COMMON GROUND

By John J. Robinson

GEORGE LODGE OF RESEARCH - TRANSACTIONS 1992

The title of my presentation today is to identify the common ground that
exists between a man's dedication to his own religion and his active
participation in Freemasonry. You don't need me to identify that common
ground; you already know it better than I do.

And you especially don't need a non-Mason to stand up here and tell you
what Freemasons believe.

In view of those statements, you might well ask what I'm doing here. The
answer is that I am here to talk about what the outside world sees in
Freemasonry's relationship with religion, and especially that attitude as it
relates to the Southern Jurisdiction of Scottish Rite Masonry. Perhaps most
important, I want to talk about what millions of Americans are being told to
believe about Scottish Rite and their leaders - from the pulpit, on the air, in
books and on video cassettes; and perhaps to stimulate your own thinking
with a few thoughts concerning what might be done to counter-act these
preachings.

Before we get too deeply into the subject, you have the right to know what
I believe, so that you understand where I'm coming from. I was raised in a
Scotch Presbyterian atmosphere that prohibited playing cards or drinking
any alcoholic beverage (my subsequent deep research led me to believe
that I could occasionally indulge in those two pastimes without feeling
excessively sinful). To the rest of the world, I find my family church
categorized as mainline Protestant. I don't care what it's called, but I do
remember vividly the help my family received from the members of that
church in the pit of the great depression. I can still remember the pastor's
voice intoning, "...and the greatest of these is Charity".

I was taught that true belief in Christ entailed the joyous embracing of his
teachings as a way of life, so that a true Christian attempted to live his life
according to a strong moral code and with compassion for the needs and
suffering of others. I was not surprised to learn much later that the minister
and my own Sunday School teacher were among many men in the
congregation who were 32nd Degree Masons.

On the other hand, I also learned over the years that Christians do not hold
a monopoly on morality and charity.

One of the five pillars of the Islamic faith is al-Zakah, the alms tax. Every
Muslim must contribute. Unlike the Christian tithe, the money does not go
for the support of the church. Every penny of al-Zakah is to be spent on the
poor, the handicapped, the homeless. And every act of charity in addition
earns God's favour.

Charity is important to Judaism as well. Some time ago I had occasion to
have breakfast with an Orthodox Jewish friend before taking a plane to
London. As we parted, he did not use the usual trite phrases of farewell.
Instead, he took a dollar bill from his wallet and pressed it into my hand,
saying, "Give this to the first beggar you meet". He was not simply making
me a gift of one dollar, which neither of us needed. In his faith, the act of
charity would earn a blessing from God. That was his gift to me, a gift
which we all can use.

My point is that belief in any of the great moral religions requires acts of
loving charity.

No: Freemasonry is not a religion. It is a fraternal order that urges its
members to follow their own religious convictions. If anything, it encourages
them to take more active roles in their own churches. What Freemasonry
does do is to provide means to participate in constructive and meaningful
programs of charity ---- to help children with language disorders, or those
who are victims of severe burns or crippling spinal problems. It helps older
people to save their eyesight, and in Grand Lodge activities across the
country maintains hospitals, homes for the elderly and special programs to
help orphans and handicapped children. Freemasonry tells a man to attend
his place of worship to strengthen his spiritual beliefs, then come to the
lodge to work in brotherhood toward the moral conduct and good works
that religion requires. And therein lies the summation of my belief, that
Freemasonry is the ideal partner of any moral religion.

That concept seems very simple and obvious to me, but in participating in
dozens of radio and TV shows I have learned that millions of people don't
agree or, at least, they don't agree if they follow the advice of their own
religious leaders. Those militantly anti-Masonic leaders are drawn primarily
from the Fundamentalist Protestant denominations.

I find that a number of Freemasons cling to the older belief that the greatest
enemy of Masonry is the Roman Catholic Church, but that simply is no
longer true. Certainly, there still are outstanding instructions for Catholic
men to avoid Masonic membership. I contacted the office of Cardinal
Bemardin in Chicago to pin down the official Catholic position, and
received a statement dated 1986 form the Sacred Congregation for the
Doctrine of Faith, which - by the way - is a modern name for the old
Inquisition. The document says, "A Catholic who becomes a Freemason is
in a grievous state of sin and may not approach Holy Communion".

