>> Interesting — so then the stories by ex-freemasons that the Presbyterians and other groups are really just fronts for freemasonry is not rumour? <<
Whoa. That’s a bit of a leap... Where did that come from?
The closest I’ve come to seeing that was that the Knights Templar withdrew to Switzerland, where I’m sure their resentment towards Rome might have helped Zwingli catch on. (You’ll note that the Swiss flag is similar to that of the Knights Templar.)
But the freemasons are works-oriented, hard to reconcile with Calvinism. Yet I will say that I’ve never understood why the Calvinists are obsessed with Catholicism, ignoring the fairly high percentage of Baptists and Presbyterians who entangle themselves with freemasonry, and masonic-themed fraternities and sororities. (Masonic lodges are on the decline, but college fraternities and sororities have exploded, and they tend to be very masonic in nature.)
It’s almost as if the fraternities and sororities exemplify every Calvinist’s worst fevered imaginations about Catholicism... plus add in drunkenness, systematic sexual desensitization, drug abuse, mixing Greek paganism with Christian symbolism. Yet I don’t hear preachers warn against fraternities; I’ve never seen Calvinists criticize them on FR. (I HAVE posted several threads about masonry or fraternities.)
I’m not trying to infer any basis for Cronos’ question. To the contrary, Southern Baptist seminaries, AFAIK, do NOT have masonic fraternities or sororities in them. I’m just wondering why Calvinists and Baptists aren’t bothered that the Bible Belt for so long has been dominated by business leaders and politicians from the masonic-fraternal system?