Freemasons?

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Originally Posted by Iwan

Thanks Steve. I was reading a little about freemasonry in the UK and it seems that some very well respected people are masons. The Duke of Edinburgh is I think head of the main London lodge, and the head of the local lodge is a high ranking RAF officer.

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Hey wasn't Jack the Ripper suposed to be a freemason:roflmao

yeah - I think "supposed to" is the operative phrase.

And Hitler outlawed'em. If your goodness is measured by the class of your enemies, they'd be a pretty good bunch. I just don't know enough to give you any real info on'em.

They're just people like everyone else... some good, some average, some bad. Their masonic connection is no different than people belonging to fraternities in college, the American Legion, Elks, Moose, Boy Scouts, etc. As I understand it, their focus is mostly community and charitable service. You can certainly look back in history and discover some crap about almost any organization, religion, etc. But today is today... :shrug: $.02

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Originally Posted by RichZ

Hey wasn't Jack the Ripper suposed to be a freemason:roflmao

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Jack the Ripper was supposed to have been lots of different people at one time and another and yes, the most popular contemporary theory does include lots of men who also happened to be freemasons. It was made into a concise and brilliant graphic novel as well as a graphic and truly terrifying movie.

What were we talking about? ... Oh, right! Freemasons.

Flights of fancy aside ... the masons have been described as a "secret" society, a "brotherhood" and many other things, but I believe it is closer to the purpose and the truth to think of fremasons as "free-thinkers".

I'm sure the member masons here will have things to say either publicly or privately which are more clarifying.

X

I actually have a serious question for a change. Does anyone know their history? Were they really masons? I love history.

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Originally Posted by RichZ

I actually have a serious question for a change. Does anyone know their history? Were they really masons? I love history.

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One word...GOOGLE!

http://www.oelodge.uklinux.net/history.htm

RT

Here's the thing. They have been around so long that legends have developed. Like most legends, the become grander than the actual truth.

All that is known for sure is that they formally appeared as an organized body in 1717 in England. Now, for several local lodges to have organized into a larger group, it is reasonable to presume that their history predates the 1717 date. How far before that or how they actually came to exist as an organization with the forms and ceremonies they have today, no one can confidently know.

There are those that say the group developed out of the demise of the Knights Templar, or go back to the builders of King Solomon's temple in Jeruselem, or out of the medieval stone masons guilds in Great Britian.

Be careful with Google searches, like all research on the internet you can find good quality information as well as complete junk.

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Originally Posted by steve

Here's the thing. They have been around so long that legends have developed. Like most legends, the become grander than the actual truth.

All that is known for sure is that they formally appeared as an organized body in 1717 in England. Now, for several local lodges to have organized into a larger group, it is reasonable to presume that their history predates the 1717 date. How far before that or how they actually came to exist as an organization with the forms and ceremonies they have today, no one can confidently know.

There are those that say the group developed out of the demise of the Knights Templar, or go back to the builders of King Solomon's temple in Jeruselem, or out of the medieval stone masons guilds in Great Britian.

Be careful with Google searches, like all research on the internet you can find good quality information as well as complete junk.

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That's why I don't always use google.......:td

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Originally Posted by FiReSTaRT

And Hitler outlawed'em. If your goodness is measured by the class of your enemies, they'd be a pretty good bunch. I just don't know enough to give you any real info on'em.

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Even Benito Mussolini outlawed us! For us are sacre libertè, egalitè, fraternitè.