertain mirages, its deceitful reflections, and its shadows; but always, after the nights of Error, we see it reappear, one and pure like the Sun.... Masonry teaches, and has preserved in their purity, the cardinal tenets of the old primitive faith, which underlie and are the foundation of all religions. All that ever existed have had a basis of truth; and all have overlaid that truth with errors."⁽¹⁰⁾
       Masonic literature teaches that the various religions of the world, among which the Lodge classifies historic Christianity, are "superstition" and "uncertain mirages," "deceiftul reflections," and "shadows" of the "true religion of the most high God,"⁽¹¹⁾ which the true Mason is expected to "repudiate forever." In fact, the very first act of the Entered Apprentice is to admit that he is in darkness and that he is seeking membership in the Lodge in order to receive "light." Henceforth, he must "strive unceasingly for... the propagation of light and for the overthrow of superstition."⁽¹²⁾ Thus, while outwardly extolling the virtue of "religious toleration," the true goal of the Lodge is to "strip from all religions their orthodox tenets, legends, allegories and dogmas,"⁽¹³⁾ because "there is but one true religion, one dogma, one legitimate belief."⁽¹⁴⁾ Freemasonry, in the words of Pike, "is the universal, eternal, immutable religion, such as God planted it in the heart of universal humanity."⁽¹⁵⁾ The reader will learn what this "old primitive faith" of "universal humanity" is in subsequent chapters of this book.

The Source of Masonic Doctrine

       We have established that Freemasonry is indeed an institution of religion, but the religion it teaches is not Christianity. Why then is there a Bible on the altar of most Lodges? Again, let us allow Masonic literature to speak for itself:

       ...Blue Lodge Masonry has nothing whatever to do with the Bible. It is not founded on the Bible. If it were, it would not be Masonry.⁽¹⁶⁾

       The Bible is an indispensable part of the furniture of a Christian Lodge, only because it is the sacred book of the Christian religion. The Hebrew Pentateuch in a Hebrew Lodge, and Koran in a Mohammedan one, belong on the Altar....
       The obligation of the candidate is always to be taken on the sacred book or books of his religion, that he may deem it more solemn and binding; and therefore it was that you were asked of what religion you were. We have no other concern with your religious creed (emphasis in original).⁽¹⁷⁾

       The prevailing Masonic opinion is that the Bible is only a symbol of Divine Will, Law, or Revelation, and not that its contents are Divine Law, inspired, or revealed. So far, no responsible authority has held that a Freemason must believe the Bible or any part of it.⁽¹⁸⁾

       The Lodge's use of the Bible, or the "holy book" of any other religion, is intended to exploit the respect that entering candidates have for it and to thus bind their consciences more securely to their Masonic obligations. Rather than deriving its doctrines from the Bible, Freemasonry instead "finds those truths definite enough, which are written by the finger of God upon the heart of man and on the pages of the book of nature."⁽¹⁹⁾ The "Divine Will, Law, or Revelation" of which the Bible is "only a symbol," is nature itself and the Mason must be taught to read that "revelation" correctly.⁽²⁰⁾ The whole purpose of the various degrees and ceremonies of the Lodge is therefore to initiate the Mason into the religion of nature.
       According to Albert Pike, Freemasonry is the "sucessor of" and "is identical with the ancient Mysteries"⁽²¹⁾ — the secret nature cults of the pagan civilizations of the past. It is to these ancient religions that the Mason is instructed to look for the true origin of Masonic doctrine: "Masonry has a history, a literature, a philosophy. Its allegories and traditions will teach you much; but much is to be sought elsewhere. The streams of learning that now flow full and broad must be followed to their heads in the springs that well up in the remote past, and you will there find the origin and meaning of Masonry."⁽²²⁾ There is also an admitted connection between modern Freemasonry and the various branches of the occult that existed throughout medieval Europe: "All our historians, at least nearly all of them, agree that Freemasonry owes very much to certain occult societies or groups that flourished — often in secrecy — during the late Middle Ages, and even into the after-Reformation times. Chief among these were the Rosicrucians and the Knights Templar."⁽²³⁾ Another acknowledged source of the Masonic worldview is the Babylonian-Jewish textbook of the occult known as the Kabalah:

       Masonry is a search after light. That search leads us directly back to the Kabalah. In that ancient medley of absurdity and philosophy, the Initiate will find the source of many [Masonic] doctrines.... All truly dogmatic religions have issued from the Kabalah and return to it. Everything scientific and grand in the religious dreams of the Illuminati, Jacob Boehme, Swedenborg, Saint-Martin, and others, is borrowed from the Kabalah; all the Masonic associations owe to it their secrets and their symbols. The Kabalah alone consecrates the Alliance of the Universal Reason and the Divine Word.... One is filled with admiration, on penetrating into the Sanctuary of the Kabalah, at seeing a doctrine so logical, so simple and at the same time so absolute.⁽²⁴⁾

       The message of the Kabalah may be condensed into one underlying doctrine: The soul of man eternally existed as part of the "Universal Soul," it became imprisoned in a body of flesh and has forgotten its inherent divinity, and it must struggle to free itself from the delusions of the material world and return to a knowledge of its true identity. The various religions of the world are viewed by the Kabalah as imperfect branches of truth which all lead back to the one Truth: man is God and is the master of his own destiny. As we shall see, this is precisely what Freemasonry teaches.

Endnotes

1. Silas H. Shepherd, Little Masonic Library (Richmond, Virginia: Macoy Publishing and Masonic Supply Company, 1977), Volume I, page 138.

2. Coil, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, page 158.

3. Pike, Morals and Dogma, page 213.

4. W.L. Wilmhurst, The Meaning of Masonry (New York: Bell Publishing Company, 1980), page 74.

5. Albert G. Mackey, A Manual of the Lodge: Monitorial Instructions In The Degrees Of Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason (New York: Clark Maynard Publishers, 1870), page 40.

6. Albert G. Mackey, The Textbook of Masonic Jurisprudence: Illustrating the Written and Unwritten Laws of Masonry (New York: Macoy and Sickels, 1865), page 95.

7. Albert G. Mackey, An Encyclopedia of Freemasonry (Chicago, Illinois: Masonic Historical Company, 1921), Volume I, pages 617-619.

8. Mackey, ibid., Volume II, page 618.

9. John Blanchard, Scottish Rite Masonry Illustrated (Chicago, Illinois: Charles T. Powner, 1979), Volume II, page 264.

10. Pike, Morals and Dogma, pages 102, 161.

11. Blanchard, Scottish Rite Masonry, Volume I, page 453.

12. Clausen, Commentaries on Morals and Dogma , page 157.

13. Blanchard, Scottish Rite Masonry, page 299.

14. Pike, Morals and Dogma, page 285.

15. Pike, ibid., page 219.

16. George Wingate Chase, Digest of Masonic Law (Boston, Massachusetts: Pollard & Leighton, 1874), pages 207-208.

17. Pike, Morals and Dogma, page 11.

18. Henry Wilson Coil, Coil's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry (Richmond, Virginia: Macoy Publishing and Masonic Supply Company, 1961), page 520.

19. Pike, Morals and Dogma, page 226.

20. Pike, ibid., pages 25, 64.

21. Pike, ibid., page 23.

22. Pike, ibid., page 107.

23. H.L. Haywood, The Great Teachings of the Lodge (Richmond, Virginia: Macoy Publishing and Masonic Supply Company, 1971), page 94.

24. Pike, Morals and Dogma, page 741, 744-745.