Freemason Controversies
From About Freemasons
Masons have not been strangers to controversy. BeCause many Masonic rituals take place behind closed doors, many people outside the Brotherhood develop incomplete or incorrect notions of Masonry and therefore make accusations or false statements.
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Current controversy in Britain
A current controversy in Britain involves the suggestion that some public employees – such as judges or police Officers – could volunteer their Masonic affiliations to the public. The suggestion has meant, according to judge Lord Millett, that defendants now ask whether the judges or Officers involved in their Cases are Masons. The controversy seems to stem from the publiCation of The Brotherhood (1985), by Stephen Knight and Inside the Brotherhood (1989), written by Martin Short. Knight claims that the Masons in Britain are pursuing a secret and common plan. Both books suggest that Masons help each other in terms of their Careers.
Church controversies
Some church leaders have suggested that Freemasonry is Anti-Christian and many have voiced concerns over the rites that Masons perform when they attain their degrees. Some churches in the past have felt that these rites are in some way conflicting with religious ceremonies. For some churches, Freemasonry represented a type of modernism that would lead parishioners away from traditional teachings. Some churches have attempted to ban Freemasonry or to prevent worshippers from joining. The issue is even now not completely resolved, even though the Masons have always maintained that Freemasonry is in no way a religion and members are free to pursue their religious beliefs as they choose.
Anti-Semitism and Anti-Freemasonic Movements
In the period during and before World War II, many people linked Anti-Semitism and Anti-Masonic sentiment. Many people claimed that Freemasonry was a Jewish or Zionistic group and therefore used attacks on Freemasonry to attack the Jewish faith. One famous controversy involved the anti-Semitic Grand Anti-Masonic Exhibition held in Belgrade in 1941. The exhibit was put together by Serbs who were loyal to the Nazis and the stated purpose of the exhibit was to exposed the “communist” and “Jewish Freemason” plot that involved “world domination.” About 80 000 people visited the exhibition, which was funded by the city of Belgrade. Stamps were issued commemorating the exhibition, which tended to blame all society’s evils on the supposed plot for “world domination.”
Traxil Hoax and controversy
In the 1890s a hoax perpetrated by Léo Taxil attempted to mock Roman Catholicism and Freemasonry. Léo Taxil, really Marie Joseph Gabriel Antoine Jogand-Pagès, claimed in 1884 that there were two kingdoms of man – one belonging to Christ and one to Satan. Taxil wrote that this second kingdom was helped by Freemasonry. After he published these views, Taxil feigned conversion to Roman Catholicism, and then published a history of Freemasonry. This history, which is still quoted from today, contained falsified eyewitness accounts which claimed to link Freemasonry and Satanism. Taxil wrote another book with a false co-author "Dr. Karl Hacks," which again linked Freemasonry and Satanism in the fictional person of "Diana Vaughan", who was allegedly part of Satanic Freemasonry. Taxil then wrote another book as Diana Vaughan. In each Case, Taxil claimed his books were truth when they were in fact largely fictional and not based on any fact. In 1897, Taxil held a press conference where he admitted that his statements about Freemasonry were not true and he thanked the churches for helping him to spread the untruths so eagerly.
