Free Republic

Weekend Edition Saturday, May 5, 2007 · In the 18th century, the word on the cobblestone street was that Freemasons were an occult group promoting a pagan agenda through the American government. After all, members themselves call Masonry "the craft." And the Masonic founders of America built the roads around the U.S. Capitol in the form of a five-pointed star – a pagan symbol. Then there is that "seeing eye" pyramid on the dollar bill – a known Masonic symbol. Some conspiracy theorists have argued that the pyramid is evidence of a Masonic cabal within the U.S. government. (Historians pooh-pooh...

The nation’s oldest and most fabled secret society, the Freemasons, is going public after more than two centuries, and some of its more traditionalist members are shaking in their sheepskins. Faced with a dwindling membership, the society — whose past members include 28 of the 40 signers of the Constitution — decided to relax admission standards. “It’s an insult to the people who are in it,” Jerry Czin, a Mason for 30 years, said. “I don’t believe in going down to a lower denominator.” “You want to set standards,” Mr. Czin said. “I don’t even like the fact that every...