I'm a bit concerned that the Internet today isn't reflecting the Masonic reality. Why? There is a disproportionate amount of what Timothy Bonney at Freemasonry Resources calls Fake Masonry, in fact, it feels to me that the Masonic blogosphere is about 30% of this flavor and 70% Recognized Masonry, when in reality the number of recognized Freemasons in the english speaking countries probably dwarfs the others at around 99%. If you were only going by Grand Lodges in the US alone, there are approximately 70 recognized Grand Lodges (counting Prince Hall) that are highly active and no more than 4 (and I'm being generous) unrecognized Grand Lodges that are also very active. That's still 95% recognized. The Internet gives voice to whoever writes on it. Google does not discriminate. KingSolomonsLodge.org has chosen to discriminate ONLY on informational content and not on recognition in order to avoid politics and verifying recognition and authorship at the listed blogs. Yahoo!, MSN, blogspot, Wordpress, etc... They do not discriminate. And this means that whoever yells the loudest looks the biggest.
Well, I'm calling for Recognized Masons to Yell Louder! There are probably many Masons out there who would actually be very great at running their own blog and sharing their thoughts and insights into Masonic education. I am not trying to declare a war on unrecognized Masonry, I am simply asking that those of you who are able to, please blog about YOUR Masonry, so that the statistics will begin to come back into the balance and accurately reflect the real world.
I will gladly assist any Masons who wish to begin an adventure in blogging to get started, just contact me by email or comment and I will do whatever I can to assist.
Lets spread the light of Ancient Craft Masonry - please do not take this as a message to bash on clandestine or unrecognized groups - that is FAR from my point, but rather demonstrate that genuine recognized Masonry is alive and well. At 95% we would take our rightful place as the defacto Internet voices of the craftsmen, and the other 5% would still be able to speak but their audience would be more deliberate instead of people generally seeking Masonic information.
We need more Masonic bloggers!
Note: I hold a certain amount of respect for those who are participating in some of those groups that are currently unrecognized. It must take some guts to take such a leap of faith, and I trust that the majority of them are decent men. However, on both sides of the fence some of the individuals and groups are lacking in judgment and are bringing discredit to the good name of the Fraternity. I value personal integrity very highly, and as such, I recommend that all Masons live up to every aspect of their Masonic obligations to the fullest extent possible. If everyone would do this, we would not even have this issue to begin with!
Steps to the Endowment.
7 years ago
