Well the Catholic Church, at least, disagrees with you. I have not really looked into it other than on this thread. So I value your perspective.
The "irreconcilable principles" that the Church believes Freemasonry possesses include a "
deistic God",
naturalism, and religious
indifferentism.
None of that it true. Those are claims that have been made over the years, but they aren't true. The Catholic Church adopted the "indifferentism" one after awhile, and seems to have made it the main complaint. But let try to get a handle on this.
What is "indifferentism?" Does that mean you're tolerant of people's different beliefs and practices, etc.? If so, we normally say that that is a good thing. But can someone literally teach the idea that there are no meaningful differences between competing religions? Yes, and I suppose we'd say that this is an incorrect position to take, but Masonry doesn't do that.
It merely says that men of different denominations and some other religions are free to belong. There isn't any judgment at all about
which of those churches, etc. is the right one, if any. Masonry doesn't take a stand on that, just like your local Rotary Club or the American Legion doesn't care what church they belong to when people who are otherwise good citizens are admitted to membership!
So what about a "Deistic God?" Deism holds that there is a God but he's a remote God who created everything but then removed himself from his creation. So, no savior, no churches, no worship of him, none of that except that there
is a God. So it's not Atheism.
Is that Masonry's idea of God? No. Absolutely not. Go to a Masonic funeral which some Christians have in addition to the church funeral. You'll see that Masonry believes in a loving, personal God who will reward those who believe and do right while on Earth. That's not a God who's removed from his creation and doesn't have anything to do with us mortals. In addition, and as has already been mentioned, Masonic lodges have chaplains, grace before meals is prayed, and so on. None of that is consistent with believing in a "Deistic God."
The historic reason for the Catholic Church's opposition to Masonry, popular elections, Socialism, and national unity dates back to the 19th century when the Popes were losing the
secular power they previously had. No longer could the Popes make or break kings, and no longer could the Papacy hold onto all its territorial possessions. The world was changing and the Popes began issuing condemnations (with claims as to why that was supposed to be a
moral imperative, not just raw politics) of everyone who seemed to challenge the old kind of Papacy when it was really influential.
In addition to the above, the Pope was declared to be infallible for the first time in Church history; the Pope condemned the nation of Italy for annexing some of the Papal States; and the Pope decreed (after 300 years) that Holy Orders in the Anglican Church were not valid even though the form of ordination was the same as used by the Catholic Church in England prior to the Reformation.
So that's a lot to cover and more could be said, but thanks for asking.
Therefore the Church's negative judgment in regard to Masonic association remains unchanged since their principles have always been considered irreconcilable with the doctrine of the Church and therefore membership in them remains forbidden. The faithful who enroll in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion.
Well, as I was explaining, it's a political response, not the religious one, that drove this battle between a declining Papacy and new and rising political forces. But more than that, most of it is moot anyway! Catholic theologians don't believe that Anglican Apostolic Succession is invalid and it took decades even to understand what the Pope was claiming when he issued that one. And then there's this: A Catholic in good standing in his parish can very well join a Masonic lodge and continue to be a communicant in good standing in his Catholic Church, despite the talk of excommunication, etc.
In my city, a man was elected to the parish council (or something like that) at St. Mary's Catholic Church and there was a news release in the paper which gave his resume/background, including saying he belonged to the local Masonic lodge, Free and Accepted Masons #154.
Neither the priest nor the congregation at his church cared at all and he was never barred from receiving Communion. I'm told that it's just about the same in other Catholic parishes.