The justification given for this stand is a ruling set forth by Pope Leo XIII in
1884, in his famous anti-Masonic bull called Humanum Genus. (You'll find
the entire text of that bull reprinted in the back of Born In Blood.) The pope
says that the Freemasons recognize all religions as equal. The Catholic
Church, as the only true religion, can only be damaged by being classed
as "equal", rather than being recognized as supreme and exclusive.

Freemasonry will never change itself to recognize only one religion, so that
bit of separation will stand. On the other hand, that ruling is not really
important because it is largely ignored by Catholics, laymen and clergy
alike, except for the hard-line parish priest. The Scottish Rite Valley of
Chicago reports that twelve percent of its members are Catholic. I have met
Catholic Masons, Catholic Worshipful Masters and a Catholic Shrine
Potentate. There is a Catholic priest in Kentucky who is a 32nd Degree
Mason. Then there is the matter of hundreds of thousands of Masons in
Mexico and South America who are almost all Catholic. Even in Spain,
where General Franco set up a national tribunal to stamp out Freemasonry,
there are now twenty-nine active lodges, virtually all of whose members are
devout Catholics. Those ancient hatreds have been effectively laid to rest,
even to the extent of co-operation and joint ventures between Masonic
groups and the Knights of Columbus in many areas.

You gentlemen are in a position to keep it that way with the policies you
have for your language disorder clinics. I find that some Catholic leaders
are aware that of all the children treated at the Shrine hospitals, over fifty
percent are from Catholic families. They which have yet to learn that
Scottish Rite Masons are helping many Catholic children to read and
speak.

Because of your geographic location, I expect, and I hope, that you will be
helping many children from Protestant Fundamentalist families as well, so
that the parents will learn from their own personal experiences Just what
kind of men the Freemasons are. And especially Scottish Rite Masons of
the Southern Jurisdiction, who are the targets of the most vicious attacks.
But before we address the nature of those vicious attacks, let's consider the
most frequent attacks on basic Blue Lodge Masonry.

There are a number of criticisms from Fundamentalist leaders. First, that
Freemasons promise salvation through good conduct and good works.
Salvation, they say, comes only from accepting Jesus Christ as your
personal saviour, and good works have nothing whatsoever to do with it.
The Freemasons sin by promising brotherhood with men of all religions,
including non-Christian faiths, which is evil because brotherhood is only
possible through Christ and with Christians. The Masonic penalties, which
are read on the air word-for-word, are an abomination to God. The
Freemasons promise Light, and Light is available only through Christ, so
Masons are trying to usurp Christ's authority. Freemasonry is a separate
religion, with a separate God called the Great Architect of the Universe. The
third degree teaches a Masonic resurrection, not the resurrection of Jesus
Christ. The Freemasons have an altar and men kneel to pray to their own
Masonic God, not to Jesus. The Square and Compasses rest on top of the
Holy Bible to show the supremacy of Masonic teachings over scripture.

These charges appear serious when they are left unanswered, but can
easily be set aside in debate. Unfortunately, we do not have time to
address them all today, but let's look at two of the most serious charges:
That Freemasons promise salvation through good works, which is not a
true requirement of Christianity. In this, they say, Freemasonry is a separate
religion.

The answer: Symbolic Freemasonry does not promise salvation, in words
or by implication. It makes no attempt to describe heaven, or how to get
there. It offers no description of hell, and there is no reference whatsoever
to hell or to Satan. It offers no religious dogma. On the other hand, it does
mention good works as an aid to salvation, at least in many jurisdictions.

The critics of Freemasonry, of course, care nothing for Judaic or Islamic
teachings, citing only that the acceptance of Jesus Christ alone assures the
pathway to heaven, with good works both unnecessary and irrelevant.

To quote just a few verses from the General Epistle of James:

...Faith, if it have not works, is dead...

...By works is a man justified, not by faith only.

...For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead
also.

These examples seem to indicate that a true belief in Christ specifically
demands acts of charity, and without them faith is incomplete.

I find that with the general public that argument in favour of good works is
a win for Freemasonry, and I wish we had time to illustrate with a few
examples.

If anything, the accusation of a Masonic teaching of resurrection is even
easier to set aside. Clearly, to dig a man up from his nondescript grave,
then re-bury him in a more dignified grave is not resurrection, it is
reinterment. When I gave that answer to an anti-Masonic Catholic author,
he said, "You say there is no resurrection in the Third Degree. If there isn't,
then why does the ritual have the acacia, an ancient symbol of
immortality?"

