A Review of Factors Leading to Tension Between the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and Freemasonry
by Glen A. Cook, MPS

Introduction
 
Until 1984, members of the Church of 
Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mor-
mons) were prohibited by the Grand 
Lodge of Utah from joining the Craft. 
Similarly, as late as 1983, the LDS 
General Handbook of Instruction, under the 
heading of "Secret Organizations", ad-
vised members not to join "secret and 
oath-bound" societies. That instruction 
is not contained in the current hand-
book.
 
Not surprisingly, some antipathy and 
misunderstanding continues to exist be-
tween members of the two organiza-
tions. This article will examine the his-
torical sources of these feelings and 
briefly review their relationship today.

History
 
In the Spring of 1839, Joseph Smith, 
the charismatic leader of the Mormons, 
authorized the purchase of land on the 
Mississippi River near Commerce, Il-
linois. The new center for the Mormons 
was named Nauvoo. Within the next 
few years, the city grew to be the largest 
in Illinois. As had happened in other 
areas of Mormon settlement, anti-Mor-
mon feeling developed.
 
There were LDS Masons prior to the 
settlement of Nauvoo, many of them 
prominent and close to Joseph Smith: 
Hyrum Smith Joseph Smith's brother),
Newel K. Whitney, Heber C. Kimball, 
John C. Bennett, George Miller, Lucius 
N. Scovil, Elijah Fordham, John Smith, 
Austin Cowles, Noah Rogers, and 
James Adams. Adams had been Deputy 
Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of 
Illinois since 1840.
 
OnJune 28, 1841, one of the Mormon 
Masons, Lucius Scovil, and others peti-
tioned Bodley Lodge No. 1, Quincy, Il-
linois, to ask the Grand Lodge of Il-
linois, to establish a lodge in Nauvoo. 
This request was denied, as the writers 
were unknown to the Bodley Lodge. On 
October 15, 1841, Grand Master 
Abraham Jonas granted a special dis-
pensation, without waiting for the rec-
ommendation of a recognized lodge. 
During the next two years dispensations 
were also granted for four other lodges 
which contained a largely LDS mem-
bership.
 
Joseph Smith and his counselor, Sid-
ney Rigdon, were initiated on March 
15, 1842. The next day, he "was with 
the Masonic Lodge and rose to the sub-
lime degree." Within five months, the
Nauvoo Lodge had initiated 256 candi-
dates.
 
On August 11, 1842, the Nauvoo
Lodge was suspended for alleged ir-
regularities (such as too rapid advance-
ments through the degrees) until the 
next communication of the Grand 
Lodge. The committee found that some 
irregularities had occurred (including 
balloting on more than one candidate), 
but recommended that work continue 
once the irregularities were brought to 
the attention of the lodge.
 
However, in October, 1843, allega-
tions of irregularities were again raised. 
At least one writer has asserted that 
these actions were due to fear of a Mor-
mon take-over of the Grand Lodge.
 
In any case, the Nauvoo lodges con-
tinued to do work, despite the suspen-
sion by Grand Lodge, claiming they did 
not have proper notice of the Grand 
Lodge action.
 
In October, 1844, the Grand Lodge of 
Illinois declared the work of the Nauvoo 
lodges clandestine and suspended their 
members. In addition to the irregulari-
ties and failure to surrender the 
charters, one writer has also noted the 
similarity between the LDS endowment 
ceremony (temple ritual) and the cland-
estine designation.
 
On April 10, 1845, Mormon Elder 
George A. Smith wrote in his journal, 
"We advised Lucius N. Scovil, keeper 
of the lodge, to suspend the work of that 
institution in consequence of informa-
tion furnished us by Dr. Goforth, of 
hostile actions on the part of the Grand 
Lodge of Illinois against the lodge at 
Nauvoo. "
 
The Mormon experience in Illinois 
was already coming to an end. Joseph 
Smith and his brother, Hyrum, had 
been murdered the preceding June. By 
September 16, 1845, Brigham Young 
discussed the departure of the Saints 
from the area with the Quorum of the 
Twelve Apostles. On February 2, 1846, 
the leaders agreed they would leave as 
soon as possible. By August, the major-
ity of Mormons had left for Utah. Had 
the Latter-day Saints remained in Nau-
voo, perhaps a rapprochement with the 
Grand Lodge could have been ar-
ranged. But the Saints were now bound 
for their Zion in the mountains.

