The Freemasons are "a worldwide fraternal organization where members are joined together by a common belief in a Supreme Being and a desire to live by high moral standards ...," present throughout the world. Freemasonry is an "esoteric art," in that certain aspects of its internal work are not generally revealed to the public. There are many reasons for this, one of which is that Freemasonry uses an initiatory system of degrees to explore ethical issues, and this system is less effective if the observer knows beforehand what will happen. Freemasons are expected to exhibit religious and political tolerance both in "lodge" (the meeting place of a group of Freemasons) and in their daily lives. Freemasonry thus claims complete philosophical compatibility with most denominations of Christianity, excepting those which view ecumenism with a negative eye or insist on intolerance for other forms of belief and worship.
The Freemasons are "a worldwide fraternal organization where members are joined together by a common belief in a Supreme Being and a desire to live by high moral standards ...," present throughout the world. Freemasonry is an "esoteric art," in that certain aspects of its internal work are not generally revealed to the public. There are many reasons for this, one of which is that Freemasonry uses an initiatory system of degrees to explore ethical issues, and this system is less effective if the observer knows beforehand what will happen. Freemasons are expected to exhibit religious and political tolerance both in "lodge" (the meeting place of a group of Freemasons) and in their daily lives. Freemasonry will thus accept members from all denominations of Christianity, but is indubitably philosophically incompatible with those which view ecumenism with a negative eye or insist on intolerance for other forms of belief and worship.
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It is likely that Freemasonry is not an outgrowth of medieval guilds of stonemason?s, for numerous reasons well documented in "Born in Blood" by John Robinson. Amoungst the reasons for this conclusion are the fact that Stonemason's guilds do not appear to predate reasonable estimates for the time of Freemasonry's origin, that stonemasons lived near their worksite and thus had no need for secret signs to identify themselves, and that the "Ancient Charges" of Freemasonry are nonsensical when thought of as being rules for a Stonemason's guild.
It is likely that Freemasonry is not an outgrowth of medieval guilds of stonemason?s, for numerous reasons well documented in "Born in Blood" by John Robinson. Amongst the reasons for this conclusion are the fact that Stonemason's guilds do not appear to predate reasonable estimates for the time of Freemasonry's origin, that stonemasons lived near their worksite and thus had no need for secret signs to identify themselves, and that the "Ancient Charges" of Freemasonry are nonsensical when thought of as being rules for a Stonemason's guild.
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