Reminding him that I spoke only as an outside observer, my reply was that
the acacia plays a very significant role in the ritual of the Third Degree
because the central theme of that ritual is immortality. It is not about the
immortality of the soul, or the immortality of the man being initiated, but the
immortality of the Masonic fraternity.

The degree says, "The master is dead, and his work is unfinished." The
initiate does not just watch the ritual, he is a part of it, the star of it. The
ritual says to him, "The master has fallen and now you step into his shoes.
You will help to finish his work." Indeed the Master Mason is "raised" from
the grave of the fallen Master Builder, and in that new role he assumes the
Master's burden, to build a Temple of God based on love, brotherhood,
morality and charity. We don't have to look around us in much depth to
know that such work is certainly unfinished.

(As an aside, I believe that if I were presiding over that initiation, I would be
terribly tempted to tell a man that the ritual and the examination have made
him a Master Mason in a legal and technical sense, but in his heart he
should feel that he is not wholly a Master Mason until, sometime in his
Masonic career, he brings in that good man who will step into his own
shoes. Then perhaps I wouldn't hear so many discussions about declining
membership.)

As for the penalties, they cannot be justified by scripture, or by any other
means except their appropriateness, and perhaps their necessity, in their
proper time and place. In that sense, they are very important in preserving
an ancient tradition. As such, I see no barrier, and no loss of drama, by
identifying them as such: Not to be sworn to by the candidate, but merely
recited by him as a reminder of his ancient predecessors who risked their
lives and property to establish and preserve those individual and religious
freedoms which are at the heart of the Masonic philosophy, just as the
young Jewish bridegroom stomps on a drinking glass to smash it, as a
reminder of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem almost two
thousand years ago. He knows that it is not a religious ritual, but a rite of
remembering.

Based on all this, and much more, I felt fully prepared to answer an
invitation to appear with a representative of the John Ankerberg Evangelical
Association last month, on a two-hour call-in show on the so-called
"Christian" radio station in Chicago.

I was in for a big surprise. I had debated before with John Ankerberg
himself, so I thought I knew what was coming. I even had the King James
Bible beside my phone. A surprise came when the Ankerberg man said that
they had no problem with the bulk of Freemasons. Most of them are good
men. And certainly they do many good things. The evil of Freemasonry lies
in a circle of Freemasons called the Southern Jurisdiction of Scottish Rite
Masons, and even more so in the inner circle of that group, whose leader
is totally dedicated to the teachings of a bigoted, racist, non-christian
mystic named Albert Pike. Then came the quotations represented as being
from the pen of Albert Pike: Lucifer is the Supreme Being, the one true God
and the God of Freemasonry. Ancient gods, such as Isis and Osiris, have
roles in Pike's system of Masonic beliefs. I answered as best I could, but
without some struggle; and then the line was opened for calls from listeners
and I got my second surprise. The electronic system was set so that the
Ankerberg speaker could hear the callers, but I could not. I was operating
in the blind. The show host, now clearly on the side of the anti-Masons, had
to summarize the caller questions for me. Then came a surprise that was
more than a surprise - it was a shock.

The Host said that a woman called in to say that her grandfather, who was
a 32nd Degree Scottish Rite Mason, had taken her to his Masonic lodge
when she was just five years old. Once she was inside the Lodge room, the
door was locked, and all of her grandfather's lodge brothers were allowed
to sexually abuse her. On the way home, her grandfather apologized, but
said he had no choice, since child abuse is very important part of the
Masonic ritual.

I was stunned and angry, but even more so when Mr. Ankerberg's man
explained that such gross conduct was understandable, and in keeping
with Albert Pike's teachings that Lucifer, or Satan, is the God of the
Freemasons.

I was completely ignored during the last half-hour of the show, but was
growing madder by the minute until, with just five minutes to go, I
interrupted to dump my anger on the host and his visiting evangelist. My
conviction that the show was deliberately rigged was supported by a phone
call from Chicago as soon as the show went off the air.

A Freemason's wife had called early in the show and asked how long she
would have to wait. She was told that there would be no wait at all, since
she would be next. Then she was asked the subject of her call, and
answered that she wanted to talk about how much her husband's Masonic
activities had meant to her and their family. When the show ended an hour
and a half later, she was still on hold.

