Mysteries of the Masons
THE SECRET SOCIETY RAISES $2 MILLION A DAY FOR CHARITY AND PREACHES BROTHERLY LOVE AND TOLERANCE - BUT WILL IT BE THE NEXT OPUS DEI?
By Colleen O'Connor
Denver Post Staff Writer
Secrets, codes, hidden treasures and lost religions. We just can't seem to get enough, including movies like "National Treasure" and "The Da Vinci Code," which both swirled around secrets of the Knights Templar.
Our lust for the secret knowledge is driving the much-anticipated release of two sequels in 2007: "National Treasure 2" and Dan Brown's "The Solomon Key," about the secret society of Freemasons, which legend connects to the Knights Templar.
Most of us experience these adventures second-hand on the giant screens of pop-culture entertainment, but people like John Lawton, 45, live the mystery.
He's Captain General of the Knights Templar commandery in Denver, one of the chivalric orders of Freemasonry.
"We don't go to Jerusalem and battle Saracens anymore," he says.
Mostly Freemasons organize family picnics or charitable fundraisers like the corn roast they'll hold on the 16th Street Mall on Aug. 11. They also teach moral lessons and study estoeric philosophies based on the Kabbalah.
Lawton devotes about 14 nights a month to this lifestyle. He is a member of three Masonic lodges in Denver and serves as an officer in six of Masonry's many different organizations.
"I come from a Masonic family, so I wanted to find out what the mystery was about," he says. "But I stayed for the fellowship. I meet people who are very knowledgeable, and we have fascinating discussions about history and current events."
As manager for Highlands Masonic Lodge, Lawton also answers e- mails from men interested in joining the Masons, the world's oldest and largest fraternal organization.
He believes movies like "National Treasure" and "The Da Vinci Code," which included Freemasonry in the plot, drive some of the curiosity.
"But I don't think the movies are stimulating the interest as much as they're part of a renewed interest over the past five years," he says.
"There's a desire to find out what the mystery and intrigue are about. But I think younger people are getting burned out on video games, and would rather have human contact and fraternal relations."
America's fascination with secret societies, from the Masons to Opus Dei, is evident in bookstores across
John Lawton, manager of the Highlands Masonic Temple at 3550 Federal Blvd., holds a decorative Masonic apron. Modern Masons wear plain white aprons. Skeleton in background is used for Halloween events. (Post / Glenn Asakawa)
America. Some books even reveal Masonic secrets and rituals.
And then there's Dan Brown's next novel, "The Solomon Key," about the Freemasons and the founding of America.
The book isn't expected to be published until next year, but already a cottage industry of Freemasonry exposé is springing up around it: DVDs like "Dan Bur-
stein's Secrets of Angels, Demons & Masons," and books like "Secrets of the Widow's Son: The Mysteries Surrounding the Sequel to the Da Vinci Code."
Some Masons are getting their talking points ready, in case they turn out to be the next Opus Dei.
"It could be very negative," says Stephen Munsinger, chief executive officer of the Scottish Rite Masons of Colorado, and a District Court judge in the 1st Judicial District who formerly worked in the U.S. Attorney's Office.
"We're concerned that it will say we're against traditional Christianity or established religions, or that (we're) some type of right-wing, left-wing, or off-the-wall religious sect, or that we're pushing some secret agenda for religious purposes."
The problem is that the secrecy inherent to Masonry leads outsiders to suspect the organization of countless conspiracies.
To some degree, it's something the Masons have brought upon themselves, says Steven Bullock, author of "Revolutionary Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the Transformation of the American Social Order."
"In the early days of Masonry someone with a sword stood outside the door of the lodge rooms to keep people out," he says.
"The secrets of Masonry have been blown up to be this amazing thing, and the Masons themselves are responsible for mythologizing it."
Because of the secrecy, over the centuries Masons have been accused of everything from elitisim to Satanism.
Truth and myth twist into distorted reality. History is forgotten.
People who grew up in Denver's Highlands neighborhood, for example, are familiar with the large sand-colored Masonic Temple on Federal Boulevard.
Yet most are too young to remember its origins, when the cornerstone laid in 1927 was heralded by a vast procession parade of 150 Knights Templar and the El Jebel Shrine Band.
The origins of Freemasonry itself are similarly shrouded, or forgotten.
Most academics trace Freemasonry back to the medieval stonemasons who built the great cathedrals of Europe. The secret handshakes and passwords developed back then, because they frequently traveled to strange towns and needed a way to prove they were part of the mason's guild.
The formal organization of Freemasons started in 1717, however, with the Grand Lodge of England, when the work of masonry became not physical but philosophical.
Instead of building churches, they became the builders of men. Their trademark remained the square and compass of the ancient architectural craftsmen, and they created a symbolic set of instructions based on this lineage to instruct men in the moral and spiritual life.
The three Masonic degrees - entered apprentice, fellow craft and master mason - are given after rituals that include extensive memorization of texts, along with secret handshakes and passwords.
