I’ve seen a lot of wild claims made about Masonic conspiracies on this site, as well as good rebuttals by actual Masons. In the interest of fairness, this is why I, a non-Mason, do not believe that such a conspiracy exists.
We’ll start with the most general before moving to more specific topics. Here is why there is no all encompassing Masonic conspiracy:
1. Masonry has really never been a secret society, after all, we all know that it exists. It has however been a society with secrets, but today it’s not even that. A quick internet search or a trip to the library and I could tell you pretty much everything about masonry that was once a secret. The rites and rituals have all been revealed by people already.
2. It is not difficult to become a Mason. Even the modest requirements for membership are mostly self-reported. For instance, I am an atheist. As Masonry requires the belief in a supreme being, I should not be able to become one. However, if I really wanted to join, I could easily lie about that and no one would know. With as easy as it is to become a Mason, infiltrating the conspiracy would be no problem. That’s not how you run a good conspiracy.
3. I have known more than a few Masons in my time, and of that group some of them were, to put it delicately, not the sharpest tools in the shed. Don’t get me wrong, they were nice people and their lack of intelligence was not due to being Masons, they were just Masons who happened not to be that bright. Surely a powerful secret conspiracy would not allow people like that to take part.
I think it’s clear at this point that no conspiracy exists at the local level in masonry. If one were to exist, it would have to be kept secret not only from the public, but from the majority of Masons as well. So now let’s examine the case against a high level Masonic conspiracy.
4. As we all know, there are three degrees to Masonry as well as optional side degrees going up to 33. It is these 33rd degree Masons that are frequently brought up in conspiracy theories. Contrary to the claims of the theorists, 33rd degree masons are not at all rare and it is not, in fact, all that difficult to become one. Surely if a conspiracy existed among 33rd degree Masons, it would have been uncovered long ago.
5. Masonry has existed for a long time, since the early 1700s. Secrets are hard to keep, looking at the number of conspiracies that have been exposed over the years, it becomes clear that the longer a conspiracy goes on, the harder it is to keep it a secret. Over that time, not one whiff of solid evidence for the existence of a Masonic conspiracy has emerged.
6. Within any power structure, rivalries and disagreements inevitably occur. Even if there was a conspiracy within Masonry that encompassed only a select few, at some point over Freemasonry’s long history a disgruntled member of the conspiracy would likely have exposed it to avenge some perceived wrong. To date no one has done so.
7. There are countless self-appointed “experts” who criticize Masonry and reveal the so-called hidden agenda of the group. They scream long and loud to anyone who will listen about the evils of Freemasonry, uncovering all sorts of secret plots and nefarious tactics with which the Masons run the world. Yet the “all powerful” Masons allow these people to continue. There are no kidnappings, murders or intimidation of these critics. If a conspiracy existed, surely some of these whistleblowers would have been silenced.

Now lets look at the main sources of information that incriminates the masons.
8. The main institutionalized critics of Freemasonry have been organizations that oppose free thinking and equality. The Catholic church first opposed freemasonry in the Pre-Vatican II era, when it was still trying to maintain a monopoly over the religious beliefs of millions in order to protect its own power base. Of course, the church still “technically” opposes freemasonry today, but that opposition is now mostly tradition with little to no action to back it up.
9. Another group who opposed the Masons was the Anti-Masonic political party in the United States. The main purpose of this group was fear mongering and scapegoating, and they took advantage of the Morgan affair to demonize the masons. While accounts differed concerning what happened to William Morgan, what is known is that he had clashed with members of his Masonic lodge and decided to publish a book concerning the secrets of Freemasonry. He does seem to have been harassed afterwards, but the dispute never went beyond those whom he had offended at his local lodge. He later went missing and anti-Masons jumped on the opportunity to claim he had been murdered by Masons. No body was ever found to back this up, and his book on freemasonry was published anyway , so the suspected murder seems to be missing a motive. Note that others have published similar works and suffered no consequences whatsoever.
10. The Nazi party and subsequent Nazi government was also extremely anti-Mason, going so far as to ban the group and imprison many of it’s members. The sole reason for this was that the Masons beliefs on equality and independent thought clashed with state which the Nazis were trying to form. Other secret societies were also banned by the Third Reich, as Hitler felt that people’s only allegiance should be to the state.
11. Most recently, Masonry has been under fire from the extreme religious right, notably in the comics of Jack Chick. It is this group who is leading the charge alleging the devil worship and cult-like activities of the Masons. Again, they provide no proof whatsoever of their claims and their motives are rather transparent. They oppose Freemasonry’s stance on religious equality and (coincidently, much like Hitler) believe that one’s sole allegiance should be to God as they see him.
Well hopefully I didn’t put you all to sleep with that and sorry for being so long winded. In any regard, that’s why I don’t believe in a Masonic conspiracy, and why I see the Masons as exactly what they claim to be: a fraternity and charitable organization.

Great thread, and well thought out.Masonry is benefical not harmful,I think humanity has lost the ability to agree to disagree,I may not believe in the same concepts as you do,but I can still respect your opinions and realize that it is diversity of opinion that drives human thought and helps mankind evolve mentally.I may not have the same theological views as you do, but I respect your right to worship divinity in the manner that you find fit, so long as it harms none.Sometimes I get frusterated thinking that people spend so much time focusing on their differences when they should be foucsing on their similarities and realizing that every person has the same wants, and drives, and basic needs.

I mostly agree with your thread. Unfortunately, you will not be able to argue with the masonic conspiracy theorists. When you bring up the idea that most masons you have met seemed to be ordinary (or less than ordinary) people who in no way could have the means to dominate the world, conspiracy theorists will counter that there are two masonries: an outer circle where most of the riff raff are and an exclusive inner circle. Also, any information about masonry which does not support the conspiracy theorists beliefs is automatically dismissed as "misinformation" or "propaganda."

Most people will assess the facts and give them reasonable weight, then form a conclusion. Many conspiracy theorists have already reached their conclusions the masons are out to control everything, and any facts you present to them will be bent, stretched or deformed to fit their pre-conceived conclusions.

If you are going to try to win the masonic conspiracy theorists to your side, you have to speak their language and work within their belief system. You should first hypothesize that some group is out there trying to or controlling the world. You should then show that group is not the masons as we know it, nor skull and bones, nor the illuminati, nor any other group on their laundry list. The masonic conspriracy theorist will then be forced to believe that group is a group of walrusses from Jupiter, or perhaps it does not exist at all.