Freemasons

The all seeing eye and unfinished pyramid on the back of the Dollar bill is actually the reverse side of the Great Seal of the United States. It was designed by a three committees starting in 1776,over six years. The only Freemason on any of these committees was Benjamin Franklin.

However, the design is not what Franklin suggested. From Franklin's papers, he states that he suggested a different image based on a scene from Exodus.

In his own words he proposed: "Moses standing on the Shore, and extending his Hand over the Sea, thereby causing the same to overwhelm Pharoah, who is sitting in an open Chariot, a Crown on his Head and a Sword in his Hand. Rays from a Pillar of Fire in the Clouds reaching to Moses, to express that he acts by Command of the Deity. The motto Franklin suggested was: "Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God."

So, as much as I'd like to claim otherwise, Freemasonry can't claim the design on the reverse of the Great Seal.

Some people in the evangelical Christian community specialize in attacking Freemasons. They sensationalize and perpetuate false information about the Masons. Although some Masonic sources try to quietly correct this false information, the members of the community feel that they should not doubt the word of a member of their community and dismiss the corrections of the Masons as self-serving lies. Thus ignorance and prejudice can be perpetuated for generations.

An example is the attempt of the Southern Baptist convention to condemn Masons. A clergyman, Dr. Gary Leazer, was put in charge of investigating the situation. After his investigation, he concluded that there was no incompatiblility between Masonry and the Church. Unfortunately that was not the answer they wanted to hear and Leazer was discharged. The list of complaints ultimately issued by the Southern Baptists about the Masons were based on misunderstandings of Masonic terms and imagining the personal opinions of some Masons to be the official policy of the organization.

Some religious groups might take issue with Masonry's clear policy of religious toleration. If the religion holds that a member of their religion should not associate with members of other religions or that they must not respect those who disagree with their religious views, then they would be right to advise their adherents not to be Masons. The Masonic position of respecting other people's religious views while not agreeing with them is difficult for many people to understand.

A good example of totally false information which is continually perpetuated in the evangelical community is the following quotation:

"The god of the Illuminati and the New World Order Gang is Lucifer. "The Masonic religion should be, by all of us initiates of the high degrees, maintained in the purity of the Luciferian doctrine." - A.C. De La Rive, La Femme et l'enfant dans la Franc-Maconnerie Universelle, p. 588; Lady Queenborough, Occult Theocracy pp. 220-221.

The quotation purports to be an extract from a letter from Albert Pike, an important man in Scottish Rite Masonry in the Southern United States in the mid 19th century. However, it is not. It is in fact a forgery by a man named Leo Taxil. Taxil's forgery fooled De La Rive, who quoted it in his book. Edith Starr Miller, who wrote Occult Theocracy, quoted De La Rive without checking his sources. In April of 1897 Taxil admitted in front of a large crowd that the whole thing was a hoax designed to make the Catholic Church look foolish, and De La Rive immediately publicly recanted all those portions of his writings which were based on it.

All of this happened over 110 years ago, and is extremely well documented. Nevertheless evangelical Christians continue to perpetuate the fraud.

The Grand Master of Masons. In the US, each state has a Grand Lodge, presided over by the Grandmaster. In Europe, each country has a Grandmaster.

There are two distinct traditions in connection with the office of Grand Master. Generally speaking, the European practice is for the same Grand Master to be re-elected for several consecutive years, maybe even several decades, whilst in other countries a Grand Master serves a set term of only one to three years, and then retires.

In several European countries, the position of Grand Master has often been held by members of royal families or the high nobility. In some Protestant northern European countries, the position was held by the King for a long time. In England and Wales, the current Grand Master is HRH Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, who was elected in 1967 and has been re-elected each year since.