Why are the Masons so secretive? What's the secret?
353514
Actually the days of secret handshakes and special passwords  maybe over because they need new members. Chris Newmarker of AP wrote:\nTRENTON, N.J. - The secret's out: New Jersey Masons need more members. No special handshakes or passwords required to join.\n\nThe fraternal society, which traces its roots to guilds of stonemasons and cathedral builders in the Middle Ages, is hoping to shake some of its secretive aura and attract new members with diverse backgrounds.\n\nThere are two main requirements: You have to be a man over 21, and you must believe that all people are equal underneath a supreme being, according to Daniel M. Wilson, the grand master for New Jersey Masons.\n\n"We're not a secret society," Wilson said. "We're just an organization with some secrets."\n\nOn March 19, the organization is staging five, one-day boot camps across the state, hoping to attract more than 1,600 potential members. Participants will learn about rituals that previously took a year to absorb.\n\nNormally more passive in seeking new members, the Masons are using movie theater and newspaper advertisements to promote the boot camps.\n\nThe group emphasizes public service, freedom of thought and equality, according to Wilson. While the use of secret rituals, passwords and hand signals has added to the organization's mystique, Wilson said he hopes the Masons' lodge buildings and charitable works are more obvious.\n\nMasons also are known as freemasons. The organization includes the Shrine Masons, or Shriners, who are known for operating hospitals that care for burned and orthopaedically injured children.\n\nLast year, New Jersey Masons raised millions for charity, Wilson said. Charitable works include the videotaping of thousands of children for the Child ID program and the operation of a nursing home and retirement community in Burlington Township.\n\nMembership, though, has dwindled. Since the 1950s, membership in the New Jersey Masons has fallen from more than 100,000 to about 32,000, Wilson said. The Masons have 142 lodges across the state.\n\nFraternal organizations in general fell out of favor with the more educated generation of Americans that emerged during the 1950s and '60s, according to Theda Skocpol, a professor of government and sociology at Harvard University.\nClick Here!\n\n"I think that the Masons, of course, are a very prominent fraternal order in this country, but I think in recent times, groups like that have been more ignored and misunderstood," Skocpol said.\n\nWilson agreed that the Masons' secretive nature has hindered membership growth, as has its tradition of forbidding members from directly asking someone to join.\n\n"So many people who wanted to join the Masons never did because they never knew they had to ask for a petition to join," Wilson said.\n\nThe one-day courses will be held in Burlington Township, Haddon Township, Lincoln Park, Livingston and Trenton. The program will condense lists of questions and answers that Masons must memorize as they move up through the levels of apprentice, fellow of the craft, and master mason. The lists, called catechisms, will be replaced with educational material on the Masons' history and ideals.\n\nApplicants will still be vetted through visits to their homes and votes at the lodges they intend to join, Wilson said.\n\n"In the past, Masons did what they did for years and never took credit for it," Wilson said. "We need to let people know what we do."\n\nJim Stinnett, 70, of Palmyra, says he had an uncle in the Masons who decades ago wouldn't tell him what the organization did, so he never joined. But with encouragement from his son-in-law who is a Mason, Stinnett is going to a one-day course in Burlington Township.\n\nOpening up is a smart strategy for the Masons, Stinnett said.\n\n"They're holding these classes, which is good," he said.\n\nLarry West, 43 of North Plainf
451656
I beg to differ with the first answerer. The masons are not associated with any cults they are simply a group of usually Christian religious men interested in community service.
