PRO?
Freemasonry is the world’s largest, oldest, and best-known fraternal organization. Mythically descended from the builders of King Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem, Freemasonry is believed to have developed from the craft guilds of European stonemasons who built castles and cathedrals during the Middle Ages. Temporary buildings called lodges were built next to the cathedrals, and the Masons used them to meet, receive their pay, plan their work, train new apprentices, and socialize.
Although individual Scottish lodges predate it, the first official Grand Lodge was established in England in 1717, transforming the craft from “operative” masons who constructed buildings, into a “speculative” fraternity that used the symbolism, tools, and terminology of the medieval masons as illustrations of character building. Masonic ceremonies use legendary tales of the construction of the biblical King Solomon’s Temple as symbols for building an inner temple in the hearts of men.
By the 1730s, Freemasonry had spread to the American colonies. Freemasonry circled the globe on the colonizing ships of the British, the French and the Dutch. Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Hancock, Paul Revere, and many other Founding Fathers were among the first Masons in the United States. After the American Revolution, grand lodges were established in each state.
Freemasonry is based on the belief that each man can make a difference in the world by improving himself, and taking an active role in his community. It is a charitable, benevolent, educational fraternity. Yet, Freemasonry forbids the discussion in Masonic meetings of religion, creeds, politics or other topics likely to excite personal animosities.
Membership in the Masons is open to men who believe in a Supreme Being and meet its qualifications and standards of character and reputation. One of Freemasonry’s customs is not to solicit members, but any man is welcome to request information about joining the fraternity.
In the U.S., related organizations that base their membership on Masonic affiliation include the York Rite (made up of Royal Arch, Cryptic Council and Knights Templar), the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, Allied Masonic Degrees, the Order of the Eastern Star, Order of the Amaranth, Shriners International, and Grottoes of North America. Masonic related youth groups include DeMolay International for Boys, International Order of the Rainbow for Girls, and Job’s Daughters International.
Freemasonry initiates its members using three ceremonial rituals, referred to as degrees: the Entered Apprentice, the Fellow Craft, and the Master Mason. Regardless of any other Masonic organization a Freemason may join in his lifetime, and no matter how any other organization may describe or number their degrees, there is no degree of higher rank or importance in Freemasonry than the 3rd degree, the Master Mason.
Today, there are at least 3 million Freemasons worldwide, including 1.5 million in the United States, and there are thousands of local Masonic lodges to be found around the globe. There is no national or international governing organization for Freemasonry. In North America and Australia, each state or province has its own organization, called a grand lodge, that claims “sovereignty” over the lodges in its territory. Outside of North America and Australia, most countries have their own governing grand lodge. There are agreements between these grand lodges that allow visitation and recognition between each others’ members, often using the term “regular.”
A closely related Masonic organization is the predominantly African-American Prince Hall Affiliated (PHA) group of grand lodges. The organization is named after Prince Hall, a prominent free black man from Boston who started a lodge in 1775. There are some 300,000 Prince Hall Masons in the U.S. and other countries around the world.
There are also competing organizations that are not considered regular or recognized by the mainstream grand lodges, and frequently cause confusion both inside and outside of the fraternity.
Conspiracy Theories surrounding Freemasonry
Contra
Anti-Masonic conspiracy theorists believe that "high-ranking" Freemasons are involved in conspiracies to create an occult New World Order. They claim that some of the Founding Fathers of the United States, such as George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, had Masonic symbolism interwoven into American society, particularly in the Great Seal of the United States, the United States one-dollar bill, the architecture of National Mall landmarks, and the streets and highways of Washington, D.C..
Conspiracy theorists of the Christian right speculate that colonial American Freemasons were crypto-Luciferians who used the power of the occult to bind their planning of a government in conformity with the plan of the "Masonic God" — Lucifer worshipped as the "Supreme Being" , because of their well-meaning but misguided belief that the "Great Architect of the Universe" has tasked the United States with the eventual establishment of the "Kingdom of God on Earth" , a Masonic world theodemocracy and guild socialist economy with New Jerusalem as its capital city and the Third Temple as its holiest site, the initially utopian world government of the Antichrist.
Freemasons rebut these claims of Masonic conspiracy. They assert that Freemasonry which requires a belief in a nonsectarian God and promotes a balance between Enlightenment rationalism and Hermetic mysticism through a system of degrees of initiation and the use of sacred geometry in art and architecture, places no power in occult symbols themselves. It is not a part of Freemasonry to view the drawing of symbols, no matter how large, as an act of consolidating or controlling power. Furthermore, there is no published information establishing the Masonic membership of the men responsible for the design of the Great Seal or the street plan of Washington, D.C. The Latin phrase "novus ordo seclorum", appearing on the reverse side of the Great Seal since 1782 and on the back of the one-dollar bill since 1935, means "New Order of the Ages" and only alludes to the beginning of an era where the United States is an independent nation-state, but is often mistranslated by conspiracy theorists as "New Secular Order" or "New World Order". Lastly, Freemasons argue that, despite the symbolic importance of the Temple of Solomon in their mythology, they have no interest in rebuilding it, especially since "it is obvious that any attempt to interfere with the present condition of things [on the Temple Mount] would in all probability bring about the greatest religious war the world has ever known".
More broadly, Freemasons assert that a long-standing rule within regular Freemasonry is a prohibition on the discussion of politics (and religion) in a Masonic Lodge and the participation of lodges or Masonic bodies in political pursuits. Freemasonry has no politics, but it teaches its members to be of high moral character and active citizens. The accusation that Freemasonry has a hidden agenda to establish a Masonic government ignores several facts. While agreeing on certain Masonic Landmarks, the many independent and sovereign Grand Lodges act as such, and do not agree on many other points of belief and practice. Also, as can be seen from a survey of famous Freemasons, individual Freemasons hold beliefs that span the spectrum of politics. The term "Masonic government" has no meaning since individual Freemasons hold many different opinions on what constitutes a good government, and Freemasonry as a body has no opinion on the topic.
Ultimately, Freemasons argue that even if it were proven that influential individuals have used and are using Masonic Lodges to engage in crypto-politics, such as was the case with the illegal Italian Lodge Propaganda Due, this would represent a cooptation of Freemasonry rather than evidence of its hidden agenda.
source: http://www.ayedenim.com/articles/fm.html
