[MeanWestTexan]

Ah, tinfoil hatters attack, now, please.

[MeanWestTexan]

Ping

[JustRight]

Why should we be interested in what Dead White European Men accomplished? </sarcasm>

[KevinDavis]

Was Washington a Freemason???

[joesnuffy]

The Statue of Liberty a gift from French Masons to American Masons..

[Matchett-PI]

Leftist "logic":

"Many of America's Founders were "freemasons" therefore the Constitution really isn't in place to guard absolute (self-evident) moral truths and we have the right to change it."

[jbwbubba]

I saw the movie

[kellynla]

What is the Catholic Church's official position on Freemasonry? Are Catholics free to become Freemasons?

Freemasonry is incompatible with the Catholic faith. Freemasonry teaches a naturalistic religion that espouses indifferentism, the position that a person can be equally pleasing to God while remaining in any religion.

Masonry is a parallel religion to Christianity. The New Catholic Encyclopedia states, "Freemasonry displays all the elements of religion, and as such it becomes a rival to the religion of the Gospel. It includes temples and altars, prayers, a moral code, worship, vestments, feast days, the promise of reward and punishment in the afterlife, a hierarchy, and initiative and burial rites" (vol. 6, p. 137).

Masonry is also a secret society. Its initiates subscribe to secret blood oaths that are contrary to Christian morals. The prospective Mason swears that if he ever reveals the secrets of Masonry--secrets which are trivial and already well-known--he wills to be subject to self-mutilation or to gruesome execution. (Most Masons, admittedly, never would dream of carrying out these punishments on themselves or on an errant member).

Historically, one of Masonry's primary objectives has been the destruction of the Catholic Church; this is especially true of Freemasonry as it has existed in certain European countries. In the United States, Freemasonry is often little more than a social club, but it still espouses a naturalistic religion that contradicts orthodox Christianity. (Those interested in joining a men's club should consider the Knights of Columbus instead.)

The Church has imposed the penalty of excommunication on Catholics who become Freemasons. The penalty of excommunication for joining the Masonic Lodge was explicit in the 1917 code of canon law (canon 2335), and it is implicit in the 1983 code (canon 1374).

Because the revised code of canon law is not explicit on this point, some drew the mistaken conclusion that the Church's prohibition of Freemasonry had been dropped. As a result of this confusion, shortly before the 1983 code was promulgated, the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a statement indicating that the penalty was still in force. This statement was dated November 26, 1983 and may be found in Origins 13/27 (Nov. 15, 1983), 450.

http://www.newadvent.org/library/almanac_thisrock93.htm

[n-tres-ted]

I highly recommend "How The Scots Invented The Modern World (And Everything In It)" by Arthur Herman.

[VeniVidiVici]

bump

[joesnuffy]

Secret Societies rule dude!

[Chi-townChief]

Yep - the only president who wasn't a Mason was JFK and look what happened to him.

[KevinDavis]

I prefer the Stonecutters

[thefactor]

have you seen this one yet? someone posted a nice pic of G.W. in a Mason apron a few posts from the beginning.

[vollmond]

Do you know why some Masons become Shriners? It's because of the large amount of tinfoil you can hide in a fez. Believe it.

[cyborg]

need your help here!

[yarddog]

I have just started reading a book which my daughter gave me for Father's day, which says Scots created the modern world.

Not sure they should take that blame on themselves tho,

[EveningStar]

bttt

[Just mythoughts]

"Freemasonry worldwide had to rediscover its Scottish roots, he said, or its original message of spiritual self-improvement would be lost. “Scotland is different from the rest of the world because we go back long before freemasonry came into being as an 18th-century organisation. We were ordinary working guys, skilled craftsmen, with ancient knowledge and rituals. When freemasonry came in there was a fusion. That didn’t happen anywhere else.” "

From the article, now I have no problem with the ordinary working guys, skilled craftsmen, but the supposed "ancient knowledge and rituals" calls into question what is really being promoted.

Both sides of my father's family were Scottish and came from Scotland/England/Ireland, which I do not know exactly. I can only verify back to 1750 in this country.

I find it humorous that the founding of this nation by anyone claiming to be Christian would give credit to a specific organization. Consider I know what the Bible has to say and it gives NO credit to "secret" organizations for what would be.