Her husband grew tired of waiting and, suspecting the reason, made a call
on another line. When asked what he wanted to say, he said that he
wanted to talk about the terrible problems that he had encountered with
Freemasons in business. He was on the air within ten minutes and, of
course, immediately described the benefits and the moral code of
Freemasonry. He was allowed to finish, but the host immediately took the
next call, cutting off any possible discussion. It is very clear what direction
Ankerberg's anti-Masonic campaign will take in the future.

He may have got the idea from a Fundamentalist author named Ralph
Epperson, from Arizona. Epperson writes and lectures on what the calls the
"Conspiracy Theory" of history; that is that all great events are the results
of underground manipulation. The current underground conspiracy that
concerns him is a plot to take over and rule the world, a plot in which
Christianity will be stamped out, and the Satanic teachings of Albert Pike
will prevail. The secret cell engineering all this is the inner circle of
leadership of the Southern Jurisdiction of Scottish Rite Masons, pulling
world-wide strings from their base in their Temple in Washington, D.C. He
points out that most Masons, even Scottish Rite Masons, don't know of the
secret plans. They are being duped by leaders, as is clearly stated in Pike's
Morals and Dogma. (Unfortunately, Pike actually does indicate that only the
Adepts and Sages know the true secrets, and that false symbols are used
to confuse others.)

That's not the end of the story. If anything, it gets worse. Earlier this year
that same theory about Scottish Rite was voiced by a much stronger
personality that either Ankerberg or Epperson. You all know who Pat
Robertson is - the President of the Christian Broadcasting Network; the host
of the "700 Club" on world-wide television; a candidate for the presidency
of the United States. Ankerberg and Epperson have to sell their books and
tapes themselves, but Pat Robertson had no problem getting a big
publisher to back his new book, a hard-back volume with the title, The New
World Order. Here it is. It is in the bookstores, and is selling well. I called
Pat Robertson's publisher and learned that the initial printing of twenty
thousand copies sold out fast, and the second printing of thirty thousand
copies is moving briskly. With such a spokesman, the problem becomes
more significant. What problem? Let me read you a few quotes that Mr.
Robertson shares with his readers. First, from Pike's Morals and Dogma:

(pages 104-5) "Masonry..conceals its mysteries from all except Adept and
Sages, and used false symbols to mislead those who deserve to be
misled."

(page 213) "Every Masonic temple is a temple of religion."

In the next quote, Pike used the word Baalim, which is the Hebrew plural
form of the word for "lord", Baal. In scripture, Baal refers to almost any god
other than the true God, but most Christians take it to be a name for Satan:

(page 226) Masonry around whose altars the Christian, the Hebrew, the
Muslim, the Brahmin, the followers of Confucius and Zoroaster, can
assemble as brethren and unite in prayer to the one God who is above all
the Baalim."

Next, Robertson cites the resurrected Egyptian god who was the king and
judge of the dead:

(page 476) "Everything good in nature comes from Osiris."

Now we come to the new character, Lucifer. Lucifer, from the Latin Lucem
Ferre, means "Bringer of Light", and was the Roman name of the morning
star we call Venus, that heralds the coming of dawn. Chapter 14 of the Old
Testament Book of Isaiah contains a proposed letter to a fallen enemy, a
king of Babylon. The Hebrew words used to describe the king at the height
of his former glory are "Helal son of Shahar", or "Bright star son of Dawn."

Centuries ago theologians and translators decided that it was not a
Babylonian king who had fallen, but the rebellious angel Satan. They
elected to translate the Hebrew reference to the morning star as the Roman
Lucifer, "Bringer of Light." As a result, Lucifer became an alternative name
for Satan in the King James Authorized Version of the Bible in 1611, and
in the widely read works of great poets and playwrights such as Marlowe,
Milton and Shakespeare. In any English language dictionary Lucifer is a
name of Satan. So how can people be expected to re-act to this Pat
Robertson quote from Manly Hall's Lost Keys of Freemasonry:

(page 48) "When the Mason learns that the key to the warrior on the block
is the proper application of the dynamo of a living power, he has learned
the mystery of his Craft. The seething energies of Lucifer are in his hands."

