No Mason, except Mean West Texan, if he is one, has yet posted anything to debunk or refute anything I've written; not so much as a mere assertion. Mostly, it's been attacks on my character from people who have not only never met me, but apparently have never read anything I've written before; silly attempts to tie what I wrote to conspiracist web sites and lunatic fringes; and vague menace.
“So you are Anti-Catholic AND Anti-Freemasonry?”
“You are just plain wrong and misinformed.” (This guy came the closest to actually asserting something I had said wasn't
true.)
“Since you don't have anything but your own imaginings and anti-Masonic websites, you should stop talking about Freemasonry. Your paranoid animus towards Masons is disgusting.”
“You got your info from wikipedia and a website about THE DA VINCI CODE?” (Very much untrue.)
“Hey, did you know that both Samuel Colt and Richard Gatling were Masons?” (Would anyone care to mention why the HELL that is relevant?)
“You sound a lot like some Catholic kids I met when I was young. They told me I couldn't play on the church playground by my home, cuz I was Lutheran & that meant I was going to go to hell. They let my neighbor play tho, because an Episcopalian was close enough.” (The only mention I had ever made of anything related to Heaven or Hell was to point out that Masonic references to Lucifer are based on Latin, and are not Satanic.)
“I see the free-fire zone for the week is the Freemasonry Fraternity. Well, flame-on.”
“Oh great, another Mason bashing thread.”
"I suggest you review the first two Commandments, or doesn't your religion trust you with reading them."
“If it were up to you, America would be a theocracy with Roman Catholicism as the official and only religion.”
"What is this with all the Catholic hit pieces on Masonry lately? Clean up your pedophile priest hood first."
“The one you continually show, every single time you post about Masons; especially this ridiculous, tinfoil covered thread.”
MeanWestTexan and a few others have at least tried to provide counterexamples, of course, with preprosterous hyperbole, such as "all the founding fathers." Washington, Franklin, and Hamilton were free-masons. Jefferson, Payne, Sam Adams, John Adams, etc. were not free-masons.
As for the Masonic astronauts, which Freemasons seem to love to point out: I would positively impressed if several Freemasons scattered throughout the space program were Freemasons, concluding, "Hey, this group apparently teaches people The Right Stuff." That nearly all the astronauts chosen by Freemason Lyndon Johnson were Freemasons, and, then, that was largely it: That doesn't speak of impressive chracter development. Those men competed against hundreds of others for those positions, and I had always believed the contest was simply looking for the best physical and mental specimens. If those selected were nearly all Freemasons, it means the other tests were a ruse, and that Johnson had corrupted the system with cronyism. Not impressive.
Jefferson would not have been permitted to be a Freemason because he was not of good character, nor willing to accept the Holy Bible as the guide to his life.
(If looking for an actual Deist, Jefferson would be your man. He even re-wrote the New Testament, stripped of theology.)
But speaking of founding fathers that were masons, my favorite would be Paul Revere.
There's a great entry by the Secretary of the Boston Lodge re: the Boston Tea Party that states (paraphrase):
"The brethern, led by WM Revere, quite upset regarding the UnJust Taxation, have adjourned to the Harbor for a brief festivity. Libations to be consumed at WM Revere's home at 4:00 PM sharp. A motion was carried for the lodge to be left open for enjoyment."
My response to you was about some basic anti-Protestant teachings still held by the Roman Catholic Church. I see you have completely ignored the second point I made in that post. Take another look at it, because it explains the reason the Roman Catholic Church began its teachings against the Masons. The power to excommmunicate was used as leverage to get masons, the church builder's to share the secrets of building.
LBJ wasn't a KING and no, he didn't personally handpick the early astronauts, based on who was and who wasn't a brother Mason. There you go again, with your KOOKBERGER conspiracy theories.
I mentioned Colt and Gatling. I also listed many other famous Masons, who had added greatly to American and even world history.
You totally ignored my grand list of those who were instrumental in winning WW II.....FDR, Sir Winston Churchill, Generals Omar Bradley, Mark Clark, Douglas Macarthur, Georege Marshall, and Edward Rickenbacker. Hitler hated and persecuted Masons....and he lost.
Because of your sicko, and yes, paranoid animus against Masons and this really stupid conspiracy thread, I posted a whole lot of Masons, in specified grouping, so that if you wanted to write some more conspiracy fantasies ( which you just did, re the astronaut and LBJ...LOL ), you wouldn't have to go hunt for more names. LOL
You get know, around here, by what you post; now, you have to live with the fact that you posted this thread. Take it like a man and stop being a baby!