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About Religion and masonry

Freemasonry is not a religion, nor is it a substitute for religion. It requires of its members a belief in God as part of the obligation of every responsible adult, but advocates no sectarian faith or practice. Masonic ceremonies include prayers, both traditional and extempore, to reaffirm each individual's dependence on God and to seek divine guidance. Freemasonry is open to men of any faith, but religion and sectarian discussion is forbidden in Lodge rooms. Masons meet in a spirit of toleration and brotherhood.

Masons believe that there is one God and that people employ many different ways to seek and to express what they know of God. Masonry primarily uses the appellation, "Grand Architect of the Universe," and other nonsectarian titles, to address Deity. In this way, persons of different faiths may join together in prayer, concentrating on God, rather than differences among themselves. Masonry believes in religious freedom and that the relationship between the individual and God is personal, private and sacred. It strongly encourages each man to be active in his own church, synagogue or house of worship. It expects each member to follow his own faith and to place his duty to God above all other duties. Freemasonry's moral teachings are acceptable to all religions.

Freemasonry lacks the basic elements of religion. It has no dogma or theology, no wish or means to enforce religious orthodoxy and it offers no sacraments. Freemasonry does not claim to lead to salvation by works, by secret knowledge or by any other means. The secrets of Freemasonry are concerned with modes of recognition, not with the means of salvation.

An open Volume of the Sacred Law, "the rule and guide of life," is an essential part of every Masonic meeting. The Volume of the Sacred Law to a Christian is the Bible; to Freemasons of other faiths it is the book held holy by them. The obligations taken by Freemasons are sworn on the Volume of the Sacred Law. They are undertakings to follow the principles of Freemasonry and to keep confidential a Freemason's means of recognition.

Many outstanding religious leaders are and have been Masons--including the Reverend Norman Vincent Peale, Bishops of the Methodist Church, Episcopal Bishops and Archbishops, Presidents of the Southern Baptist Convention, Rabbis and leaders of all the world's great religions. Masons are members of numerous denominations representing many faiths--including many thousands of Roman Catholic Masons in the United States and around the world.

The primary purpose of Masonry is often stated in this way:

Masonry takes good men and makes them better.

The major task of Masonry is to provide a setting and context in which men can seek their own spiritual development. Masons engage in a program for personal growth. A person usually joins Masonry because he feels that there is "something more" in life that he is missing. Masonry stresses a process of self-control and self-discovery. The rituals are used to teach the basic lessons of human duty and responsibility, including duty to one's faith, one's country, one's community, one's family and oneself.

But Masonry also has objectives in the world. We know the great truth in the line, "No man is an island." No person of integrity can be truly happy when those around him are in sorrow and suffering. No one can rest comfortably when he knows that want and need surround him.

Thus Masonry works to improve the world by improving the lot of the world's people. Masons give to help children see and read and learn and run and play. Masons give to help the elderly live lives of comfort and security. Masons work to make communities better and cleaner and happier.

Masonry tells its members that the growth they experience must be shared, for it is our objective that all men and women shall someday have the same freedom of thought and action which are taught in the Lodge.

Masonry supports the Constitutional separation of Church and State because we know that in nations in which the two are combined, either the one or the other becomes subservient and weakened.

Masonry has a purpose. The liberation of all people from fear, from hatred, from poverty and from tyranny.

It makes its changes one Mason at a time, but each Mason influences the lives of those around him. Like a pebble cast into a pool, Masonry reaches out to touch the lives of the world.