Sources of Conflict
 
a. Mormon domination of Nauvoo 
Lodges
 
As Quinn noted:

...Nauvoo Masonry was another ex-
ample of the way early Mormons over-
whelmed existing structures of non-
Mormon society. Within five months of 
its establishment in 1842, the Nauvoo 
lodge conducted " six times as many ini-
tiations and elevations as all the other 
lodges in the state combined. " When 
Joseph Smith established Nauvoo there 
were barely 100 Freemasons in the en-
tire state. By the time he organized the 
Council of Fifty, nearly 700 Mormons 
were Freemasons. A Masonic historian 
noted that among local Masons there 
was "well-founded fear that within a 
short time the Mormon Lodges, if al-
lowed to continue, would become more 
numerous than all others in the jurisdic-
tion, and thus be able to control the 
Grand Lodge [of Illinois]. "

Morcombe characterized the Latter-
Day Saints in this manner:

Carried away by the initial material 
successes of their communities, they be-
came arrogant and were unreasonable 
in their aspirations and demands. Rely-
ing upon rapidly increasing numbers, 
they over-rated their political impor-
tance. Had the Mormon leaders more 
truly gauged the real power of their 
church, and more accurately estimated 
the forces in opposition, they might by a 
series of adjustments and compromises 
have fortified their position and even 
increased their influence beyond all 
possible fear of successful assault. In-
flexibility and arrogance were charac-
teristics of these leaders. These are the 
indispensable concomitants of proselyt-
ing zeal, but are certain to arouse and 
aggravate antagonism.

But all this can not excuse the antago-
nism aroused against a people who were 
industrious, peaceful and law-abiding. 
The leaders were such from interested 
motives, the mob easily led because 
spurred by envy and hopeful gain.
 
This author does not find that there 
was a stated purpose by the Mormons 
to dominate Masonry. Rather, in fol-
lowing their leader, Mormon men 
eagerly joined the lodges in the large 
numbers cited. Nevertheless, when 
combined with the irregularities noted 
and the refusal to surrender the charter 
a picture is painted of the early Latter-
day Saints wishing to run their own sys-
tem of Mormon lodges. This picture 
still hung on the wall when lodges were
established in Utah, as will be discussed 
below.
 
b. The Martyrdom, Masonic involve-
ment, the Grand Hailing Sign and
Masonic cover-up.
 
On June 25, 1844, the brothers Joseph
and Hyrum Smith, the Prophet and 
Patriarch, were incarcerated in the Car-
thage, Missouri jail. A mob stormed the 
jail. The Patriarch fell with a ball to the 
face. The Prophet was shot as he stood 
in an open window, shouting "O Lord, 
My God. "
 
The terms " Prophet" and " Patri-
arch" have been used advisedly, to help 
convey a sense of the esteem in which 
these two men are held by Latter-Day 
Saints. Even today, in LDS Sacrament 
Meetings throughout the world, the 
words to the militant hymn "Praise to 
the Man" are sung:
 
Praise to his memory, he died as a
 
martyr;
 
Honored and blest be his ever
 
great name!
 
Long shall his blood, which was
shed by assassins,
 
Plead unto heaven while the earth
 
lauds his fame.
 
Hail to the Prophet, ascended to
 
heaven !
 
Traitors and tyrants now fight him
 
in vain.
 
Mingling with Gods, he can plan
 
for his brethren;
 
Death cannot conquer the hero
 
again.

This reverence for the fallen Prophet 
is important in this discussion, because 
of the allegation of Masonic involve-
ment in the murders:

Yes, Masons, it is said, were even 
among the mob that murdered Joseph 
and Hyrum in Carthage Jail. Joseph, 
leaping the fatal window, gave the Ma-
sonic signal of distress. The answer was 
the roar of his murderers' muskets and 
the deadly balls that pierced his heart.

Brigham Young was quoted as saying 
"Joseph & Hyrum were Master Ma-
sons and they were put to death by Ma-
sons or through their instigation and he 
gave the sign of distress & he was shot 
by Masons while in the act...The 
people of the United States had sought 
our destruction and ...have worked 
through the Masonic institution to per-
fect it. "

McGavin gives other quotes which re-
veal the angry sentiment of the Latter-
Day Saints toward Masonry:

In 1878, Zina D. Huntington Young 
said of this theme, "I am the daughter 
of a Master Mason; I am the widow of 
the Master Mason who, when leaping 
from the window of Carthage jail, 
pierced with bullets, made the Masonic 
sign of distress, but those signs were not 
heeded except by the God of Heaven. "
 