990109
Freemasonry is the term used to refer to the secret fraternal order officially known as the Free and Accepted Masons, or Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.\n\nThere are approximately 5 million members worldwide, mostly in the United States and other English-speaking countries. With adherents in almost every nation where Freemasonry is not officially banned, it forms the largest secret society in the world. There is no central Masonic authority; jurisdiction is divided among autonomous national authorities, called grand lodges, and many concordant organizations of higher-degree Masons. In the United States and Canada the highest authority rests with state and provincial grand lodges. Custom is the supreme authority of the order, and there are elaborate symbolic rites and ceremonies, most of which utilize the instruments of the stonemason–the plumb, the square, the level, and compasses–and apocryphal events concerning the building of King Solomon's Temple for allegorical purposes.\n\nThe principles of Freemasonry have traditionally been liberal and democratic. Anderson's Constitutions (1723), the bylaws of the Grand Lodge of England, which is Freemasonry's oldest extant lodge, cites religious toleration, loyalty to local government, and political compromise as basic to the Masonic ideal. Masons are expected to believe in a Supreme Being, use a holy book appropriate to the religion of the lodge's members, and maintain a vow of secrecy concerning the order's ceremonies.\n\nThe basic unit of Freemasonry is the local Blue lodge, generally housed in a Masonic temple. The lodge consists of three Craft, Symbolic, or Blue Degrees: Entered Apprentice (First Degree), Fellow Craft (Second Degree), and Master Mason (Third Degree). These gradations are meant to correspond to the three levels–apprentice, journeyman, and master–of the medieval stonemasons' guilds. The average Mason does not rise above Master Mason.\n\nIf he does, however, he has the choice of advancing through about 100 different rites, encompassing some 1,000 higher degrees, throughout the world. In the United States, the two most popular rites are the Scottish and the York. The Scottish Rite awards 30 higher degrees, from Secret Master (Fourth Degree) to Sovereign Grand Inspector General (Thirty-third Degree). The York Rite awards ten degrees, from Mark Master to Order of Knights Templar, the latter being similar to a Thirty-third Degree Scottish Rite Mason.\n\nOther important Masonic groups are the Prince Hall Grand Lodge, to which many African-American Masons belong; the Veiled Prophets of the Enchanted Realm (the "fraternal fun order for Blue Lodge Masons" ); and the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (Thirty-second degree Masons who, as the Shriners, are noted for their colorful parades and support of children's hospitals). There are also many subsidiary Masonic groups, including the Order of the Eastern Star, limited to Master Masons and their female relatives; De Molay, an organization for boys; and Job's Daughters and Rainbow, two organizations for girls. Many of the orders maintain homes for aged members.
498645
sorry no-one will tell me the answer to this one.  they said its a secret
1109579
DUDE!!! The freemasons are the world's largest SATANIC organization.  Nothing about their "club" is christian or godly in any way, shape, or form.  The masons were founded in ancient Egypt during the time of the Hebrew enslavement... their purpose for being created was to haunt the children of the Father (Hebrews/Jews/believers in Messiah) throughout history and do all that they can to corrupt and destroy them.  Freemasons working for out US government's top-secret branches are responsible for the World Trade Center bombing as well as the Twin Tower airplane attack.  The freemasons are a satanic group... they are not Christian in any way.  The reason their guild is so secretive is because they do not want people to know about the animal, child, and human sacrifices they perform, they don't want people to know about their ritual sex orgies, they don't want the world to know that they are worshipping the devil and not the Father/Creator.  There are 26, 33, or 36 levels in the freemasons guild, can't remember precisely... anyhow, the first 3 levels are the "club" levels, where a bunch of wealthy fools sit around a men's/gentlemen's club talking about business, life, whatever comes to mind.  Mason recruiters browse the gatherings of the 3 entry levels into the guild and when they come across a man they believe to be corruptable or of evil-heart they will propose an offer that will begin moving that individual up through the higher ranks of the masons.  By the time an individual has reached the 16th rank of being a mason, that man will be required to perform his first animal sacrifice to Satan.  By the time an individual has progressed through the ranks and reached the HIGHEST 3 levels of masonry, they are at this time required to begin performing human sacrifices, participating in many satanic rituals, etc.  92% of all masons never make it past the first 3 levels, only 4% make it to level 16, only 2% make it past level 16, and only another 2% ever make it into the top 3 rankings of the masons... I know a man who was on the Freemasons' Council of the Thirteen... This is a 13 member council that runs most all of the western world... This man that I knew was a 26 year mason and had reached and surpassed the TOP 3 levels of ranking in his last 4 years as a mason.  This man in his last year of masonry was offered a seat as a council member.  He accepted the position and 5 months into being a council member, Satan or a high ranked demon appeared to the 13 men at a meeting they were having to discuss many things about the world economy and some wars that were going on... the dark spirit began attacking one of the council members after he made a "bad" suggestion about a situation that needed taking care of.  My friend began packing up his belongings in his house after that meeting that night so he could leave and escape the evil he had gotten himself into... he went back to 2 more council meetings, after which he planned on disappearing from any contacts he ever had.  At his second meeting, the one he planned to make his last, he was confronted by 3 council members who began accusing him of being a traitor and planning to expose the council.  I don't know how he talked his way out of it, and to this day he doesn't know how he did either, but after convincing the council he was dedicated to Satan and to the destruction of the world and to the masons guild, he left for the day and snuck his things out his house and has been a hunted man ever since.  He has several writings about the atrosities that the freemasons are commiting amongst the higher ranks, he has 1 book about the council of the 13 and how they run the western world and a small portion of 3rd world countries.  This man's wife and son were murdered the day after he snuck his belongings out his back door and snuck off to go into hiding.  He went back to his house the next day, cause his wife and son were asl
1183214
It definitely is NOT the Masons.  As a Mason myself, I can attest to that.  I'm busy enough with my own job.  Add to that the responsibility of doing charity work and running the local lodge, and I have absolutely no time to run the country.\n\nWe Masons are a NON political organization.  We have no interest in government, except to obey the laws of the government under which we reside.  We are only interested in helping others through charity and through improving ourselves.\n\nThe decisions in the country are made by the exact people that you think make them, the president, vice-president, congress, and the supreme court, followed by each state's government.