Now just one further word of explanation. The ancient Hebrews were
reluctant to say out loud the ineffable name of God, as taken from the
Tetragrammaton. So instead of saying Yahweh or Jehovah they said "the
Lord", or in Hebrew Adonai. In Catholic liturgy, Adonai is used to refer to
the second member of the Trinity, who is Jesus Christ. Now, with the
understanding that to Jews and Christians the term Adonai is a reference
to Jehovah or Christ, while Lucifer is Satan, try to imagine their reaction to
this letter, allegedly from Albert Pike to the Supreme Councils in July, 1889.
The title he appends to his name is Sovereign Pontiff of Universal Masonry,
a title that indicates a supreme religious leader. Dr. Rex Hutchens has
identified this letter as a blatant forgery. No Mason ever held the title of
"Sovereign Pontiff." The only reason, then, for quoting the letter is to
understand what Pat Robertson is telling tens of thousands of readers, and
presenting it as the truth. The forged letter says:

"To you, Sovereign Inspectors General, we say this, that you repeat it to the
Brethren of the 32nd, 31st and 30th degrees - the Masonic Religion should
be, by all of us initiates to the high degrees, maintained in the purity of the
Luciferian Doctrine. Yes, Lucifer is God and unfortunately, Adonay is also
God...Lucifer, God of Light and God of Good is struggling for humanity
against Adonay, the God of Darkness and evil."

What is any Christian or Jew going to think when he reads that letter? And
there's more. Most of you in the room have the knowledge it takes to know
if Mr. Robertson is lying in the last quote from his new book to which I am
going to subject you today. Here it is:

"It is my understanding that as part of the initiation for the Thirty-Second
Degree, the candidate is told that Hiram, the builder of Solomon's Temple,
was killed by three assassins. The candidate must therefore strike back at
those assassins, who are ... the government, organized religion and private
property." and on, and on.

Now you might say that this is just more of the same old drivel that you've
heard over and over. The difference may be that this book carries the name
of a nationally recognized figure with hundreds of thousands, if not millions,
of followers. I heard him earlier this month sharing a religious newspaper
radio spot with Pat Buchanan.

Equally important, this book is a part of a trend over the past year to back
off from the wholesale condemnation of Freemasonry and focus that
condemnation instead on the Southern Jurisdiction of Scottish Rite. Both
Robertson and Ankerberg, for example, comment favourably on the good
work being done by the Shrine hospitals. Now it is just you that they are
after, especially in the higher degrees, and primarily through damaging
quotes, misquotes and distortions of the writings of Albert Pike.

Please don't get the wrong idea. The whole world doesn't automatically
swallow the kind of garbage that these people put out. The Wall Street
Journal review of Pat Robertson's book carried the headline, "A New World
Order Nut", then went on to trash everything about the book. It has been
my experience that while the audiences of the so-called "Christian" stations
lap it up, the thinking people who listen to public radio stations reject it. On
Chicago public radio with Ankerberg, a man called in to say, "I'm confused.
The man talking in favour of Freemasonry is speaking of sympathy,
generosity and kindness, while the man who claims to be speaking for
Jesus is preaching bigotry and hatred. Something's wrong here!" The
station was deluged with phone calls and letters requesting a program
about Freemasonry, without the ravings of the evangelist, and that was
done. I'll never forget the look of shock on Ralph Epperson's face after a
call came in to the radio show in Tampa, Florida. When the woman had
finished, he turned to me and asked, "How can that woman call me a
crackpot?" It was easy. She was an intelligent woman.

But between the group of people who have a positive feeling toward
Freemasonry and those Fundamentalists who are content to let their
leaders define truth for them stands the largest group of all: Those who
have no information, no experience and no opinion. That group is the best
target for public awareness about the true nature of the Craft.

In approaching them, you have a great advantage. Every organization, like
every man, has two identifying characteristics: His character, which is what
he really is, and his reputation, which is what he is thought to be. If your
reputation is superior to your character, I'd suggest that you leave well
enough alone. Fortunately for Freemasonry, it's the other way round. I say
"fortunately" because that means that truth is on your side. You just need
that truth to come to light.

