About Freemasonry Continued

Secrecy. Many people believe that Freemasonry is a secret society. This is not true. Members are at perfect liberty to acknowledge their membership and will do so in answer to a responsible enquiry. There is no secret about the aims and principles, some of them are being reproduced here.

The constitutions and rules are freely available; the local Public Library holds many fully descriptive Masonic books, available on request, and the Internet, has hundreds of web pages of information.

Freemasons do attempt, however, to keep their methods of person to person recognition to themselves in the same way that the mediaeval stone masons were required to do, to preserve their inheritance and reputation.

Centuries ago, it was defined that any unknown craftsman arriving at a building site had to be "proved" as being properly qualified before he could obtain work, hence the hidden methods of recognition.
They had not only been taught essential and guarded expertise as young stonemason apprentices, but also then onward, had to adhere to well-established standards of workmanship and honourable behaviour.

Similarly, present day Freemasonry teaches the need for high standards of behaviour in society and among fellow Freemasons, In the past the quietly given modes of recognition enabled a member to know that he was in the company of someone who has been taught those same high standards and that he would be given due courtesy.

Religion. Freemasonry is not a religion, nor a substitute for religion, but it adheres to the same values basic to religion. Its essential qualification, a belief in a Supreme Being, opens it to men of many persuasions and it expects them to continue to follow their own faith.

The Bible or the "Volume of the Sacred Law" is an essential part of the Lodge and it is open in full view when the Lodge is holding a meeting.

                                                                      Click to read MORE