595357
the Masons are not a  religious organization or a religious cult. No matter what the uneducated 'bible thumpers' will say. the ceremonies and rituals are religious in nature but the Masons accept all religions with the exception of an atheist. you must believe in a supreme being. This is why the Christians don't like the Masons.\noriginally the Masons were like a gentleman's club with the most powerful and influential men in the town, or city belonging. \nif you want more information talk to a Mason.
391311
Before the reader commits me to hell (as if they had that power -- remember who the Judge is!) please set aside any closed minds and speak not ill of that with which you have no real knowledge. \nFreemasonry is a very ancient fraternal order and very misunderstood. It's written history goes back hundreds of years and it's origins much farther (thousands) It requires a monotheistic belief, that is, a belief in a single non-plural God (yes, Christianity IS monotheistic even if you believe in the Trinity of the Godhead) but will not allow it's members to require anyone to accept a name for the Supreme Being other than the "Supreme Architect of the Universe. (By the way, the "G" in Masonry refers to geometry but "is also the initial of the Supreme Architect...") It is not a religion as it has no creed (salvation beliefs) It assumes one is right with God to begin with and then goes on to use the tools of buillding as a metaphor for right living on this earth. Each stands for a trait of good character. An open Bible and prayer are part of all meetings as Masons feel that all great undertakings should be with the guidance of God. It often is said that Masonry "takes a GOOD MAN and makes him BETTER." \nI have asked many ministers what the beef is and most have said it is because we will not name Jesus Christ as God alone but will allow each man to call God by the name he chooses. What name a man chooses is between himself and his creator. Then they quote the verse that says "Anyone who is not for me is against me; if he isn't helping me, he is hurting my cause." (Luke 11:23 LVB) This apparently means to them that since Satan is Jesus' main rival then it must stand to reason that Masons are Satanists. There is not one shred of evidence for this. It's main teaching is tolerance to our fellow man and so is in direct contradiction to most religions as they feel that theirs is the only one. How sad that most churches do not actually follow the entire Bible, merely the parts that (usually taken out of context) appear to promote their agenda! Also possibly because we refer to the fraternity as "The Craft" although this is in the sense of craftsmanship not witchcraft. Masons may not ask others to join as they adhere to a strict philosophy that one needs to search for the truth of and by their own free will. One must SEEK for truth -- not be forced or led into it by any. (but God) This also angers many religions, particularly Catholics. (although Catholics have since recently rescinded that bias) By the way, God is known by many names (as tough as this may be to swallow) Yahweh or Jehovah in hebrew, Theos in greek, Allah in arabic, and was called the Great Spirit by early native americans -- you get the picture...\nYes, there are obligations taken. Terrible things like promising to take care of your fellow man's needs when possible, NEVER to violate the chastity of women, promising to love your wife, and promising to NEVER lie, cheat or steal -- you know, all the "bad" stuff... There are some pretty nasty penalties, although they are for emphasis only and pertain to Masonry's allegories. You also say you promise to keep them all "so help me God." Another rub is the title of the master who is refered to as the "Worshipful Master." This does not mean that they are worshipped, but respected. (Interesting that preachers who find this bad are themselves referred to as "reverend!") \nBasically the deal here is two-fold. On the one hand if people don't understand something they have a tendancy to make up something. (Hence the number of religions today) And secondly, millions of dollars are made in the propagation of anti-masonic literature. (And I think this is the real answer!) Just for your information, Masons are not a secret organisation, merely an organisation with secrets. (Such as modes and words of recognition.)
347387
I doubt it, but it does make a great story.\n\nThe true freemasons rose during the time of the cathedral building era (perhaps 1150 to 1300) in Europe.  They were professionals with the ability to not only erect, but to design and engineer very tall structures, many of which still exist today.  Most of their “secrets” were based upon how to work with stone.\n\nThe fraternal order “Freemasons” is a much newer organization (perhaps the early 1700’s) and attempted to gain status by promoting a “secret society” status.  Much of what the members do is more “mumbo jumbo” than any hidden knowledge.  Their rituals are often borrowed from organizations like the “Golden Dawn” and the “Rosicrucians.”\n\nThe Knights Templar were basically a group of Crusaders who gained great wealth and power in the Middle East and then retired back to Europe.  The official demise of this organization was on Friday, October 13, 1307 when the church hunted down the members and destroyed the organization for their wealth.