"They [Masons] gave us a city 
charter, " said Elder Heber C. Kimball, 
"and then took it from us again, and 
that too without any just cause. They 
gave us a charter for a Masonic lodge, 
and then went to work and killed some 
of the men to whom the charter was 
given. "
 
Please note that McGavin reprinted 
these words in 1956. The Due Date Re-
minder in the University of Utah copy 
of McGavin's book reveals it was 
checked out seven times in 1994 alone. 
Thus, each time books such as 
McGavin's are read, the impression of 
oath violating Masonic murderers of 
the religious martyrs continues to be 
hammered into the young Latter-Day 
Saint's mind.
 
Insult to injury was then added when 
three of the men accused of the 
murder, in an apparent attempt to
seek advantage, petitioned a local Ma-
sonic lodge for membership. They were 
all initiated. To the credit of the craft, 
however, the Grand Lodge sub-
sequently undertook an investigation 
for the initiation of men under indict-
ment. The Warsaw lodge thereafter sur-
rendered its charter, in what Oaks and 
Hill consider "a face saving disposition 
in lieu of involuntary suspension for vi-
olation of the regulations of the order. "
 
Nor does it help heal the hurt of the 
Mormons when it is revealed that the 
grand jury prosecutor, the judge presid-
ing over the trial of the accused, and 
one of the defense counsel were all Ma-
sons. The accused Masons were 
acquitted before the Masonic judge and 
a jury devoid of Mormons.
 
c. The Utah Masonic Experience
 
The antipathy between the two or-
ganizations begun in Nauvoo continued 
in Utah. In November 1985, a meeting 
was held to organize a lodge in Salt 
Lake City. Non-Mormons refused to 
recognize as Masons the Mormons who 
attended the meeting.
 
On January 26, 1866, the Grand 
Lodge of Nevada granted a dispensa-
tion to Utah Masons to organize the 
Mount Moriah Lodge. However, it 
came with the condition that Mormons 
would not be admitted. The basis for 
this preclusion was the practice of poly-
gamy. This condition was objected to, 
in as much as not all Latter-Day Saints
practiced polygamy, and the religious 
condition violated the principles of 
FreeMasonry. The condition remained, 
and eventually the lodge sought recog-
nition elsewhere.
 
Lodges were eventually formed in 
Utah, but the anti-Mormon sentiment 
which originated in Nauvoo continued. 
Perhaps most illustrative of the conflict 
is a speech at the Grand Lodge Com-
munication given by then Grand 
Master Joseph M. Orr in 1878:
 
"We say to the priests of the Latter-
Day Church, you cannot enter our 
Lodge rooms--you surrender all to an 
priesthood. You have heretofore sacri-
ficed the sacred obligations of our 
beloved Order and we believe you 
would do the same again. Stand aside; 
we want none of you. Such a wound as 
you gave Masonry in Nauvoo is not 
easily healed, and no Latter-Day Saint 
is, or can become a member of our 
Order in this jurisdiction.
 
The sentiments were not limited to the 
Utah and Nevada Grand Lodges. 
Homer reports that many of the other 
grand lodges published with approval 
an anti-Mormon disclaimer sent out by 
the Grand Lodge of Utah.
 
d. Utah Politics
 
Nor was the animosity limited to the 
lodge room--it continued in the world 
of politics. The LDS Church was de-
scribed in this manner in the 1890 
Grand Lodge Communication:
 
"On the ten day of February next the 
body politic, that has for forty years 
misruled our rich and fair Territory and 
stood in the way of progress will 
crumble down. On its ruins the body 
Masonic ought to erect its temple that 
will stand till time shall be no more. 
Brothers, our time has come. Let us be 
up and doing. "
 
Masons led the fight against releasing 
LDS students for religious instruction, 
or seminary. An avowedly non-Mor-
mon political party, the Liberal party, 
was formed by Masons in conjunction 
with other non-Mormon portions of 
Utah society.
 
Individual Masons were prominent in 
prosecuting Latter-Day Saints for poly-
gamy and in forfeiting Mormon owned
property under the Edmunds-Tucker 
Act (1887).Further, Masons were iden-
tified with other anti-Mormons as 
founders of the Ku Klux Klan in Salt 
Lake City.
 
