How can we as Christians yoke ourselves together, at the time of prayer, with the guy calling on satan?
I don't know how you experienced Masonry, but to me it's no "yoke." A yoke is that which is intended to bind two animals together so that they pull a plow in the same direction. I was told when I joined that nothing in Masonry would conflict with my religious beliefs, and I find it to be true. I was told I have the freedom to interpret Masonry according to my religious faith, and I do. There is nothing there that binds me, even to membership, as you yourself should know as a
former member.
I can't remember the exact words represented by the ***, but it had to do with kneeling and praying at the alter.
I appreciate the effort, but until such time as I might have a Kentucky Monitor to look at for myself and see both immediate and larger contexts, I will reserve direct comment on even this broader quote. But as I pointed out in the post to which you refer, "religious institution" does not = "a religion," no matter how much material you cite in support of the claim. Just because the comment says Masonry is to be considered a "religious institution," and that its designation as such is tied to the reasons for opening with prayer, and that our trust is in God, do not establish the absurd notion that Masonry is thereby to be taken as "a religion." For one thing, Masonry freely acknowledges that taken as a whole, its members hail from different religions. That in itself should tell you that a designation as "a religion" in the sense that "a Mason" may be taken as a similar designation to "a Christian" or "a Muslim," is false.
How can we as Christians, stand and have corporate prayer with the various people in lodge that are calling upon their "god"?
The same way we do it, potentially at least, every time prayer is offered in any public--and therefore potentially multi-faith--setting. I bowed and prayed at school when prayer was offered by a student before my daughter's induction into Junior Beta Club. I bowed and prayed at school when we attended the awards banquet at my son's high school. I bow and pray when prayer is offered before the football games at the local high school. I bowed and prayed in the chaplaincy program at a Catholic hospital, which I went through as a requirement for the process of ordination--a group which was not merely potentially multi-faith, as we had a Jewish Rabbi as a member of our group of chaplains. I did so also, in the knowledge that I had no way of knowing what faith all the patients in the hospital may hail from, patients who were also hearing the prayer over the hospital intercom and thus being provided with the opportunity to pray the same prayer. I bowed and prayed at meetings with scouts when I was asked to assist with the merit badge requirements of those going for the God & Country badge--scouting being an organization whose principles are perhaps more directly comparable with Masonry than any other organization you could name. I bowed and prayed with members of an advisory board charged with assisting the school district with allocation of 3 million dollars in Title I funds, because as a clergy member of the board, I was generally the one asked to pray. I bowed and prayed along with Lions Club members when I was asked to sit in on a meeting, with no way of knowing what faith any of them may profess.
I really don't understand why, with all the ways in which various settings and organizations in which one may find oneself, they may be engaging in prayer with someone of some other faith, why Freemasonry is thus singled out for such censure, when others are not. The principle, after all, is exactly the same. The Christian is there as a member of his faith, anyone of some other faith is there as a member of his/her faith, even to the point that both are members of said organization; yet no one hints at the least propriety in one, while condemning the practice by Masons. I find the application of this accusation to be inconsistent on the part of accusers.
