From the Editor's Desk

There appears to be a crackdown on
copyright violators. Those who reproduce
or transmit articles or parts of articles
that they either do not own or do
not have permission to reproduce or
transmit.

Several anti-Masons after several
warnings have been refused online
service and have been removed or locked
out of an online service for violation of
that services copyright rules. These
anti-Masons have been copying messages
and posting those messages or
parts of those messages on other online
carriers and to other areas of the
service's system.

Item:

A North American Grand Lodge is
launching a lawsuit against an individual
for the violation of parts of their
copyrighted rituals.

On March 22, 1996, The Supreme
Court of Canada voted 7-2 in a decision
that prevents a woman from joining a
fraternal club. The Supreme Court sup-
ported the Yukon Order of Pioneers'
right to exclude women.

At the same time. Canadian courts
have established that it is not
necessarily discriminatory for private
charitable or social clubs to restrict
membership,

The Court ruled that the Pioneers are
a private organization and that neither
the Court or anyone else has the right to
tell them how they should run their
clubs .

Letters  to The Editor

Dear Editor;

In the past, Masonic writers with vivid
imagination have woven romantic but
quite unjustified theories about the
origins of Freemasonry and, as a result,
many subsequent writers, including
Bro. Stewart, the author of the article
"Why Only In England" have not
escaped being influenced by them.

He asked why Speculative Masonry
grew out of Operative Masonry in
England only when Operative Masonry had
been the same on the continent as
there. The answer is that, in the opinion
of most Masonic authorities of today
(Professor Wallace McLeod is a notable
exception) it did not and although it
subsequently adopted many of the practices
of operative masons, its origin was
quite separate.

The builders of the cathedrals were
not Freemasons, they were operative
masons, ordinary uneducated workmen
who could neither read nor write and
were content with placing one stone on
top of another and, if they were lucky,
drawing their wages at the end of the
week. They would have had no conception
whatsoever of the grandeur of the
buildings they were helping to erect.

  There is no evidence whatsoever that they
ever moralized on their working, tools or that
there was anything of a speculative nature in
their ceremonies nor is there any record of a
non-operative being accepted into an English
Operative lodge.

Bro. Stewart rightly debunks several
theories regarding the origin of Freemasonry
but he should be careful to avoid
referring to medieval masons as
Freemasons as there is no evidence of
any on the continent before about 1725
nor in England before the middle of the
seventeenth century.

Sincerely and fraternally,

Cyril N. Bathaml





 I Am A Fundamentalist

by H. Edward Struble, MPS

My fundamentalism goes back fifty
years. I have believed all those years in
the true definition of fundamental. ie:
of ground work; going to the root of the
matter, serving as a base of
fundamentalism.

My fundamentalism has served as my
base and has contributed to the solid
foundation of my beliefs.

I am not alone in my life as a
fundamentalist, I am but one member of a
group that numbers in the millions.

Our fundamentalist stand is not a recent
development, its origin is hidden in
the dust of history and since then its
basic beliefs have been handed down
and been made stronger by each
generation that has been drawn to our
teachings .

We are dedicated to upholding The
Moral Law and allow none of our group
to breach it without severe reprimand.

Our belief in Christ does not permit us
to disparage or ridicule the believers of
a different definition of the Supreme
Being. We have no need to establish
differences in order to attract attention
or to gain new members. We seek to
convert no one to our fundamental
beliefs. We welcome all believers with
open arms and demand only that once
they join our group they will strive to
emulate the examples set by the ancient
members .

Our belief is that God's love pours
from an everlasting fountain of refreshment
sometimes referred to as the
Bible, the Torah. or the Koran.

Our fundamental stand is sometimes
criticized by the uninformed, the ill
informed and practicing bigots. We are
encouraged that such criticism has proven
to strengthen our beliefs and
brought our members closer together.

Our fundamentalism is a no nonsense
dedication to love God, love of family
and love of Country. Our only intolerance
is the natural intolerance with
those who deliver the untruths about
any of the vital beliefs of our group. We
are well known as defenders of truth.
We neither need nor wish to set any one
group against another as being the devils
handyman, nor an example of witchcraft,
or to scare the uninformed with
unsubstantiated and imaginary
charges.

We have no need to berate anyone or
any group in order to produce wealth
for someone's extravagant life style and
behavior. We have not generated a program
that is designed to give some individual
power, political or otherwise,
in order to feed that persons ego. We
have no need to raise funds in order to
finance the distribution of untruths, or
messages of fear or hate.

Any funds we gather from our members
are used to support numerous
Charities on a continuing basis. A great
deal of that charitable work is quiet
charity done without fan-fare or publicity.
Not seeking recognition only the
inner satisfaction of knowing we had
worked in such a way as to he in keeping
with the lord's plan for all people.

Our fundamental group does not seek
to convert nor to proselyte in order to
increase the membership. We attract
new believers by setting an example
that others find very close to their personal
beliefs.

Above all we are pledged to the
preservation of the truth in all things and
in all teachings.

If in your travels you are ever questioned
about our group keep in mind
that each of us has pledged our love, our
treasure, and our search for truth in
service to all mankind.

We are committed to the belief in
Brotherhood of man, to the belief of a
Supreme Being, and a life after death.

I AM A FREEMASON !!
