Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) [1] [2] [3] or simply Masonry includes various fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 14th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities and clients. Freemasonry is the oldest ...
Freemasonry was an important catalyst in the founding of the Knights of Columbus and the Knights of Peter Claver in the United States [131] and the Knights of the Southern Cross in Australia, because one of the attractions of Freemasonry was that it provided a number of social services unavailable to non-members (e.g., devout Catholics). [132]
Hundreds of conspiracy theories about Freemasonry have been described since the late 18th century. [1] Usually, these theories fall into three distinct categories: political (usually involving allegations of control of government, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom), religious (usually involving allegations of anti-Christian or Satanic beliefs or practices), and cultural ...
Anti-Masonry (alternatively called anti-Freemasonry) is "avowed opposition to Freemasonry", [1] which has led to multiple forms of religious discrimination, violent persecution, and suppression in some countries as well as in various organized religions (primarily Abrahamic religions). [2] However, there is no homogeneous anti-Masonic movement.
Freemasons usually take a diametrically opposite view, stating that there is nothing in Freemasonry that is in any way contrary to Catholicism or any other religious faith. Whether Freemasonry is anticlerical often depends on how anticlericalism is defined and which branches of Freemasonry are being referred to.
The occultist Aleister Crowley, who called himself "The Great Beast 666" claimed to be a Freemason, and his association with Freemasonry is one major reason why some conservative Christians see it as an occult organization. According to Martin P. Starr, all of the lodges and organizations Crowley joined and founded were considered irregular.
The relationship between Mormonism and Freemasonry began early in the life of Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. Smith's older brother, Hyrum, and possibly his father, Joseph, Sr. were Freemasons while the family lived near Palmyra, New York. [1] In the late 1820s, the western New York region was swept with anti-Masonic fervor.
C. Roy Campbell (poet) Wilhelm Canaris; Réal Caouette; Thomas Carlyle; William Guy Carr; Warren H. Carroll; Willis Carto; Noël Édouard, vicomte de Curières de Castelnau