Having noted this political activity, 
the social milieu in which it occurred 
must also be discussed. Frederick Bu-
chanan noted that "in Utah, class and 
social considerations are often overrid-
den by religion, so that many issues 
which might be interpreted as economic 
or political elsewhere are reduced in 
Utah to a matter of Mormon vs. non-
Mormon, or as in the issue of release 
time, Mormon v. Mason. "
 
Thus, what in some states may have 
simply been political dispute without 
any particular label being applied to the 
parties, in Utah became a furtherance 
of the Mormon-Masonic dispute.

d. The Temple of Solomon
 
The concept of Masonic ritual origi-
nating at the Temple of Solomon began 
with James A. Anderson, the author of 
Constitutions of FreeMasons, 1723. In 
this document he not only traced the 
origins of FreeMasonry to Solomon, but 
back to Adam. While modern Masonic 
authors reject this notion, it was alive 
and well at the time of the Nauvoo ex-
perience.
 
McGavin continued the antiquity 
claim in 1956 in Mormonism and Ma-
sonry. Franklin D. Richards, then presi-
dent of the Quorum of the Twelve 
Apostles of the LDS Church demon-
strated a common acceptance by LDS 
of this claim. He is quoted as making a 
statement in April 1899 that Joseph 
Smith "inquired of the Lord" who "re-
vealed to the Prophet [Joseph Smith]
true Masonry as we have it in the 
temples. "
 
Indeed, this belief continues among 
Mormons today as noted in the Ency-
clopedia of Mormonism, which implies that 
current Masonic historians accept the 
tradition of antiquity.
 
Inasmuch as LDS believe that their 
temple ceremonies are derived from the 
Lord's ancient practice, it is an ines-
capable conclusion that the Masonic 
ceremony, if it derives from Solomon or 
some other ancient source, must be an 
apostate version of the true ceremony. 
Participating in apostate ceremonies is 
not an encouraged activity for the mem-
bers of the LDS faith.
 
Additionally, if the faithful Latter-Day 
Saint does not accept the claim of Ma-
sonic antiquity, he may be faced with 
the dilemma of whether Joseph Smith 
borrowed parts of the Masonic cere-
mony. The Latter-Day Saint who does 
not accept the antiquity claim may be 
accused of questioning the "Gospel" or 
LDS beliefs.
 
Consequently, the theme of Masonic 
antiquity serves as a barrier to the in-
dividual Latter-day Saint in either join-
ing the lodge or accepting those who do.
 
f. Similarities in ceremonies
 
Just as many Latter-Day Saints 
believe that the Masonic ritutal derived 
from the true ceremony used in the 
Lord's Temple, charges of plagiarizing 
the Masonic ritual have been made 
against the Mormons, as seen by the 
statement of Past Grand Master Orr, 
supra.
 
The purpose of this monograph is not 
to examine the similarities between the 
LDS endowment ceremony and the 
Blue Lodge and Royal Arch degrees of 
Freemasonry. The importance is that 
similarities were perceived by Free Ma-
sons, and resulted in charges of cland-
estinism and plagiarism.

g. LDS statements on secret socie-
ties
 
Without mentioning Freemasonry by 
name, the LDS Church published the 
following in an official magazine, Im-
provement Era (February 1903):
 
"The counsel of the First Presidency 
of the Church in all cases has been and 
is against our brethren joining secret or-
ganizations for any purpose whatsoever, 
and that wherever any of them have al-
ready joined, they have been and are 
counseled to withdraw themselves from 
such organizations. "
 
This notice was widely interpreted as 
referring to Freemasonry. However, at 
an earlier meeting on the subject, Apos-
tle Clawson noted that the "society of 
Freemasonry was in some degree ex-
cepted, as it was thought that in some 
instances it might be advisable to join 
that body." Further, there is no indica-
tion that members of the General 
Authorities demitted from Masonic 
membership. Additionally, it can be ar-
gued that Freemasonry is not a "secret 
society", as its membership is public; 
that the injunction was toward Ku Klux 
Klan activity.
 
In any case, that injunction is no 
longer in the General Handbook of In-
struction. Still, the Saints remember 
these statements, apply them to 
Freemasonry, and are consequently hes-
itant to join the fraternity.
The Relationshlp Today
 
a. The Masonic View.
 
As noted at the beginning, the Utah 
Grand Lodge restriction against LDS 
membership was dropped in 1984,
largely at the urging of other Masonic 
bodies, including the Scottish Rite, 
Southern Jurisdiction. Indeed, Henry 
Clauson, then Sovereign Grand Com-
mander, dispatched Past Grand Master 
H. Douglas Lemons from California, to 
help move toward the Grand Lodge of 
Utah toward acceptance of Latter-day 
Saints.
 
