Freemasons' shocking secret

Sunday Telegraph
April 15, 2001
Sunday Comment: Freemasons' shocking secret
By Andrew Roberts

Does a freemason have the right to keep his membership of the craft secret? The Welsh Assembly thinks not and insists that its members declare whether they are also freemasons. Freemasons believe they are being discriminated against by the assembly and are even considering prosecuting it under the Human Rights Act.

They certainly should do so. It is a touch hypocritical for Welsh politicians, of all people, to denounce masons as a conspiratorial group of people who are out to help their own, but this question does go to the heart of a Briton's right to privacy and to keep secrets. As a former mason myself, I am convinced of their right to be left alone.

Soon after I left university, I was approached to join a rather grand lodge, whose romantic name I will not reveal in case - as the regulations stipulate - my guts are cut out of my still-living body and buried in the sand of a beach at low-tide. I had rather assumed that freemasonry was a dangerous conspiracy against the public, and had heard the usual rumours about how it subverted the democratic and legal processes. I was therefore tremendously keen to join, and duly underwent all the ceremonies necessary to become a full and active mason.

full article......

Good little article there, thanks infinite.

I found it interesting that the writer of that article said, "They were all very charming and decent people, but not out to take over the country (they already ran it anyway)". He further said "Here, I thought, was the perfect opportunity to be at the very heart of a kind of British version of the infamous P2 lodge which so destabilized Italian democracy in the Seventies and Eighties, as it secretly amassed power for its shadowy members"

Interesting that he claimed that Freemasonry is not a conspiratorial type of organization. When he said he wanted to join this lodge because it was very much like the famous p2 lodge. He was contradicting himself.

Interesting that he claimed that Freemasonry is not a conspiratorial type of organization. When he said he wanted to join this lodge because it was very much like the famous p2 lodge. He was contradicting himself.

i found it really strange how he wrote the whole article, it seems like he was trying to defend them

Yea but what was the objective behind his argument. He did not back up his argument at all. He did not give reasons why parliament shouldn�t force masons to reveal membership. To me he reinforced the idea of revealing membership. He clearly said in the article that the P2 lodge destabilized democracy in the 70�s and 80�s. Since the UK is suppose to be a democratic country & he clearly stated that there were times lodges were used to over turn a governing body.

Perhaps this wasn�t actually written by a mason at all. I can�t see a mason so openly kicking himself in face.

A mason wouldn't write something like that and wouldn't not say "They were all very charming and decent people, but not out to take over the country (they already ran it anyway)".

This write does not sound intelligent enough to have been a Freemason...

Originally posted by Militiaman
This write does not sound intelligent enough to have been a Freemason...

militiaman, exactly. im will be starting my research into freemason soon and i will print this article and show it to a real mason and see what he thinks about it.
( i will post all my findings on the freemasons in my local area)

Save your time and effort.

There is enough here:

"Soon after I left university, I was approached to join a rather grand lodge, whose romantic name I will not reveal in case - as the regulations stipulate - my guts are cut out of my still-living body and buried in the sand of a beach at low-tide. "


to cast this writer completely into the dustbin of attempted sensationalism and obscurity.

1. He was never approached.
2. There are no rather grand lodges, they all come under the same charter.
3. No such regulations apply. In fact, such symbolic penalties have never been in any regulations, ever.

Silly stuff that you should be able to discern from reality.

But the issue of whether or not people in certain public positions should be required to divulge their membership of this organisation or that, is an interesting one.