Friday, June 6, 2008

Wait, we *do* have secrets?

The Philadelphia Masonic Temple has been undergoing a multi-million dollar exterior restoration, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer article at http://www.philly.com/inquirer/business/20080606_Masonic_Temple_project_nears_completion.html.

The article covers the history of the building, and then covers some of the usual bullet points about the Shriners, declining membership, younger men joining, et cetera... and then closes with a teaser from RW Stephen Gardner, Grand Master of Masons in Pennsylvania:

To be a Mason, he said, "you must acknowledge the existence of a supreme being. In that sense we're religious, but we don't discuss religion."

Another thing they don't discuss are Masonic rituals, which Gardner said were based on the Bible, but "not really religious lessons."

Asked to explain more, he replied, "I would prefer not to go into that, per se."

Compared with "We don't have any secrets, really," which do you think would make someone vaguely interested in Freemasonry curious enough to learn more?

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