As LDS temple ceremonies change, 
one of the reasons for the label of 
"clandestine" will be removed. These 
changes have already occurred, includ-
ing the deletion of the penalty portion of 
the LDS ceremony in 1990.
 
Additionally, as Latter-Day Saints 
continue to join the lodges within the 
jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Utah 
the prejudices against them should re-
solve as Masons come to know Mor-
mons as lodge brothers.
 
Further, Utah is undergoing a new 
migration of people from other states 
who do not share the Utah Mason's 
mistrust of the Mormon. It is an old 
saw that "There are more Mormon 
Masons in California than there are 
Masons in Utah. " Whether this is true, 
it is a fact that a Past Grand Master of 
Masons in California, H. Douglas Le-
mons, is a Latter-Day Saint, and it can 
be expected that Masons from other 
areas may just not care whether an in-
dividual is LDS.
 
Also, it is no secret that the fraternity 
is dramatically aging. Without seeming 
harsh, as this older generation passes 
on, perhaps their sentiments will pass 
on as well. Additionally, the demon-
strated need of new members for the 
survival of the fraternity may cause a 
welcoming of Latter-Day Saints simply 
due to "enlightened self interest."
 
Indeed, evidence of an attitude change 
is seen by the reported comment of Past 
Grand Master Bill F. Baker: "There is 
a whole new line of thinking with re-
gard to the relationship. It's a moot
subject for most Masons today."
 
b. The Latter-Day Saint view
 
As noted previously, the LDS Church 
does not currently explicitly state that 
its members should not join " secret and 
oath bound societies. " This may be 
part of the Church's desire to have its 
members serve more openly in the com-
munity to combat the reputation of 
cliquishness on the part of Utah Mor-
mons.
 
The "passing away" of older mem-
bers with opposing beliefs is not limited 
to the fraternity. The same argument 
holds for Latter-Day Saints.
 
However, with books such as 
McGavin's Mormonism and Masonry still 
in circulation, and perpetuation of the 
tradition of antiquity in the Encyclopedia 
of Mormonism, it is hard to overcome the 
Latter-day Saint belief that Masonic 
ritual is derived from King Solomon's 
Temple. As long as LDS believe in the 
origination of Masonic ceremonies with 
Solomon, resentment of this "apostate" 
ceremony will continue on the part of 
many Mormons.
 
Some change is occurring, as seen in 
Michael Homer's Dialogue essay and a 
February 4,1995 Salt Lake Tribune article 
which discussed the relationship be-
tween the two groups. However, Dial-
ogue is not as widely read among Latter-
Day Saints as other publications.
 
In the same vein, the LDS Church 
owned paper, The Deseret News, would 
be expected to have more of an impact 
on the LDS Church member than the 
Salt Lake Tribune. Further, the Tribune ar-
ticle did not explain that most Masons 
no longer claim antiquity for the ritual, 
a facet of the misunderstanding which 
this author believes is critical.
 
The LDS Church member must also 
be educated as to the Church's current 
position on Masonic membership for a 
change in attitude to occur. While The
Encyclopedia of Mormonism has been criti-
cized herein for indicating that Masonic 
historians continue to claim Masonic 
origin at the Temple of Solomon, it actu-
ally is of benefit in area. It notes that 
"The philosophy and major tenets of 
Freemasonry are not fundamentally in-
compatible with the teaching, theology, 
and doctrines of the Latter-Day 
Saints. " It also explains that resem-
blances are limited to a small propor-
tion of actions and words. Further, it 
provides a source other than Masonic 
for the LDS endowment ceremony. 
However, it then states in conclusion 
that "Latter-Day Saints ... think of sim-
ilarities as remnants from an ancient 
original." While this is a correct state-
ment of the Latter-Day Saint belief, it 
would have been better to explain that 
the belief was based on a former claim 
of antiquity by Masonic authors.

Concluslon
 
This ancient and honorable fraternity 
should welcome to its doors and admit 
to its privileges worthy men of various 
creeds, including Latter-Day Saints. 
Latter-Day Saints should seek after 
those things which are virtuous, praise-
worthy, or of good report, including the 
Masonic fraternity. Legally, it appears 
this is now possible in Utah and in the 
Church. What must now change is the 
attitude of the members of both organi-
zations .


The Philalethes, August 1995
