March 25, 2013

In the name of Jesus, Free yourself Freemason.



I. Concerning GOD and RELIGION.
A Mason is oblig’d by his Tenure, to obey the moral Law ;
and if he rightly understands the Art, he will never be a stupid
Atheist, nor an irreligious Libertine. But though in ancient
Times Masons were charg’d in every Country to be of
the Religion of that Country or Nation, whatever it was, yet
’tis now thought more expedient only to oblige them to that
Religion in which all Men agree, leaving their particular
Opinions to themselves ; that is, to be good Men and true, or
Men of Honour and Honesty, by whatever Denominations
or Persuasions they may be distinguish’d ; whereby Masonry
becomes the Center of Union, and the Means of conciliating
true Friendship among Persons that must else have remain’d
at a perpetual Distance.
-Anderson's Constitution (1723)

This was the first clause in the constitution of the Premier Grand Lodge of England. This Grand Lodge was the one which Prince Hall requested and received a charter to start up a lodge (African Lodge #459), the first lodge of all black Americans on US soil. This lodge would later become the progenitor of over 40 Prince Hall Grand Lodges all over the world.

Prince Hall, as a man, was a devout christian (no supporting evidence to prove he was a minister however) and in practicing freemasonry, was bound by this constitution to accept all men of all faiths accepting freemasonry as a universal canopy of all men from different faiths. This brings me to the topic of the Christian religion within black America.

According to David Gray in his book "Inside Prince Hall", the black man came as a slave to America either as a believer in an African Traditional Religion or Islam. However on landing the shores of America, he was converted to Christianity as that was seen as a religion for easier control. Naturally his enslavers didn't allow the black man practice his new found religion without supervision, but that supervision ended even before the end of slavery. I might be jumping to conclusions here but it seems the slave-master may have realized he had created a knew slave-driver with Christianity.

For years, the black man in America was oppressed, whipped, denigrated and tormented. However, every Sunday he found some spiritual healing within his oppression at the church. His wounds were soothed as a usually uneducated yet charismatic preacher reminded him that life on earth is nothing but a short toil and there is a better place of peace and tranquility where his spirit shall go and find its final rest. The preacher never empowered his people to stand up and fight, he never empowered his people to be thinkers and movers. The church may have provided support for the community at one point, but for the majority, the church was just a placebo for the problem that were slavery, segregation and social inequality. If such a preacher existed, he was pushed away by his people. Vernon Jones comes to mind, he was the predecessor to Martin Luther King Jr at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. He stood up and told his people to not keep under the leash of their oppressors, he told them to stand and boycott the buses, to farm their own food, to operate their own businesses. He was seen as a radical and was fired from his employment as pastor of his church. He was replaced by a young Martin Luther King Jr, the rest is history.

So what does that have to do with Prince Hall freemasonry? The growth of the African American church has coincided with the growth of Prince Hall Freemasonry. Most of the Prince Hall grand lodges were established after the end of the civil war. During that era of reconstruction, the black church was also participating in the uplift and growth of the community. Welfare was of utmost importance, and the Prince Hall masonic organizations provided succour for those who could not otherwise find life insurance benefits and other endowments anywhere else. The leaders of the churches were usually also involved in these organizations. However, with the disenfranchisement of the black man in America, also came the tightening of the noose of the free thinker within the negro society. The church that was once making strides and showing promise coming out of the enslavement it was engineered to keep Negros in quickly stepped back into its cage and kept the spirituals singing from their pews and pulpits and not the polls.

This enslavement with the christian religion keeps its hold on the free-thinking negro even till today. The Prince hall mason is been engineered and trained to be thought for, to have his decisions made for him. The Prince Hall mason is trained by the design created before he was born to turn down his fellow brothers who may be of other creeds and religions not because it is against any landmark of freemasonry, but because the chains of the christian religion have kept them ignorant and fearful of daring to peek their head out of that slave hold and see what's on the cabin. Some have dared to call their Prince hall lodges and grand lodges "Christian organizations"...but are scared to put it on paper for fear that it goes against the masonic principles Prince Hall vowed to uphold when he became the chartering worshipful master of AL459. They have quickly forgotten what freemasonry is about and confined it to the small area of thinking that religion has defined for them.  They claim to be free but are slaves of the original engineering of their oppressors.

