Mormonism and Freemasonry

Table of Contents

Mormonism and Freemasonry

Summary: This summary page contains bibliographic references for various electronic and print items that discuss -- or are related to -- the 'Mormonism and Freemasonry' issue. The materials that are listed here represent a variety of opinions that are held by Latter-day Saints on this topic. They also represent differing levels of review and publication processes and divergent degrees of documentation.

Jump to Subtopic:

• Relationship between Freemasonry and temple ceremonies
• Freemasonry and the Book of Mormon
• Involvement of Latter-day Saint Church leaders in Freemasonry
• Symbolism in Mormon temples
• Claims made by critical books, videos and websites related to Mormonism and Freemasonry

"It has always been commonly reported, and to a great extent believed, that the mysteries of the Endowment House were only a sort of initiation…of the rites of Masonry; but I need hardly say that this statement when examined by the light of facts, is altogether ungrounded and absurd.”

— Fanny Stenhouse, Nineteenth Century Anti-Mormon Author

Relationship between Freemasonry and temple ceremonies

Jump to Subtopic:

• Relationship between the Endowment and Freemasonry
• The use of ritual in gospel ordinances
• The ordinance versus the ritual used to present the ordinance

Relationship between the Endowment and Freemasonry

Summary: Important note: Members of FairMormon take their temple covenants seriously. We consider the temple teachings to be sacred, and will not discuss their specifics in a public forum. Some critics of Mormonism see similarities between the rites of Freemasonry and LDS temple ceremonies and assume that since Joseph Smith was initiated as a Freemason shortly before he introduced the Nauvoo-style endowment he must have plagiarized elements of the Masonic rituals. This viewpoint leads them, in turn, to conclude that the LDS endowment is nothing but a variant form of Masonic initiation and therefore not from a divine source.

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: What criticisms are associated with the temple ritual and its relationship to Freemasonry?
• Question: When did Joseph Smith demonstrate knowledge of the elements of the endowment ritual?
• Question: Why would Joseph Smith incorporate Masonic elements into the temple ritual?
• Question: Why is confidentiality associated with the temple ordinances?
• Question: How do the goals of Freemasonry compare to those of the Latter-day Saint endowment?
• Question: Where did 19th-Century Latter-day Saints believe that Freemasonry came from?
• Question: Why is the Masonic symbol of the "All Seeing Eye" present on the Salt Lake Temple?
• Question: Did Joseph Smith copy Masonic material in order to create the Mormon temple rites?
• Question: Did Joseph Smith make up the temple ordinance or borrow them from an earthly source?

The use of ritual in gospel ordinances

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: Why would Joseph Smith use a non-religious vehicle for presenting a temple ordinance?
• Question: What is the value of a ritual presentation?
• Question: Why do we continue to use such a participatory style of teaching in the 21st century?
• Question: Will God really deny us eternal salvation simply because we do not practice a set of, as some critics put it, "archaic medieval Masonic rituals" in Mormon temples?

The ordinance versus the ritual used to present the ordinance

Summary: Important note: Members of FairMormon take their temple covenants seriously. We consider the temple teachings to be sacred, and will not discuss their specifics in a public forum. Critics of Mormonism often confuse an ordinance with the manner in which the ordinance is administered. They therefore claim that changes to the presentation of the ordinance are not allowed.

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: Why would the Church remove or alter elements of the temple ceremony if these ceremonies were revealed by God?
• Question: Why were "penalties" removed from the Endowment?
• Question: Why isn't the temple ceremony based upon an earlier version of Freemasonry rather than what existed in Joseph Smith's time?

Freemasonry and the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• The Gadianton robbers and Freemasons

The Gadianton robbers and Freemasons

Summary: Some claim that the Gadianton robbers are thinly disguised references to the anti-Masonic panic of Joseph Smith's era. Joseph's contemporaries did not embrace the "obvious" link between the Book of Mormon and masonry. Proponents or opponents of Masonry simply tended to blame their opponents for Mormonism. Given Joseph Smith's long family involvement with the institution of Freemasonry and the fact that he would, in 1842, become a Mason himself, it seems unlikely that anti-Masonry was the "environmental source" of the Gadianton robbers found in the Book of Mormon. The members of his day likewise had little enthusiasm for anti-Masonic sentiments.

