how about these quotes from Pike?
[font=trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica]I posted the Morals and dogma quotes against the quotes you have listed ( by a previous poster) to create a balance. I have no wish to instruct anyone . But Pike was a prolific writer and often contradicted himself. We therefore see that he as you have indicated did not keep to one line of thought.[/font]
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In his Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, Albert G. Mackey writes:
Who can deny that it is eminently a religious institution?...But the religion of Masonry is not sectarian...It is not Judaism, though there is nothing in it to offend a Jew; it is not Christianity, but there is nothing in it repugnant to the faith of a Christian. Its religion is that general one of nature and primitive revelationhanded down to us from some ancient and patriarchal priesthoodin which all men may agree and in which no men can differ. It inculcates the practice of virtue, but supplies no scheme of redemption for sin...Masonry, then, is indeed a religious institution; and on this ground mainly, if not alone, should the religious Mason defend it" (pp. 617-619
So we see we can agree or we not differ,
I will accept "Its religion is that general one of nature and primitive revelation "
"but there is nothing in it repugnant to the faith of a Christian".
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Hannah posed the basic dilemma of the Masonic oaths when he wrote: [/font]
[font=trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica]"Either the oaths mean what they say or they do not. If they do mean what they say, then the candidate is entering into a pact consenting to his own murder by barbarous torture and mutilation should he break it. If they do not mean what they say, then he is swearing high-sounding schoolboy nonsense on the Bible, which verges on blasphemy" (Darkness Visible, p. 21).
Well I can accept the high sounding schoolboy , but not the nonsense. There are anumber of these guys that are quoted again and again. We evolve the Church, Christianity has evolved. People evolve, you can't pin today down by referring back into papers written 100 years ago.
The Catholic Church is nothing like it was between 1650 and 1900. Why should anyone expect Masonry to use the same tired Ideology.
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Morals and Dogma Published 1871
Hannah published 1952
At least 52 years old. It has merit they both do. Pike published thousands of pages praising Masonry and a few pages with questionable comments. nothing wrong with either but they are not LAW. They are a persons opinion.
All of these quotes are from a masterful document written within the Catholic Church regarding Freemasonry and can be read here:
http://www.john654.org/bishltr.html