Is Freemasonry a Religion or Anti-Religious?

Article Written by Duncan Burden

Freemasonry is certainly not a religion, but virtually all versions of Freemasonry do require a member to hold a belief in a supreme divine creator.

Only under the Grand Orient Lodge of France is this not required, which is why it is not recognised as true Freemasonry by the vast majority of other representative Grand Lodges around the world.

It would seem difficult to appreciate Freemasonry without a belief in a divine Creator, as a primary aspect to its teachings in morality is the risk of divine judgement after death, and if you don’t believe in God, and subsequently that final judgement, it rather makes the process redundant. Equally though, the processes work on the concept of appreciating divine creation, so again, without believing in divine creation (even a divinely inspired evolution system) would again make Freemasonry more than just slightly empty for an atheist.

Prayers and the presence of a recognised book (or books) of worship are used within Masonic meetings, empathising the concept of divine belief. The Masonic prayers are no different in significance to someone saying ‘grace’ over a meal, they are not specific to a singular faith, just a homage to God, goodwill and a simple moment of reflection on being grateful.

The Books of Worship, (or volumes of sacred law – as called by Freemasons) can be any recognised book relating to an individual’s faith. The most common representation is obviously a Bible, but depending those present, and the customs and choices of the Lodge, such books as a Koran or Torah can often be found being used. In some Lodges it is common practice to have a variety on constant display, due to the various faiths of the Masons present.

Freemasonry is not a replacement to any individual’s faith, or system of religion, instead it is just seen as a common foundation element which helps represent both a sense of unity between them and a foundation of common reverence that each Mason uses to take their oaths on. Although, also, as mentioned earlier, virtually all systems of Freemasonry use the basic principles of divine creation and divine judgement as fundamental tools to convey lessons in morality, charity and ethics.

As such, Freemasonry is not a religion, but, if anything, is designed to support an individual’s existing faith, and neither is it anti-religion as it encourages people to follow a faith, as a Mason must hold a personal belief BEFORE they are allowed to join.

So why are some church authorities against their congregation from joining the Freemasons. The primary reason is due to a theological concept called ‘Deism’. Deism is a theological idea that a person believes a god exists, but believed that deity does not interfere with the actual events of the world, nature or humanity. The consequence of this would then also mean that there is no concept of divine ‘revelation’, as this would be recognised as ‘interaction’, as such someone who held a deism belief would not believe in a divine origin or value to church, prayer, saints, prophets or divine texts, as they believe no interaction from ‘heaven’ would prompt or create it. Instead, their belief in God is through ‘reason’ and ‘logic’ and by looking at the world in an almost scientific approach they could possibly find ‘evidence’ that God exists because of very nature of existence, both physically and mentally.

This was the basis of argument against most scientists during the Spanish Inquisition, that anything that was deemed to be less divinely inspired, such as the Earth going round the Sun, as it could have undermined the authority of the church who was meant to be divinely governed, as such if the church was wrong about the nature of creation, then the church could not be governed by the divine intellect responsible for creation. Even if the scientific reasoning could be correct and the scientist still presented as evidence of divine creation (such as work Galileo, Kepler and Newton all who appeared to believe in Divine Creation), but simply that the church definition was incorrect, it was still condemned, as it presented the possibility that someone could find ‘God’ without spiritual guidance – or church guidance.

Freemasonry was, and still is by some, seen as Deism, that it encourages an understanding of God and creation through science and reasoning, instead of through spiritual guidance. This misunderstanding is mostly due to the regular use of Masons being told to study and use classical methods of education like the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences, and told to use them to ‘study and appreciate the works of the almighty’, as these principles relate to the classical methods of studying nature and divine creation, something that was the basis of a gentleman’s education from at least the Renaissance to the early 20^th century. Yet, really, this is a principle called ‘Theistic Evolution’, and something that Freemasonry does use, which is to use science and reasoning to support your existing faith, not replace it, to be of a Free-mind to appreciate that creation is a mystery to be solved and as we advance so will our skill and ability to appreciate creation. Yet never losing the view point that creation is divine, meaning that even if creation is evolution and ‘Big Bang’ based, it is still working to a divine plan that each generation is learning more and more about.

Although, this is just a basis, a chassis, on which Freemasonry rests, the primary reason for the vehicle is to create an environment in which men can have the chance to enhance and appreciate the common qualities of faith, respect, morality and charity.

~Guest Post by Duncan Burden

Duncan Burden has been a Freemason for most of his adult life and is a member of various Masonic bodies, such as the Royal and Select Master Masons, and Operative Masons. He is also a member of various Masonic Chivalric Orders, including the Knights Templar and Knights of the Red Cross of Constantine.

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