Certainly Religion plays an important part in Freemasonry and
were it not for Freemasons it is likely that the great cathedrals
of Europe would never have been built.
The secret signals are said to have developed from the need for
one craftsman to recognise the trained skills of another and this gave
some protection from unemployment and assured that standards were
maintained throughout the very long periods of construction.
However what began as an ideal, both religious and social in nature, has now become so complex that the Masonic Movement is viewed with deep suspicion by those outside the order.
Though Craftsmen made up the bulk of the groups or lodges of Freemasons in the 16th and 17th Centuries by the 18th Century they became almost entirely formed from the gentry and they became more of an elite social club with the real meaning lost but to a select group.
Freemasonry spread around the globe and it was said that if a member found himself in difficulty anywhere in the world then his fellow Masons would soon help him overcome his problems.
By the 1950s there were some 9,000 lodges in the UK alone but it mostly remains a middle class stronghold in which members pledge allegiance first and foremost to the members of the Masonic order. No doubt that allegiance will be most strongly held for the members of the immediate lodge to which the member and his associates belong.
It is natural to assume that professions will migrate to certain common groups and it is believed that the protectionism built in to the sworn oaths, and the religious symbolism which to the outsider borders on the occult, will result in Masons making every effort to protect their own no matter what the circumstances.
The tale is told that a Judge wept when forced to sentence a fellow Mason to death for horrendous crimes simply because of his oath of allegiance to the Masonic ideal.
In the mid 1980s Freemasonry in Italy was embroiled in political scandals and many a would be property developer will attest to the power of the Masonic lodges in local government in the UK.
Such secret alliances only serve those who know the secrets. The rest of the population has an idea of what might be going on behind the scenes but has no way of knowing for sure. Secrecy serves suspicion.
Consider what might occur should an industrialist who might be a Mason inadvertently poison a member of the general public.
The industrialist might be visited by staff from the Health & Safety
Executive and being also professional men they may also be Masons.
Given the right secret signal and the oath to protect fellow Masons it
might be agreed that no investigation should take place.
The victim may go to a hospital where he may encounter a Doctor who is
also a professional man and a Mason.
The doctor may diagnose poisoning but then be contacted by the HSE who
would have to check with the medical profession for an opinion on the
victim. Given the right secret signals the Doctor too may realise that
he has to protect his fellows and he might change his diagnosis.
The victim may approach a solicitor who may say that what has happened is a disgrace and that it is unlawful but the lawyer may also be a Mason and he will also receive the secret signals which inform him that he has a duty to protect a number of his fellow Masons.
With some effort the victim may even get his case to Court where he will
stand before a Judge who may be a Mason.
History seems to demonstrate that the judge too may believe that his
first duty is to his fellow Masons.
It may not be a plot to destroy the victim and take away his right to life but it may as well be for the result is the same.
A group of similar victims may approach the Government in the hope that
wrongs are righted but they may encounter the highest Masonic Group of
all and the true motives of this group are known to but a privileged
few.
Few realise that the Masonic Groups are more influential than
Parliament or that members of seemingly opposing political parties are
working to the same hidden agenda.
For some time now it would seem that those destined to positions of
power and influence in UK political life must first be accepted by the
elite group of Masons. We are told that there is no sinister reason
for this but if this is truly the case then there would be no reason
for the existence of the group and no reason for the elitist secrecy.
The secrecy causes a conspiracy of silence which all too easily becomes corruption.
Probably the strangest twist of all comes with the subject of pesticide and other chemical poisonings.
If the poisoner is protected he will poison again because there is no incentive or penalty to make him change his ways.
Pesticides and other environmental pollutants such as Radiation, GM crops and drug and vaccine programmes know no boundaries and therefore the poisoner is not protecting his fellow Masons but he is endangering them and their children and may even be endangering their as yet unborn grandchildren.
Such a Mason is therefore in breach of his own sworn Oath and yet he will apparently remain protected by the Masonic Movement at the highest levels.
This is why disclosure is of the utmost importance and presumably why the Judges and the Police are so reluctant to admit membership.
Secrecy invites suspicion of hidden plots and endangers the movement.
Dated 16/9/2000