Haldimand County: Masonic lodge graffiti treated as hate crime

jas wrote:

You kinda gotta wonder what's the purpose in this day and age of a secret and exclusive society that, in its strictest terms, only admits men, which performs secret rituals and invokes middle eastern esoterism (eg: "Order of the Eastern Star"), that is strictly hierarchical and has secret gestures so members can recognize each other worldwide, but which is apparently [i]not[/i] religious, officially non-denominational but nevertheless requires of its members belief in a Supreme Being. 

The idea that it's just a friendly fraternity that does "good works" in the community doesn't quite jibe with the rest. 

The supreme being they call "the Great Architect", the designer of buildings built by masons, I suppose.

There is an anti-Zionist element to some graffiti.

I guess that accounts for it being deemed a hate crime so quickly.

The Masons exist to advance the financial affairs of each other, I read somewhere. Not surprising but worthy of note.

Freemasonry uses the metaphors of operative stonemasons' tools and implements, against the allegorical backdrop of the building of King Solomon's Temple, to convey what has been described by both Masons and critics as "a system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols."[4][5]

[url=http://www.kingsolomonslodge.org/read.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fthemiddlechambe... blog: American diversity and Masonic tolerance[/url]

Often this is all just a product of nature versus nurture. The fact is that many Masons grew up in churches which preached intolerance. Indeed, the author of this article grew up in a church that spent several weeks explaining why Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses would go to hell. It is no wonder that many Masons have trouble with religious tolerance. Even if they believe it, they have probably never had to practice it.

Such was the case the other day. I received a forwarded email from a Brother which lobbied for the rejection of Muslim principles in the U.S. and called for them to accept our Christian way of life. It did so by using a somewhat fabricated account of Australia's rejection of certain sects of Islam. It smacks of religious intolerance and activated my worst fear, "Will people think that this is what Masons believe?!"

I dunno. I still think it is probably about greed, and domination.

Origins...

The lecture gives the following numbers for the workers at [King Solomon's] temple:  There were employed in this building, 3 Grand Masters, 3,300 Masters or overseers of the work, 80,000 Fellow Crafts, and 70,000 Entered Apprentices, or bearers of burdens.” While the three Grand Masters are not specifically referred to with that title in the Bible, King Solomon of Israel, King Hiram of Tire, and Hiram Abif are the three main characters in the construction of King Solomon's Temple. It is interesting to note that King Solomon was a Jew, King Hiram a Phoenician, and Hiram Abif a man of mixed birth (as discussed earlier in the paper). This lays the foundation for the idea that Masons need only to believe in a Supreme Being and not in a specific doctrine. Because at least one man (and probably two, depending on which of his parent's religions Hiram Abif accepted) who was intimately involved in building King Solomon's Temple was not a Jew, it would be absurd for Masons to limit their membership to one religious discipline when the allegory which they base their order on contains men of different religions.  Also, three different nationalities of men were employed as craftsmen during the project. 1 Kings 5:18 says, “The craftsmen of Solomon and Hiram and the men of Gebal cut and prepared the timber and stone for the building of the temple.” So the construction of the temple was certainly a multicultural affair. This certainly provides an excellent allegory on which the universal Brotherhood of Masonry can base its teachings.