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

Chapter 8 - Categorization of Rituals 705
"humanitarian" Masonic stream exercising tolerance with regard to the creed or
unbelief of its members. Many misleading statements were made in Masonic
manuals, for example by calling Freemasonry the "oldest Catholic religion."
Masonry is far from being any religion at all, and by no means, of a Catholic
confession. However, a section on behavior in the Lodge while open, found in
the Virginia Text Book, reads:
No private piques, or quarrels about nations, families, religions or
politics, must be brought within the doors of the Lodge, as being
directly contrary to the rules already laid down - Masons being
declared of the oldest Catholic religion, universally acknowledged
as such and of all nations, bound to live upon the square, level and
plumb with each other, following the steps of their predecessors in
cultivating the peace and harmony of the Lodge, without distinction of
sect or political party. 1717
The additional information given in the quotation above shows that with the
term "Catholic," there cannot be meant what people generally associate with
Catholicism, that is, the Roman Catholic Church. Considering the many bulls of
the Pope against the fraternity, any connection of Freemasonry with Catholicism
would sound absurd. Here, it denotes universality, monotheism, the belief in a
Supreme Being that can be valid for all nations, without quarrels of sect.
Otherwise, the author of this quotation would belong to a group of orthodox
American Christian Masons. In any case, such statements may have given rise to
feelings of superiority of Christian Masons as prevalent in America, who think
that they alone have the only true form of Freemasonry, while forms of Masonry
like the Grand Orient de France remain unrecognized and "irregular" in their
eyes. Furthermore, misleading statements were transmitted by esteemed Masonic
authorities and historians, for example by Dr. George Oliver, who lived in the
19 th century and published voluminous works on the Craft. Masons who
purchased his books were confronted with or accepted his false conclusions,
such as the Christianity of Freemasonry: "He believed in what may be called the
Patriarchal theory of Antediluvian, Preinundation, Pure Masonry supposedly
taught by Seth and Noah, which descended to King Solomon and from him to the
Christian Dispensation of the present day. His resolute conclusion was that
Freemasonry was Christian or it was nothing." 1718 What is even worse, American
Masonic encyclopedias propagated this "Catholicism" of Freemasonry by
printing Dr. Oliver's personal view. Thus, the GHCDF includes A Dictionary of
Symbolical Masonry by Dr. Oliver, of which it prints the following article:
Symbolic Masonry, under whatever form it may be propounded, is a
catholic institution, democratic in its form and government, and
universal in its operation. This is demonstrable from any of the
1717 Dove, p. 30. Bold print added.
1718 CME, p. 457.