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

Chapter 10 - Conclusion 851
population. It has allowed middle-class blacks to play social roles and
acquire technical skills that American society has denied them. [...]
Masonry and its sister institutions have given the economic, social,
political, and organizational leadership necessary for existence. The
history of Prince Hall Freemasonry is also the history of the fight for
civil rights and for an end to racial discrimination in America. 2091
The question we have to ask ourselves is whether there is still need of
Masonry today. We are not living in the time of the Enlightenment any more.
Everybody in our civilized and liberal countries can express his or her own
thoughts without being killed for it. We do not need elitist secret clubs for
discussions on politics or progressive ideas, as was the case in Masonic circles
during the French Revolution. There are so many churches and confessions that
we do not need a substitute religion, for which Masonry has often been mistaken.
What can Masonry offer? Is it still attractive? How is it that it has outlived so
many other fraternal associations? The main reason is that the latter have had no
common "language." Rather, they have only had some imitated, quasi-Masonic
phrases and ceremonies, and symbols borrowed from the Bible, lacking deeper
moral teaching. They needed this kind of verbose mysticism as a marketing
strategy to attract members who were often dues-paying "clients," e.g. in benefit
associations. This is the reason why several of these organizations have
vanished. It is evident that today there is no need for fraternal insurance
companies, for in our modern society everybody can insure himself without
participating in strange rituals and learning funny grips. There seem to be only
two methods for them to survive. Either, those fraternal benefit organizations
waive their ceremonies and become ordinary insurance companies, like the
Modern Woodmen of America have done, banning their costumes, shields,
emblems, and rituals to museums, or they waive their beneficent character and
their austere ceremonies and become "fun" societies. Then they remain attractive
and can compete with other clubs in the leisure industry, like sports clubs, etc.
The Elks, for example, have chosen the latter way, and this is probably the
reason for their being still in existence. Schmidt comments on the general
decrease of membership as follows:
The fact that lodge rituals are not taken as seriously as they once were
appears to indicate that most secret societies are caught in a cultural lag.
[...] The example of the Elks, who eliminated and modified many of
their former practices, tends to lend credence to the organizational
change argument, especially since the Elks' membership is growing
quite rapidly. [...] 2092
2091 Muraskin, p. 297.
2092 Note that Schmidt's book was published in 1973. The conditions of "Elkdom" might have
changed. In a letter to the author, a friend claims to have been told by a former high official in the
Elks that he decries their gradual demise, blaming it on "changes in regulations on drinking and
gambling (favorite activities of such groups which also include the Eagles, the Moose, and the
American Legion)." In: e-mail to Christina Voß by Thomas D. Purcell, Sept. 26 th , 2001.