It has been almost an entire month since my last posting on Celestial Brotherhood, and I apologize greatly. I know my audience is accustomed to postings at least once a week and with the end of my military term I have become rather distracted lately with other things going on in my life. When things begin to settle down a little bit more I will be sure to get back into my writing. Unfortunately, I do not know when that will be.
This article I have had on my computer for quite some time and I have been debating about publishing it because I am unsure of how people might react. While reading this, please remember I do not intend to be disrespectful to anyone person or group. I have cleared the article with a few others, including the one person I mention in the article. Yet again, I did not want to come off as being disrespectful; but I feel that this view of the issue at hand is a necessary and valid argument for the way we are shaping our Fraternity. Please, as always I am here for your questions, comments and concerns. If you ever would like to discuss the topics I write about please just email me.
The Brady Bill of Freemasonry
By: Aaron Gardner
Almost everyone knows the Brady bill was a bill passed by President William Clinton— a response to John Hinkley’s assassination attempt on President Ronald Regan. It requires a waiting period before any person can purchase a firearm and a background check on the person buying. Background checks are the norm for todays society when dealing with, well… anything. You apply for a job the employer does a background check or you buy a gun there is a background check. Especially in the Army there are background checks along with credit checks. I possess a security clearance, as most Soldiers do. It is something that is required, especially in my line of work in the Army as an Information Technology Specialist. I am no stranger to background checks, I am dealing with another one right now as I apply to work in Law Enforcement. Background checks are everywhere. Evidently this includes Lodge.
Brethren, do really need a Brady Bill for our fraternity? Brother Jason Richards from The 2-Foot Ruler and some of the members of the Masonic Round Table argue that we should. Any petitioner should go through a background check in order to help protect the West Gate. Our inquiries during the investigation committees are apparently not enough anymore. We are afraid that we are accepting men into our fraternity that aren't so good. Brother Richards brings a good point in his call for action that shows how the background check costs can be alleviated. Yet, the financial burden of the background check is not the only cost we have to look at.
Imagine, our saying is “Make Good Men Better”. So, we want to make sure the person entering the lodge is already a good man of legal age, of moral character and highly recommended. To include he has never been convicted of a crime, he has only three speeding tickets and they were back when he was a teenager. What a great guy! He is perfect for a fraternity. We need to fill the chairs with righteous men, people of all walks of life that have never done anything wrong in their lives.
First and foremost and I don’t mean to offend anyone who argues for this idea but it must be said. Stop being snooty! You want to do background checks on petitioning brethren because you feel that it will help protect the West Gate against immoral souls. How about we do background checks on everyone that has ever entered the lodge. President Andrew Jackson is the reason we have the ‘Trail of Tears’, was that a moral and upright action? To oppress the Native Americans? Would you accept someone of such a demeanor into your fraternity today provided you did a background check on the person? Let’s take it closer to home. What about yourself? If we looked back at your entire history, would you be moral? Have you not sinned against man? Have you not had an experience with greed, dishonesty or what have you?
The truth is, nobody here is moral. We all have our faults and some rough ashlars are rougher than others. Does that mean we reject an ashlar who wants to better himself because of a questionable past? The last time I checked the only requirements to become a Freemason were to be freeborn, of good report, highly recommended, of legal age, and must be capable of supporting the man’s family and self. Does that mean he couldn't have done something in his past? Suppose he was an alcoholic for the majority of his adult life and couldn't support his family because he needed the money for the booze that helped kill a little girl crossing the street. Yet, he has since overcome his alcoholism and is making a better life for himself and his family. Plagued by the ghost of that little girl and the remorse of abandoning his family for the bar, he is trying to mend the open wounds because he understands where he went wrong. He is not a bad man. He has had some questionable choices in his life. Now, he is asking the fraternity to become a Freemason. Knowing his past do we turn up our noses to him?
Esoterically speaking, there is a change in a man when he enters that lodge. He stands between those two pillars and becomes… Better! It will not happen over night, it is not instantaneous and it will not be the change that everyone will expect. The pillars were said to be hollow at the building of the Temple. The idea is so the Fellow Crafts could fill the pillars with their bad reports and history. They were becoming better. Just as the men who petition for our fraternity.
Religiously, Jesus did not concern himself with the morally accepted. Moses was a criminal in the eyes of his government, Mohammed was a recluse. The three biggest religions show how one man’s past is not the man’s present nor his future. If the stories in all of the Volumes of Sacred Law are still not enough for you to consider a background check a bit much, let me know when you walk on water so you can become a Freemason.
I was not perfect when I knocked on that door. I have had some questionable situations in my life. I have cheated, lied, stole, drank in excess and even after being a Mason I STILL suffer from being man. I am not perfect, and though none of my faults would show on a background check, if they did would you black ball me? I am a better man because of three things in my life. My Creator, My beautiful fiancé, and this Fraternity which all have been by my side through the rough and the smooth parts of my life. I am a Master Mason and I am a rough ashlar.
AG
