Survey Says? Part II
by Midnight Freemason Contributor
WB. Robert. H. Johnson
Not long ago, I published the first in a series of articles I planned on writing involving Masonic data. I asked a simple question about the Scottish Rite and you can read about it and see the crazy results of that survey here.
This time around, I wanted to gauge whether or not we as a fraternity really understand what and who we are, that is--Do we know that we are a fraternity of men who are a total mix of different religions and whats more, that we are not tied to any one faith?
We had over 300 responses to the initial open-ended question:
So without bias, and for your edification, here are the results.
67.9% said there was no particular background.13% said that Masonry is a Christian fraternity who accepts others.
19.1% said that Masonry was a Deist order who accepts others.
The results are what I expected. An overwhelming number of respondents believe what I do, and that is we are indeed, "The Brotherhood of man, under the Fatherhood of God." The other results are somewhat concerning to me. nearly 33% feel that there is some kind of religious category we fit into.
I'll leave you all with these results and to do with them as you will. Perhaps this is an opportunity for us to make those changes or to whisper some council in an erring brother's ear. Overwhelmingly, this boils down to a tolerance issue. And as far as tolerance is concerned, if you look it up in a dictionary, there should be a picture of the Square and Compasses.
~RHJ
Bro. Robert Johnson, 32° is the Managing Editor of the Midnight Freemasons blog. He is a Freemason out of the First North-East District of Illinois. He is the Master of Waukegan Lodge No. 78 and Education officer for the 1st N.E. District of Illinois. He is also a member of the York Rite bodies Royal Arch, Cryptic Council, Knights Templar, AMD, The Illinois Lodge of Research and a member of the Scottish Rite Valley of Chicago as well as a charter member of the Society of King Solomon, a charity organization run by the Grand Lodge of Illinois. Brother Johnson currently produces and hosts weekly Podcasts (internet radio programs) Whence Came You? & Masonic Radio Theatre which focus on topics relating to Freemasonry. In addition, he produces video shorts focusing on driving interest in the Fraternity and writes original Masonic papers from time to time. He is also a cohost of The Masonic Roundtable, a Masonic talk show. He is a husband and father of three. He works full time in the safety industry and is also a photographer on the side as well as an avid home brewer. He is currently working on a book of Masonic essays.