You are also fortunate in that you have a wonderful vehicle to help get that
truth across - your language disorder clinics for children. No politician,
educator, editor, or broadcaster will hesitate to approve what you are
doing. So my first thought for a program at home in your own communities
is to make sure that your local public knows what you are doing. Spreading
that word in your local area may take some work, but it won't take any
money. (And if there is a question of why such a suggestion is made in the
context of a talk about religion, be assured that there are scriptural
admonition to let the light shine on your good works so that all may see,
and praise Almighty God.)

I have put out feelers to editors and radio producers. Women's page and
school editors will welcome information about your clinics. Talk show hosts,
who are starved for good subject matter, will be delighted to have listeners
call in about these childhood problems, to learn how they can be identified
and what can be done for them. Speakers will be welcome at meetings of
parents and teachers. A committee can handle all that, but there is one
area that should be handled by individual Scottish Rite Masons, and that
is contact with your local ministers. This is very important. A recent survey
in one city in Virginia revealed a number of ministers of religion who had
no opinion about Freemasonry, and quite a few who did not know whether
any of the men in their congregation were Freemasons. Here is a wonderful
chance to change that situation.

A Scottish Rite Mason, with any of the brothers who are members of the
same church, should meet with the minister, priest or rabbi. Invite him to
lunch. The reason you might give is that he knows better than you do any
families in the church who have a problem with a child. Tell him what the
Scottish Rite Masons are doing, and why. Give him your literature and
explain that if he encounters such a problem in your congregation, to give
you a call. You'll do the rest. And while you're at it, don't hesitate to discuss
any other programs of the church that may concern him. He'll be pleased
to learn that there are caring men in his church and will learn something
good about Freemasonry. (Do not underestimate his influence in the
community as a moulder of public opinion.)

Another target for your efforts might be the symbolic lodges in your area.
You know even better than I that it often happens that one Masonic body
in the community doesn't know, or doesn't really understand what another
Masonic body is doing, and there are lots of reasons to take your story to
the Blue Lodges.

I think we can agree that no matter how graceful the limbs of a tree, no
matter how delicately formed are the leaves, no matter how beautiful the
spring blossoms, none of them is more important that the roots.

You also know better than I that many members of Scottish Rite, York Rite
and the Shrine have not crossed the thresholds of their Blue Lodges for ten
or fifteen years. Yet you look to them for members to replace your own
diminishing membership. The local lodge, in contrast, must somehow
shoulder that burden with attendance that often does not reach ten percent
of the total dues-paying membership.

We hear frequent references to the "Christmas Christians" who attend
church just once a year, but any minister or priest will agree that once a
year is still better than not showing up at all.

My thought is that you co-ordinate with your Grand Lodge one month of
the year - let's say April - as Scottish Rite Month in the symbolic lodges in
your area. Your role is to urge your membership to attend the stated
meeting of their own lodges for that month. A problem you will encounter
is that it has been estimated that one out of three Masons today does not
live near his own lodge. Those displaced persons should be invited to
attend a local lodge that month as a guest.

The Worshipful Master will prepare to receive you by introducing the current
officers and past masters, and reporting the good news and bad news
about the lodge ln recent years.

The Scottish Rite members will speak on the subject of Scottish Rite
Masonry and its benefits. They will go into detail about their language
disorder program. Remember that the regular lodge members will tend to
be younger, and many of them will have elementary school children. They
will be able to relate to what they are told. Ideally, the Scottish Rite Masons
would invite questions about Scottish Rite...what it does; how much time
it takes; what it costs - All important matters to younger men you would like
to have join you. And of course you won't neglect to invite them to tell you
of any of the children of their friends and neighbours that you may be able
to help. And tell them things that the lodge did in former days.

This would also give the Blue Lodge Mason a chance to ask his
knowledgeable Scottish Rite brothers about any disturbing attacks against
Scottish Rite Masonry he has read about, heard on the radio, seen on TV,
or picked up in conversation. Let him express his concerns, and help him
learn the truth.

For you, it is a chance to spread the word about the language disorder
program, and to recruit new Scottish Rite members, since that's where they
must come from. For them, it is a chance to meet lodge brothers they
never met before, and will enhance their opinion of the importance and the
contributions of Freemasonry. Of course, if the meeting is successful, it
may be advisable to supply name tags, because there will be a lot of
strangers milling about the room.