So what would be the solution for this? Why should a black Muslim brother (keeping in mind a lot of the black men who came into this country as slaves were Muslim) should be denied entrance or acceptance into a lodge of Freemasons because of a stubborn reluctance to understand his religion? Would the Prince hall mason learn to separate the practice of freemasonry from this entrapment of religion?

The reverence of God is never defined in a religion. The founding fathers of America were mostly masons and Deists. Each person should have their own preference and means to which they worship their creator. However, within freemasonry, each person should be accepted and able to work in the craft all under the same canopy.

March 23, 2013

THE MISEDUCATION OF THE PRINCE HALL MASON


I was wondering the other day: what are the things we as Prince Hall masons have got wrong or not completely correct? What things can be worked on and need fixing?


1) History: A lot of us lack a sense or zeal for history. History is not too deep or difficult, it is simply recognizing where we as Prince Hall masons have come from and come through. It should be something elementary every Prince Hall should understand, from the Charter of 1784 down to the history of your own lodge. A lot of our grand lodges don't have historians, and a lot of those who have historians grimshaw their histories providing completely wrong information and some pointing in the complete wrong directions for their members to search. A lack of proper records-keeping and archiving by some of our GL's have resorted to some of us resorting to other means of retrieving information about our own grand lodges/lodges. A few of our grand lodges have libraries and archives, and even fewer allow their members access them. A lot of our lodges' archives are not always safeguarded and insured thereby when they get lost, or destroyed by nature, our generations have lost a chance to learn about who we are or where they come from in the craft. Also I'm not sure if majority of the membership seems to be nonchalant about these kind of things. Speaking of membership...

2) Membership: I understand, to a certain extent, Freemasonry is a business. It is in the business of making good men better, and in this business, money is key. However, the need for money to run our lodges and grand lodges, but it seems to me that a lot of our bodies close their eyes to the sorts of men we bring into our fraternity just because their money keeps the light on. This is a growing challenge all over the world with our frail fraternity where we have more members on the roll answering to being called a mason rather than being made masons themselves. They have cheapened the brand that we call freemasonry. Their characters are relatively unknown and hardly vouched for. Some are the victims of a troublesome society and imperfect upbringing to where the craft could have honed them into better people, they are not those sorts. The tools of freemasonry are used to make perfect stones out of rough ones..not sand. Perhaps with better education from their older members, they would not have been this bad. One needs time to grow in this craft, but a lot of men come into the craft with a stubbed foot. And these people are allowed (once again thanks  to the almighty dollar) to go through the other masonic bodies without even a chance to understand the degrees or bodies they belong to already...and once again, education would have fixed this, but ...you know...let's make that number 3.

3) Education: Poor education of candidates leads to having lackluster masons. Masons who get dropped after their first year of getting raised...masons who are all about talking and not about working for their lodges. Not only do they lack in terms of ritualistic work and masonic education but basic education as well. I have been in lodges were the grammar of those brothers as young as I am was atrocious. I am not saying this because I am some sort of grammar expert (clearly I'm not) but I have no problems in pronouncing some words like...say...eavesdropper. There is a critical flaw when you allow in a brother with no proper education gain access to the complicated and allegorical science of freemasonry. There's gross misinterpretation and misdirection of the brother especially when no one sits him down to teach him. There's a big problem when he walks around saying he's a mason  with a shirt that reads "THE LORD IS MY SHEPARD"....A past grand master of my grand lodge once stated :

"None should be admitted into the mysteries of Freemasonry who are uneducated. None should be accepted for their money alone, but for their internal qualifications; their moral and educational qualities. Education is power; it moves the great levers of nations; it makes men better citizens, better mechanics and better Masons; it prepares one for the race of life. An uneducated man is unfit for the mysteries of Masonry and is completely out of place in a Masonic lodge"

Moving on. When we are sure of the members ability to learn and proactively seek information and learn and be open-minded...there should be a structured masonic educational process. Most of our lodges and grand lodges lack that. How are we going to effectively educate our masons without any sort of curriculum?