1164920
This question has been answered on a few other threads but I will give you some basics (and NOT what you can get from Wikipedia).\n\nFreemasons are a composed of a diverse set of organizations. In the United States, for example, each state or region has its own rites and rituals for what we call "the masculine rite".  There is also Co-Masonry, of which I am a member, that admits women and men to all the rites and privileges.  So what one Freemason may answer here is only one viewpoint.\n\nThere are secrets but they are mostly passwords and signs to prove yourself as a member of the Society. Those grips and tokens are remnants of ancient times when few could read and write and it was necessary to be able to travel beyond where one was known. Was it because masons were stone masons or was it because we were actually Knights Templars in hiding? No one knows for sure. Whatever the case, those secret words are hardly secret if one looks hard enough.\n\nIs it a secret who is a Mason? Hardly! Check the back of their car. Look at their hands, are they wearing a Masonic ring? Masons are usually proud of belonging to such an upright and charitable organization. Although with that said, in some countries being a Mason has been a death sentence: Hitler killed Masons, in Portugal the Catholic dictators did too.\n\nMasonic belief is in the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would do unto you. Our belief and practice is in the equality of mankind and the need for justice dispensed equally. In my Order and in most Orders of Freemasons it is a requirement that the person believe in God (a Supreme Being whatever your religion chooses to call that). We leave religion and politics outside the Lodge door, however, save that upon which we all can agree. We practice tolerance of all religions. We, in Co-Masonry, admit all genders and races.\n\nOur purpose? To put it most clearly is to make good people better. We are a kind of morality. We take our lessons from the symbols of ancient stone masons. We do our best to put those lessons in practice in our lives. It is difficult to hew stone. It is far more difficult to change our own behaviors. No one changes them for a Mason but himself with the help of God. \n\nI know it is easy to distrust and throw mud at that which we do not know, but look to our past at the famous founders of the US and Great Britian, liberators of South America and Mexico. Look to  your own families; I bet that some of your grandfathers and uncles were Masons. \n\nOur doors are open to women and men over 21, free (not slaves to drugs or jails), and of good report. You do not have to be rich. You do have to want to make yourself  "The Temple of Solomon."  We do not recruit. You have to knock for yourself. \n\nI am a Master Mason. I believe it has made and continues to make me a better person.
242807
The only thing I know is this:\n\n"Many of [the freemasons] secret signs of recognition, for example, are borrowed from the system of words, signs, and touches that Hiram of Tyre, the master mason of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, was said to have used in order to communicate with the vast army of workers under his command."\n\nJust happened to read it yesterday.
1015447
Hmmm... you know... I don't think this question's getting a lot of answers because it's not being seen by anyone.  It took a LOT of searching for me to find it.  I think they're trying to hide the truth!  I wonder if Yahoo's run by a bunch of Masons!\nThere's no lengths to which their power will not reach...
368379
I agree there is no way to recognize a mason. But there are few ways to ask that you might not realize they were asking. What is "mamacica"\n   For example a well informed Mason would know i was a mason by my screenname  Tat, I m s a s p a s,
328419
maybe because us Masons did not want to answer your stupid question.
388168
Freemasons are not a cult by any stretch of the imagination.\nThe Illuminati (as I recall) was an old German private organisation that tried to compete with Masonry but died out some time ago. Masonry is a fraternal organisation with several sub-groups. There are over 65 separate Masonic bodies in the US. The more common being the so called "Blue lodge", the Scottish and York rights and the Shrine.\n\nMost of our founding fathers were Masons. Thirteen of the signers of the declaration of Independence were Masons. Several (including Geo. Washington) were Masters of their lodges.
192206
A secret society is an organization that requires its members to keep secrets from outsiders.\nThe term "secret society" is often used to describe fraternal organizations (e.g. Freemasonry) that may have secret ceremonies, and is applied also to organizations ranging from the common and innocuous  to mythical organizations described in conspiracy theories as immensely powerful, with self-serving financial or political agendas, global reach, and sometimes satanic beliefs.\nSee more infos in
405641
There is no deep meaning behind it. It is almost silly the reason Shriner wear that stuff.\n   First you must understand that Freemasonry is big on ritual. And during the ceremonies you must you the exact wording that is in the book. But you must go from memory you cant read it. Not every mason must memorize just those that wish to take an officers position in the lodge.\nAlthough masons have fun but there is very little if ever alchol.\n   So in the 1870's a few masons want to start a group for masons that focused more on fun and less on ritual. One of these men had just recently return from a tour of the world. And his favorite party was held by and Ahab. So they design the fun and partying group for masons with the same decor for this party he had gone to. You would think the answer would be deep then that but i am a mason and a Shriner. And every Shriner meeting is a party. This atmosphere attract more people and it is one of the reasons why Shriner's are able to do so much good. I went to my grand lodges web page and this was the answer they gave. Look yourself mainemason.org