And just one final thought. The other special target of your program might
be your own family, your children...and even your grandchildren. Try this:
Lets say you have decided to make a contribution of $50.00. Call some of
your family members together - especially those little ones. Explain the
problems of children with aphasia and dyslexia. Tell them, "I think we
should help them. Do you think we should?" Their agreement is
guaranteed. Then prepare a letter:

"The McCormick family would like to help you in the good work you are
doing for little children with problems of speaking or writing. Enclosed is
our check for $50.00. We hope that it will help. Thank you!" Then at the
bottom each child signs his or own name. What will happen? They will
actually have taken part in an act of charity and caring. They'll think better
of you, and they'll feel better about themselves. And they will get a pleasant
feeling about this organization you talk about, but probably has them
puzzled.

So I'm suggesting that you let the light shine on your good work - in your
community, your own newspapers, your own talk shows, and your own
people. I'm confident that the ideas that you come up with will be more
direct than mine. That's the real secret. National PR programs are blasts of
12-gauge No. 5 shot, hoping that they will hit something. Your local
program is a rifle that can be fixed on a target, and hit it.

The point of all this is that I know from personal experience that there are
plenty of people out there who think well of Freemasonry. On those call-in
shows, I am delighted by the number of people who call into make
interesting observations complimentary to Masonry. There was a
62-year-old woman from Iowa who said that during World War II, blood
supplies were not available. The hospital told her parents that to have the
life-saving surgery their little girl needed, they would have to produce the
necessary 18 pints of blood on their own. She remembered her father in
tears, because he had nowhere to turn. At Sunday dinner her grandfather
asked the reason for the gloom and was told the problem. He said, "Put it
out of your mind. I'll take care of it." Her father was furious at his own father
for promising a sick child something he could not deliver.

But two weeks later her grandfather reported that he had the 18 pints lined
up, with a couple of pints to spare. Her father was flabbergasted. "How did
you do it?" "I went to my lodge and found a few with the right blood type.
We called other lodges in the area and they all helped. We've got 21
donors."

She summed up her story with, "Since then I've had fifty years of full, rich
life because of the kindness of Freemasons I didn't even know. I thank
them in my prayers every day of my life."

During a two-hour call-in show on KDKA Radio Pittsburgh, sponsored by
Catholic book stores and hosted by a Catholic priest, a woman called in.
She said, "Father, I consider myself a devout Catholic, but I must say that
where I work and in our neighbourhood the finest men I meet usually turn
out to be Masons".

An administrative nurse at a hospital In San Antonio reported that she was
overwhelmed by the response of the local Shriners when a child needed
them. But she was upset that her Lutheran minister spoke against
Freemasonry, and warned the men of the church to avoid the Masons. She
argued with the minister, but got nowhere. Then a burn case came up in
the middle of the night. The Shriners left their beds and, as she told it,
"They come with an ambulance, they arrange a private jet in case it's
needed, they arrange transportation for the parents, and it's all free." She
agonized over the words of her Lutheran minister and her own personal
experience with Freemasons. "I solved my problem", she said, "and said
good-bye to my minister. Now I'm a Presbyterian."

I can't exaggerate what an impact those stories have on the listening
audience. These wonderful people who call in are the real defenders of
Freemasonry, and I suppose that the essence of what I'm suggesting is
that you increase their numbers - not across the country, but in your own
communities. And I'm convinced that the fastest, strongest way to do that
is by telling the story, the heart-rendering human stories, of your language
disorder program.

I see several benefits from such an intensive public awareness program in
your locality.

1. It will create an atmosphere and support for such time as your
expanding programs call for a local fund-raising drive.

2. It will help the young men of your community to get that favourable
impression of Freemasonry that they are asked to affirm on a lodge
petition.

3. It will help to build an attitude toward Freemasonry in the minds of
teachers, ministers and local parents that will not be receptive to attacks on
Freemasonry when the twisters and distorters of the truth are forced to
confront the truth in action.

And If someone asks what all that has to do with Jesus, you might say,
"Ah! You're talking about the one who said, 'For inasmuch as ye do to the
least of these my brethren, ye do also unto me.' The answer is obvious."
Just as the Common Ground of religion and Freemasonry is obvious.

Thank you for inviting me here today. I won't end with the usual closing of
"God bless you", because I'm quite certain that He will do that without any
prodding from me.

John J. Robinson is the author of Born In Blood - The Lost Secrets of
Freemasonry

These Presented March 14, 1992 
Scottish Rite Workshop - Atlanta, Georgia

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