Freemasons, where did the conspiracy ideas come from?

Great Debates
21

Eternal, are you counting the government under the Articles of Confederation or something?

I’m reminded of Calvin when he formed G.R.O.S.S.

Hobbes: Why all the secrecy?

Calvin: People pay more attention to you when they think you’re up to something.

22

So most of the primary figures of the Revolution knew each other. Is that a surprise to you? Can you point any successful rebellion that did not start from a small group of agitators with social ties or one sort or another?

23

So do they worship Jabalon? Anyone know?

Anyone dare to guess?!!

24

Ah ha I found it - but I was mispelling it up until now - it is JaoBulOn.

http://www.cephasministry.com/masonic_god.html

25

For an overview of Freemasonry, I’m inclined to recommend Stephen Knight’s book The Brotherhood, on the basis of a rather peculiar endorsement… I found a copy in the public library at Gateshead (a town which has a fairly considerable Masonic population), and noticed that, on the cover page, somebody had written a row of funny-looking symbols, and added “3[sup]o[/sup]” by way of signature. Being well-versed in “secret Masonic alphabets” and bog-standard substitution ciphers, I was able to translate the row of symbols as saying “This book is the truth”.

(Of course, I don’t know if “3[sup]o[/sup]” was a master Mason, somebody pretending to be a master Mason, or one of the Three Degrees, for that matter…)

Knight’s conclusions, as relevant to this thread, may be crudely summarized as:

  1. Freemasonry is an extensive and formalized sort of “old-boys” network, with the vices thereof; members look after each other, possibly to the detriment of non-members. More of a clique than a sinister secret society, though.

  2. Some aspects of Masonic ritual are consciously non-Christian in nature (that is, originally developed with a view to shocking the local vicar); few Masons actually notice this, and even fewer give a monkey’s.