Why does anyone like to do things in private? Privacy means you do not have people annoying you when you are trying to do something. It means you can be yourself. It means you share something special with the others who share that privacy.
It isn't. Masonic buildings are clearly marked and you can look them up in the phonebook. Many Masons adorn their cars with Masonic symbols and wear Masonic jewelry. Masons wearing regalia participate in public ceremonies like cornerstone layings of public buildings. If Freemasonry is a secret, it must be the worst-kept secret in the entire world.
Freemasons are secretive, and swear oaths not to reveal their secrets to anyone except other Freemasons.
The masons are a secret society that helps out charitys.
Secret handshakes, secret passwords, secret cloaks and signs.
With a secret hand shake
The Masons or also known as the Free Masons is the older secret society that we know of. It is an society that is made up of men and have been very secretive about its meetings.
Catholics I know have pointed to the fact that Masons are a secret society and shied away from them. Baptists and Protestants have joined the Masons, even preachers I have known. In the late seventies, Moody Monthly listed Masons and Eastern Star as cults. While Masons read the Bible, it seems to be more of a ritual or a "work." Some of the secret practices of freemasonery seem to be rather silly to Christians or even "dark" practices that do not honor God. There is evidence that Joseph Smith was a mason and that Mormon practices include those very similar to freemasonery. If nothing else, the Mormon Temple practices are secret, like those of the secret society called The Masons.
A good reference for a background to the masons os the documentary New World Order: Secret Societies and Biblical Prophecy
It's a number immediately after 356. If it has a special secret meaning to Masons, well, that would be a secret, wouldn't it?
The pope does not make secret Masonic signs.
AnswerNot to be flippant, but if they are secret societies, it would be a secret, wouldn't they? Skull and Bones is the most famous of "secret societies" as is the Masons. The Masons make no secret of their membership, with their car tags, and marching in parades, etc. Bush, John Kerry, to name a few, were members of Skull and Bones at Yale.Arnald Schwarzenegger has been rumored to visit the Bohemian Grove. According to various sources, that's where he was tapped on the shoulder by Karl Rove to run for Governor in the Californian Recall election... and the rest is history.
The Masons were and are a semi-secret organization. A number of leaders of the American Revolution were Masons, including George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. The sons of liberty were a young men's militia organization created by the Masons. That organization had nothing to do with causing the revolution but when the war broke out, its members provided trained militia.
The Masons, also Cain formed in ancient times a secret society between him and Satan and he and his succesors were called Master Mahan tell the flood. All high in power secret societies are controlled by satan.
There is no common "Masonic hand gesture". You may be referring to Masonic grips, which vary depending on the degree one has attained. These are considered secret, and are therefore not revealed by obligated Masons to non-Masons.