Freemasonry is a non-sectarian, international fraternal order open to men who believe in a Supreme Being (broadly defined) and meet several other qualifications. Freemasons believe that wisdom comes from the east and sometimes identify one another by the following exchange:
-"Are you a travelling man?"
-"I travel from west to east."
Fraternal bonds among Freemasons are supposed to transcend national allegiance, and Freemasons in opposing armies are expected to assist one another if this is necessary and practicable.
Freemasonry is opposed by the Catholic Church as espousing theological and metaphysical ideas contradictory to the Nicene Creed, and membership in a Masonic organization incurs automatic excommunication from that religion.
Freemasonry in Atlantis
The House of Universal Devotion in Atlantis made use of the symbols of freemasonry on the front of their houses of worship.[1]
Freemasonry in Fort Pillow
Mack Leaming was a Freemason. While wounded in the aftermath of the Battle of Fort Pillow, he used the Grand Hailing Sign of Distress to ask for assistance from any Masonic Confederate States soldiers who might recognize it. One did, and gave Leaming water without which he likely would not have survived the night.
Freemasonry in "Under St. Peter's"
When Pope Benedict XVI was educated by Deacon Giuseppe on the history of the Order of the Pipistrelle, he thought to himself Freemasonry. We have a freemasonry of our own. Who would have thought that? Freemasonry, of course, wasn't nearly so old as its members claimed. But that was - or might be - beside the point.[2]
References
- ↑ See e.g.: Atlantis and Other Places, pg. 392, HC.
- ↑ See, e.g., We Install and Other Stories, p. 253.
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