Archbishop allows Freemason to be bishop
I couldn't help noticing the irony in this paragraph, though:
Freemasonry ... requires its members to declare a belief in a “supreme being” and to undergo elaborate rituals.
So not that different from the Church of England, I suppose.
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The Church of England still expects its members to declare a belief in a "supreme being"??
ReplyDeleteJohn, he's now resigned from the Freemasons: see http://www.ebbsfleet.org.uk/
ReplyDeleteDr.Williams sees no problem with practicing homosexuals in the ministry of the Church, but seems to have a problem with Freemasonry. It is a matter of record that he retracted the derogatory remarks he made concerning it a few years ago, but he has apparently reconsidered. It is fortunate that he did not ask this man to leave his wife in order to become a bishop. Is this what we have come to? The churches would be a damn sight emptier if the Lodges told their petitioners that they would have to resign in order to be admitted; but they do not. It was dishonorable for the Archbishop to make such a demand of this man and it was disloyal of him to accede. I would not put much stock in the promises that he will presumably make at his consecration.
ReplyDeleteHere is the article to which I referred in my earlier comment:
ReplyDeleteRowan Williams apologises to Freemasons
By Chris Hastings and Elizabeth Day 12:01AM BST 20 Apr 2003
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has been forced to apologise to Britain's 330,000 Freemasons after he said that their beliefs were incompatible with Christianity and that he had rejected them from senior posts in his diocese.
Dr Williams has written to Robert Morrow, the Grand Secretary of the United Grand Lodge of England, in an attempt to defuse the row prompted by comments he made last year. In his letter, the Archbishop apologises for the "distress" he caused and discloses that his own father was a member of the Craft.
Freemasons, many of whom are active members of the Church of England, reacted angrily to his disclosure that he "had real misgivings about the compatibility of Masonry and Christian profession" and by his admission that, as Bishop of Monmouth, he had blocked the appointment of Freemasons to senior appointments.
His comments about Freemasons were in a private letter leaked to the media shortly after Downing Street confirmed his appointment as head of the Church of England.
Subsequent attempts by his advisers to defuse the row only caused further offence. A spokesman said the Archbishop was worried about the ritual element of Freemasonry, which has been seen as "satanically inspired".
Senior police officers aren't allowed to be freemasons, so why are senior churchmen? If Rowan Williams can apologise for his views of freemasonry, presumably the Home Secretary will follow?
ReplyDeleteJohn,
ReplyDeleteWith regards to 'things that make you go humm...'
May I reply by singing... "The wheels on the bus are falling off, falling off falling off..."
Regards
Richard Wood
somewhere over the rainbow in East London
John,
ReplyDeleteDid you notice that this thread has elicited comments from three Richards, myself included? I just thought that was unusual.
Richard Brown,
I wasn't aware that we were prohibited in the UK from holding Senior police offices. Here in the US we have no such prohibitions. There have been several Supreme Court Justices, FBI Directors and other Senior Police Officials who have been members of the Fraternity. But there is no such prohibition from being a Lawmaker in the UK, such as MPs and members of the House of Lords, or is there?
John
ReplyDeleteThought you might like this link:
http://www.glosmasons.org.uk/FindOutMore/ProvincialLodgeTheCathedral/tabid/2294/Default.aspx
Living as I do in Gloucester Diocese, I think I might pop along to the Freemasons Service in the cathedral if it is on next month
David Waters, Cheltenham
RMBruton aka Richard the Third:
ReplyDeletethe US Constitution, guaranteeing freedom of speech, association and thought, is a mighty fine thing. If only John Locke's ideas still prevailed in the land of his birth.
But freedom has gone down the tube in Europe, in the name of the administrative super-state, the kind of thing that has given the world Dominique Kahn-Strauss.
Mark B., W. Kent