We came across this list of 25 “facts” about the Fraternity, and decided to run them through our fact checker. Many are truthful, but we did find some questionable claims, as well as some that needed to be debunked.
- 25 – False, National membership numbers are lower than these statistics. The numbers for America were roughly half of what is reported here, at the time the video was published, or roughly between 1,000,000 – 1,100,000 members in America at the time of creation of this video.
- 24 – True, we have not been a secret society since 1717.
- 23 – True, Freemasonry under a Grand Lodge system starting in 1717, however Speculative Masonry is recorded to predate this date.
- 22 – True, Freemasonry uses operative mason tools as symbols to our teachings.
- 21 – True, however many of our symbols have double meanings, and so while used to convey meaning to illiterate individuals, it is likely that they were also used to conceal deeper meanings.
- 20 – True, our main symbol is the square and compasses, and in today’s society is so prominent, it would generally be identified as our “logo”.
- 19 – True, Lodges are not only the place, but the grouping of Masons, and there is no over arching system of governance that manages Freemasons the exact same way globally.
- 18 – True, Masons cannot be atheists. While Freemasonry is not a religion, our rituals and symbolism are spiritual in nature, and a man who is an atheist would not gain much from Freemasonry’s rituals or teachings.
- 17 – Partially True, “Regular” Freemasonry is the only system that is recognized by Regular Grand Lodges, so while there are others who claim to be Masons, they are not recognized as performing the works, or adhering to the standards (or “landmarks”) that would make them Freemasons in a regular Freemason’s eye. Opening up the definition of Freemason to other types would yield many more than “2 types”, including a spectrum that would lead to many con artists, and scam organizations that claim to be Freemasons.
- 16 – Partially, Freemasons do have signs, rings, and handshakes, but if you think you are going to get an understanding of the later from a youtube video, we have a bridge to sell you.
- 15 – True, every group gets the occasional bad apple.
- 14 – False, we do have restrictions to speaking negatively about a Mason if not true, but there is nothing within our obligations that would make us perjure ourselves. This would not even be legally binding, which would in and of itself be anti-masonic.
- 13 – True, there is no singular central authority for Freemasonry (sorry global conspiracy theorists).
- 12 – True, Statue of Liberty was designed by a Freemason.
- 11 – Debatable, most sources for the connection of Speculative Freemason practices going back to actual operative stone masons guilds is usually provided by Freemasons sources. The actual connections between operative Masonry and speculative Freemasonry are less clear, as Freemasonry started as a secret society, and operative lodges records dating back prior to speculative influence is very sparse.
- 10 – True, and Texas does “own” Masonic jurisdiction over the moon.
- 9 – True, it is said that this lodge made her a Mason to swear her to secrecy, however was denied membership to attend meetings.
- 8 – True, we have many, many, many famous Freemasons.
- 7 – True, The Illuminati was a historical organization which did try to infiltrate Freemasonry, but it was found and stomped out of the Masonic jurisdictions in infiltrated.
- 6 – True, Freemasons were one of the first groups targeted for genocide by the Nazis, along with the Jews. This was likely due to the secrecy of the meetings, and the Reich did not want an organization that could communicate and spread information against the Nazi party.
- 5 – Partially, there are jurisdictions that claim female membership, however these are not recognized as “regular” Freemason jurisdictions; thus there is not official communication between the jurisdictions, so we regular Masons really do not know, nor can we comment on what they are doing. All we really know is that they consider themselves to be Freemasons.
- 4 – False, while Freemasonry has many observances of the importance of the Sun that many religions, including Christianity share, it would not be appropriate to call that “Sun Worship”, nor would it be at the center of our ceremonies of beliefs. There are some schools of thought that highlight the importance of astronomy in Masonry, as well as potential aspects of Astrology, however these are not central to the belief or experience of being a Freemason.
- 3 – True, a requirement to become a member, is a belief in God. We do not dictate who that God is, your relationship with your God, or what any of your beliefs in God must be. This does not change after membership. We do not ever provide doctrine for an individuals salvation, or how to belief in their deity.
- 2 – True, we did own the tallest building in the world at one point.
- 1 – True, there are many books written that talk about the Brotherhood bonding Americans together on the battlefield, above and beyond their tie to their civil division.