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: Are the Gadianton robbers in the Book of Mormon actually references to the anti-Masonic panic of Joseph Smith's era?
• Question: Does the Book of Mormon contain anti-Masonic language?
• Question: Were anti-Mason's opposed to the Book of Mormon?

Involvement of Latter-day Saint Church leaders in Freemasonry

Jump to Subtopic:

• Joseph Smith's involvement in Freemasonry
• Brigham Young's involvement in Freemasonry

Joseph Smith's involvement in Freemasonry

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: Were Joseph Smith's final words, "O Lord, my God!" a cry for help or mercy from Freemasons in the mob at the Carthage jail?
• Improvement Era, "Peculiar Questions Briefly Answered"
• Reed C. Durham letter issued after his 1974 talk “Is There No Help for the Widow’s Son?”

Brigham Young's involvement in Freemasonry

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: Was Brigham Young a Mason?
• Question: Was Brigham Young a "33rd degree" Mason?

Symbolism in Mormon temples

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: Does the Nauvoo Temple display symbols that are either occult or Masonic?
• Question: Isn't the inverted five-pointed star on some Mormon temples really a symbol of evil?
• Question: Why is the Masonic symbol of the "All Seeing Eye" present on the Salt Lake Temple?

Claims made by critical books, videos and websites related to Mormonism and Freemasonry

Review of "Search for the Truth" DVD section on Joseph Smith's character

Summary: FairMormon responds to claims made in the "Search for the Truth" DVD regarding Joseph Smith's character: "Joseph Smith's Character: The Occult"

Claim by the critical website MormonThink.com that the endowment came from freemasonry

Summary: FairMormon responds to a claim made by the critical website MormonThink that "The temple endowment ceremony would not have come from the Masonry rituals that began in the middle age."

Response to claims made in One Nation Under Gods, "Chapter 2: Moroni, Magic, and Masonry"

Jump to Subtopic:

• Response to claim: 23 (HB) - The author states that "LDS documents" are "strangely silent" about Joseph Smith's activities between 1820 and 1823
• Response to claim: 25 - The author states that Moroni claimed that the golden plates were "buried in the hill Cumorah, just outside the village of Manchester"
• Response to claim: 25 - The author states that the angel that appeared to Joseph was originally named "Nephi" instead of "Moroni"
• Response to claim: 25, 492n17 (HB) 490n17 (PB) - "Obviously, if the angel in Smith's room spoke about Moroni, then he certainly could not have been Moroni"
• Response to claim: 26, 492n19-20 (HB) - Oliver Cowdery said that the First Vision took place in 1823 when Joseph was in his 17th year
• Response to claim: 26, 492n21 (HB) - Joseph's brother William associated Moroni's visit with a revival
• Response to claim: 27, 493n23 (HB) - George A. Smith merged the First Vision and Moroni's visit
• Response to claim: 27, 493n24 (HB) - Lucy Mack Smith, Joseph's mother, said that the First Vision was of the angel in 1823
• Response to claim: 27 (HB) - The author claims that Joseph engaged in "ritual magic and divination"
• Response to claim: 28 (HB) - Joseph Smith was a "money digger"
• Response to claim: 28 (HB) - Joseph used a "peep stone" to search for buried treasure
• Response to claim: 29, 494n30 (HB) - Joseph's father was a "firm believer" in witchcraft and the supernatural
• Response to claim: 29, 494-5n33-34 (HB) - Martin Harris said that Joseph was associated with a company of money diggers
• Response to claim: 29, 495n36 (HB) - Joshua Stafford said that Joseph's family "told marvelous stories about ghosts, hob-goblins, caverns, and various other mysterious matters"
• Response to claim: 30, 495n38 (HB) - William Stafford stated that Joseph used a seer stone to see "the spirits in whose charge these treasures were, clothed in ancient dress"
• Response to claim: 30, 495n40 (HB) - Joseph Capron stated that Joseph encouraged others to participate in money digging in order to obtain wealth
• Response to claim: 31, 495n42 (HB) - William Stafford stated that Joseph believed that the state of the moon determined the best time to obtain treasures
• Response to claim: 33, 495n48 (HB) - Joshua Stafford said that Joseph showed him a piece of wood from a box of money that had "mysteriously moved back into the hill"
• Response to claim: 36 (HB) - The author states that Joseph Smith adapted Masonic rituals for the temple endowment
• Response to claim: 40 (HB) - Does the Book of Mormon denounce Freemasonry by condemning "secret combinations," "secret signs," and "secret oaths"?