“So you’re saying that Freemasonry wasn’t REALLY influenced by the Enlightenment?” The young man sought to grasp at least the basics of why he’d been led down this path by those billed as Masonic Historians. Hopefully he’d get some sort of explanation that made sense.
The Old Webmaster’s chair creaked yet again and his voice interrupted the young man’s reverie. “Everything that happens in society influences Freemasonry. Masons are part and parcel of society: always have been and will, I hope, always will be. And while the individual players on the stage have changed, the institution has moved on, ignoring in many ways the disruptions and dichotomies in the world around it. Some of the most important events in world history are not even touched on in our written records and whey they have been, it’s been brief at best. In our own Grand Lodge records, the anti-Masonic action of the 1830s which burned like a fire in the state are barely commented on – and then only in some very indirect ways. We place great significance on ‘movements’ of the past but at the time, those involved surely looked at it quite differently.”
He paused for just a moment. The young man hoped he’d continue. Later he could read more but for now, he was getting an encapsulated Masonic history far different from that he’d been led to believe.
“There are a lot of times when people – Masons – want to put their own stamp on things. They look at an old church in a far-away country and decide that it just HAS to be related to Freemasonry without realizing that they’re being brought into a tourist trap. Mangling history, they’ll fancy themselves as crusading Knights Templars on some sort of a King Aruthur-type quest for the Holy Grail. Sometimes the cacophony of combined concepts is enough to boggle the mind. But that’s not addressing the issue of the Enlightenment, is it?” The Old Webmaster chuckled. Yes, it was DEFINITELY a chuckle!
“Some online Masons express frustration that we’ve lost the ‘promise of the Enlightenment….” The young man paused, realizing instantly that he’d made the assumption that he was part of Freemasonry already when this was, in fact, the very first encounter he’d had with them. He’d been called up short just a few minutes ago for making an assumption about this. Had he overstepped…??
“That’s true.” said The Old Webmaster. “I see that popping up pretty regularly now. Some of this comes from reading some excellent books by a Professor in California who began several years ago to research European Freemasonry from an academic standpoint. She has published several works that have been given critical acclaim. Her propositions are persuasive but sometimes I think American Freemasons draw a parallel path even though the two continents are quite different. Even that Professor will tell you that a lot of the assumptions surrounding Freemasonry’s involvement with the Enlightenment came from a man named Bernard Fay.”
The Old Webmaster continued, “In the mid-1930s, Fay authored books with titles such as Revolution and Freemasonry and Franklin (about Benjamin Franklin). The Revolution book, for example, talks of the entanglements between the United States and France during and after the American Revolution. Fay painted these in an unflattering light but his writings seemed to be dismissed as those of someone simply hyper-critical of Freemasonry. His later life, though, showed them as part of his vicious intent”
I’ve seen anti-Masonic websites all over the internet, thought the young man. This isn’t a new phenomenon but just a new venue apparently….
“Fay, who held the high position as Director of the National Library in France, was an active ‘collaborator’ and responsible for the death and suffering of many Freemasons during World War II. He was tried and convicted by a court of justice in Paris. Despite a plea from the prosecution that he receive the death penalty, the court was lenient and sentenced him to imprisonment at hard labor for life, the confiscation of all his property, and “national degradation”".
The young man felt the room become heavy with sadness. The Old Webmaster’s voice softened. “Fay claimed that he was “…a historian who was doing this for intellectual reasons.” His books are often cited by both Masons and anti-Masons as ‘proving’ that Masons were directly involved in the French Revolution - although now that you know about him, I think you can see why there’s a dark shadow over his claims. This, though, was the extent of so-called “research” up until just a few years ago. It gives me pause whenever I hear someone claim to be a ‘Masonic Historian’, particularly when they make that claim on their own behalf!”
The young man’s mind became a muddle of thoughts. Self-created Masonic historians, abuse of facts to further one’s own agenda, lies, death….
Technorati Tags: The Old Webmaster, Freemasonry, Masonry, Masonic history, Bernard Fay, conspiracy theory
