The Universal Language of Freemasonry - ArchiMeD - Johannes ...

Chapter 8 - Categorization of Rituals 703
It has a vast depository of religious history and teachings. It is a
powerful influence for good in the world. Thousands of clergy, of all
faiths, have been and are Freemasons. They see it not as 'a religion' but
as a firm foundation stone upon which they can continue to build. 1710
While the non-Masonic fraternal rituals freely employ Biblical images and
tenets, a symbolism fit for the Christian American population of the 19 th century
and onward, the situation is more difficult in Freemasonry, an institution
declaring itself to be tolerant and not having a special creed. Religion has always
been the most disuniting feature about Freemasonry. Partly, Freemasonry
adheres to the belief in a Supreme Being and calls itself "mainstream Masonry,"
claiming the right to exclude all Masonic "unbelievers" from its ranks; partly, it
is humanitarian and initiates freethinkers and atheists, and is punished for its
tolerance by being not recognized by "mainstream Masonry." As shown in the
previous chapters, Freemasonry is neither a religion, nor a substitute for one. But
can one speak about a "religion of Masonry"? Some Masonic authorities
maintain it, others deny it. A plausible explanation is the following by Joseph
Fort Newton, who conceives the "religion" of Freemasonry as a "living wisdom"
with inherent tolerance towards creed:
There is, then, a Religion of Masonry - old, simple, wise - as profound
as it is practical; a religion of faith, freedom, and fellowship, talking the
truths of faith and revelation, but allowing each man to read and
interpret those truths as his heart elects, thus avoiding the envies and
debates which so often disfigure the religious life. It is not a theology in
the technical sense, nor a philosophy like the philosophy of Plato or
Kant, but, rather, a living wisdom, a practical moral mysticism [...],
veiled in allegory and illustrated by signs, symbols and dramas. 1711
Thus should Masonry be - as the quotation above states, allowing each
member an individual interpretation of its truths. And thus, it was written in
Anderson's Constitutions from 1723, that all Masons are "obliged to that religion
in which all men agree". 1712 This was the highest ideal of tolerance, according to
which there really could exist a "universal Freemasonry," brought about by the
belief in a "universal religion": "Indeed, the Religion of Masonry is Universe
Religion, in which all men can unite: its principles are as wide as the world and
as high as the sky. Nature and Revelation blend in its faith; its morality is rooted
in the order of the world, and its roof is the blue vaunt above. The lodge [...] is
always open to the sky [...]." 1713
1710
CME, p. 518.
1711
Bro. Joseph Fort Newton, in: "The Religion of Masonry," printed in The Master Mason, Sept.,
1925, p. 725.
1712
The Masonic Service Association of the U.S., Little Masonic Library, vol. I, p. 172.
1713
Bro. Joseph Fort Newton, in: "The Religion of Masonry," printed in The Master Mason, Sept.,
1925, p. 727.