Has anyone been following this story?
The Vatican has proclaimed that that any Catholic who is a Freemason will be excommunicated.
The Masonic Grand Lodge made this response:
NEWS FROM THE GRAND LODGE
The Board has been asked to give guidance on the relationship between Freemasonry and Religion following recent Press reports of a reaffirmation by the Vatican of its ban on Roman Catholics becoming Freemasons.
Grand Lodge approved the following statement in September 1962 and the Board sees no reason to recommend any variation to it.
*********************************
RELATIONSHIP OF MASONRY AND RELIGION
The Board has been giving the most earnest consideration to this subject, being convinced that it is of fundamental importance to the reputation and well-being of English Freemasonry that no misunderstanding should exist inside or outside the Craft.
It cannot be too strongly asserted that Masonry is neither a religion nor a substitute for religion. Masonry seeks to inculcate in its members a standard of conduct and behaviour which it believes to be acceptable to all creeds, but studiously refrains from intervening in the field of dogma or theology. Masonry, therefore, is not a competitor with religion though in the sphere of human conduct it may be hoped that its teaching will be complementary to that of religion.
On the other hand its basic requirement that every member of the Order shall believe in a Supreme Being and the stress laid upon his duty towards Him should be sufficient evidence to all but the wilfully prejudiced that Masonry is an upholder of religion since it both requires a man to have some form of religious belief before he can be admitted as a Mason, and expects him when admitted to go on practising his religion.
@divegeester saidGosh. 1962 is a long time ago. Women still held back or subjugated. Black people not treated as equal citizens before the law. Lord Mountbatten sleeping with children. Homosexuals facing imprisonment. Masons spying for the Soviets. The Beatles and The Rolling Stones still mere covers bands. etc. etc.
Grand Lodge approved the following statement in September 1962 and the Board sees no reason to recommend any variation to it.
@fmf saidAnd atheists still not allowed to join...Damn it, I'd already filled in the application form.
Gosh. 1962 is a long time ago. Women still held back or subjugated. Black people not treated as equal citizens before the law. Lord Mountbatten sleeping with children. Homosexuals facing imprisonment. Masons spying for the Soviets. The Beatles and The Rolling Stones still mere covers bands. etc. etc.
@divegeester saidHas anyone been following this story?
Has anyone been following this story?
The Vatican has proclaimed that that any Catholic who is a Freemason will be excommunicated.
The Masonic Grand Lodge made this response:
NEWS FROM THE GRAND LODGE
The Board has been asked to give guidance on the relationship between Freemasonry and Religion following recent Press reports of a reaffirmation by th ...[text shortened]... e he can be admitted as a Mason, and expects him when admitted to go on practising his religion.
Since 1962? Oh yes. I was 5 years old at the time and as soon as the story broke told my teddy bear this would come to no good!
NEWS FROM THE GRAND LODGE
Point of information: There is no single "Grand Lodge" in America. Each state has their own separate Grand Lodge. 😉
@divegeester saidAfter excommunication then what? Persecution obviously.
Has anyone been following this story?
The Vatican has proclaimed that that any Catholic who is a Freemason will be excommunicated.
The Masonic Grand Lodge made this response:
NEWS FROM THE GRAND LODGE
The Board has been asked to give guidance on the relationship between Freemasonry and Religion following recent Press reports of a reaffirmation by th ...[text shortened]... e he can be admitted as a Mason, and expects him when admitted to go on practising his religion.
What proceeds out of the Vatican originates in hell.
@divegeester saidWhat's your connection to Freemasonry?
Has anyone been following this story?
The Vatican has proclaimed that that any Catholic who is a Freemason will be excommunicated.
The Masonic Grand Lodge made this response:
NEWS FROM THE GRAND LODGE
The Board has been asked to give guidance on the relationship between Freemasonry and Religion following recent Press reports of a reaffirmation by th ...[text shortened]... e he can be admitted as a Mason, and expects him when admitted to go on practising his religion.
DeMolay, perhaps?
"Don't worry Charlie, I got an angle." -- Captain Lincoln F. Sternn
@josephw saidMy brother-in-law is a committed Mason and it was him who sent me a copy of the circular as a point of interest.
Point of contact?
@divegeester saidIt is indeed interesting. Relevant. Contemporary.
My brother-in-law is a committed Mason and it was him who sent me a copy of the circular as a point of interest.
As old as dirt. Straight from the Vatican; divide and conquer. Threaten with hell. Instilling fear. Murder in the name of God.
@fmf saidOf course not.
Do you really think dividing and conquering, threatening with hell, instilling fear, and killing in the name of God are exclusively Catholic church activities?
But what you're inferring is not consistent with the context of this thread or the OP.
Next.
@josephw saidOf course not.
Of course not.
But what you're inferring is not consistent with the context of this thread or the OP.
Next.
Then your anti-Catholic emotion has led to a sloppy post. Take Martin Luther's unabashed and virulent antisemitism ~ rooted in his anti-Catholic Protestantism ~ and that of so many of his followers, right up to the present day ~ does it "originate in hell" too? I take it your brand of Christian observance is Protestant, right?
@fmf saidMy "brand" is Bible based belief.
Of course not.
Then your anti-Catholic emotion has led to a sloppy post. Take Martin Luther's unabashed and virulent antisemitism ~ rooted in his anti-Catholic Protestantism ~ and that of so many of his followers, right up to the present day ~ does it "originate in hell" too? I take it your brand of Christian observance is Protestant, right?
I'm not going to parse out for you the secular/biblical historical record of the abuse of man against his fellow man.
You wouldn't believe it anyway.
But you are correct. Martin Luther's anti-Semitic views paved the way for Hitler's Nazi regime. Antisemitism is Satanic.
And in my opinion, so is the Vatican. My faith was once rooted in Catholicism, but then I read the Bible.