Islam and Freemasonry

Freemasons-freemasonry.com ^ | 29-07-2006 | Bro. Shaikh Hatim Fidahussein Nakhoda PM

[BlackjackPershing]

That’s the problem. Is Romney?

[uglybiker]

Romney isn’t either. The last candidate for President who was a Mason was Bob Dole.

[VxH]

[freedom of expression is foundation upon which the order is built]

 

How did the free expression of Joseph Smith affect his health?

[VxH]

[I think what he is saying is that Islam is compatible with Freemasonry.]

 

Albert Pike's "Morals and Dogma" gives me the impression that Masonry is a Supra-Religious or Meta-Religious organization. 

 

Somewhat similar to the Greek Amphictyonic league.

[uglybiker]

An interesting comparison. Thanks for the links.

[DieHard the Hunter]

> Albert Pike’s “Morals and Dogma” gives me the impression that Masonry is a Supra-Religious or Meta-Religious organization.

Not all Freemasons buy into the random musings of Albert Pike. Me, I think his writings are those of a lunatic. That is the beauty of Freemasonry: because it is not a religion, there is no Dogma, and thus no requirement to observe anybody’s views as Holy Writ.

[VxH]

[That is the beauty of Freemasonry: because it is not a religion, there is no Dogma, and thus no requirement to observe anybody’s views as Holy Writ.]

 

Sounds an awful lot like "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law".

 

What's to keep this from becoming  Fatal Liberality?

[VxH]

[Me, I think his writings are those of a lunatic.]

 

Well, maybe he just got a little too much sun.

 

M&D seems to contain, among other things, a fairly accurate account of the history of morality and religious dogma.

 

Which parts do you find objectionable?

[Redleg Duke]

"What's to keep this from becoming Fatal Liberality?"

The policy of the Craft to "make good men better", not to take in bad men to attempt to make them good.

[DieHard the Hunter]

> Sounds an awful lot like “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law”.

Except, of course, Freemasonry is not a religion, and neither does it purport to set up laws for people to follow.

[VxH]

[The policy of the Craft to "make good men better", ]

 

Who defines good?

 

Is the definition of good the same for Christian, Muslim, and Communist?

 

 

 

 

[DieHard the Hunter]

> Which parts do you find objectionable?

I didn’t say I found it objectionable. I said I found it to be the writings of a lunatic.

What I *do* find objectionable is that Albert Pike is constantly quoted at Freemasons by non-Freemasons as being the Difinitive view on Freemasonry. The Craft doesn’t work like that. Naturally, Pike was entitled to his opinions. I am not obliged to share his views as if they were Holy Writ. I’m certainly not prepared to defend them as Definitive.

[VxH]

[Except, of course, Freemasonry is not a religion,]

 

I didn't say it was a religion.

 

Seems to me that "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law"   is a more atheistic than religious statement.  

 

If there is no objective Dogma, as you have indicated: 

 

"there is no Dogma, and thus no requirement to observe anybody’s views as Holy Writ"

 

then that is an awful lot like saying:    "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law".

 

 

C.S. Lewis referred to this as "The Poison of Subjectivism".  His essay The Inner Ring brings Masonry to mind, FWIW.

[VxH]

[I said I found it to be the writings of a lunatic.]

 

Which part?

 

Even lunatics can be historically correct.

[Redleg Duke]

The Craft. I am hoping you are a member and not a basher. If the latter, don’t bother replying. I am busy giving my cat a bath.

[Redleg Duke]

Go back and tell the Pope, “No sale, Poppa!”

[Eastbound]

Pike attempts to explain the historic progression of man's understanding and relationship to deity from generation to generation, from the ridiculous to the sublime. Some folk who read M & D get caught up in a belief that Freemasonry practices every form of psycho/religious/spiritual/mystical exercises found in the book. Not so. It's the history of religion, the main points of which are preserved in the pageantry of the Scottish Rite degrees.

Concerning Greek myths, or whatever, it wouldn't surprise me to see a correspondence between Freemasonry and any other belief system or religion, as there should be a common denominator found in all of them, the teaching of morals. Freemasonry just happens to add a truth that is not found in some religions . . the brotherhood of man under the Fatherhood of God -- and establishes an environment to practice it, to the consternation of its detractors.

[VxH]

 

[I am busy giving my cat a bath.]

 

Machine or hand wash?

 

Worked with a guy who claimed he had trapped all the cats in his neighborhood and turned them over to the dog pound.   Odd fellow.  Always talking about the smell of burning feathers....  but I digress.

 

[The Craft]

 

Ok, so what's the definition of good?  How can we tell a good man from a bad one?

 

[oldtimer]

I would submit that this whole discussion could be summed up by reading Rudyard Kipling's THE MOTHER LODGE.

Freemasonry is the worlds greatest fraternity, not a religion, and strives for the good of mankind.

[Eastbound]

Most excellent!

THE MOTHER LODGE