"The study of their history, philosophy, symbolism, and ritual can consume a lifetime of research and practice," writes Christopher Hodapp, past master of Knights Templar, in "Freemasons for Dummies."
In the 18th century, with its emphasis on Enlightenment values - equality, fraternity and liberty - Freemasonry became associated with social, even revolutionary, change.
Such American patriots as Benjamin Franklin and George Washington were Freemasons. Nine signed the Declaration of Independence, and 13 signed the Constitution.
This intersection of Masonry and American history triggered conspiracy theories that Freemasons seek control of the government.
But Masons say their only goal is to build good men who work behind the scenes to improve their neighborhoods.
"We're a brotherhood of men under the fatherhood of God," says Thomas Cox, grand master of the Grand Lodge of Colorado. "The Freemasons of North America give over $2 million a day, 365 days a year, to philanthropic projects."
He comes from a long line of Masons - including his father, grandfathers and uncles.
But his son, 40, is like many Gen-Xers and baby boomers: He has not joined this age-old fraternity.
Membership has declined in recent
THE SECRET SOCIETY RAISES $2 MILLION A DAY FOR CHARITY AND PREACHES BROTHERLY LOVE AND TOLERANCE - BUT WILL IT BE THE NEXT OPUS DEI?
By Colleen O'Connor
Denver Post Staff Writer
Secrets, codes, hidden treasures and lost religions. We just can't seem to get enough, including movies like "National Treasure" and "The Da Vinci Code," which both swirled around secrets of the Knights Templar.
Our lust for the secret knowledge is driving the much-anticipated release of two sequels in 2007: "National Treasure 2" and Dan Brown's "The Solomon Key," about the secret society of Freemasons, which legend connects to the Knights Templar.
Most of us experience these adventures second-hand on the giant screens of pop-culture entertainment, but people like John Lawton, 45, live the mystery.
He's Captain General of the Knights Templar commandery in Denver, one of the chivalric orders of Freemasonry.
"We don't go to Jerusalem and battle Saracens anymore," he says.
Mostly Freemasons organize family picnics or charitable fundraisers like the corn roast they'll hold on the 16th Street Mall on Aug. 11. They also teach moral lessons and study estoeric philosophies based on the Kabbalah.
Lawton devotes about 14 nights a month to this lifestyle. He is a member of three Masonic lodges in Denver and serves as an officer in six of Masonry's many different organizations.
"I come from a Masonic family, so I wanted to find out what the mystery was about," he says. "But I stayed for the fellowship. I meet people who are very knowledgeable, and we have fascinating discussions about history and current events."
As manager for Highlands Masonic Lodge, Lawton also answers e- mails from men interested in joining the Masons, the world's oldest and largest fraternal organization.
He believes movies like "National Treasure" and "The Da Vinci Code," which included Freemasonry in the plot, drive some of the curiosity.
"But I don't think the movies are stimulating the interest as much as they're part of a renewed interest over the past five years," he says.
"There's a desire to find out what the mystery and intrigue are about. But I think younger people are getting burned out on video games, and would rather have human contact and fraternal relations."
America's fascination with secret societies, from the Masons to Opus Dei, is evident in bookstores across
John Lawton, manager of the Highlands Masonic Temple at 3550 Federal Blvd., holds a decorative Masonic apron. Modern Masons wear plain white aprons. Skeleton in background is used for Halloween events. (Post / Glenn Asakawa)
America. Some books even reveal Masonic secrets and rituals.
And then there's Dan Brown's next novel, "The Solomon Key," about the Freemasons and the founding of America.
The book isn't expected to be published until next year, but already a cottage industry of Freemasonry exposé is springing up around it: DVDs like "Dan Bur-
stein's Secrets of Angels, Demons & Masons," and books like "Secrets of the Widow's Son: The Mysteries Surrounding the Sequel to the Da Vinci Code."
Some Masons are getting their talking points ready, in case they turn out to be the next Opus Dei.
"It could be very negative," says Stephen Munsinger, chief executive officer of the Scottish Rite Masons of Colorado, and a District Court judge in the 1st Judicial District who formerly worked in the U.S. Attorney's Office.
"We're concerned that it will say we're against traditional Christianity or established religions, or that (we're) some type of right-wing, left-wing, or off-the-wall religious sect, or that we're pushing some secret agenda for religious purposes."
The problem is that the secrecy inherent to Masonry leads outsiders to suspect the organization of countless conspiracies.
To some degree, it's something the Masons have brought upon themselves, says Steven Bullock, author of "Revolutionary Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the Transformation of the American Social Order."
"In the early days of Masonry someone with a sword stood outside the door of the lodge rooms to keep people out," he says.
"The secrets of Masonry have been blown up to be this amazing thing, and the Masons themselves are responsible for mythologizing it."
Because of the secrecy, over the centuries Masons have been accused of everything from elitisim to Satanism.
Truth and myth twist into distorted reality. History is forgotten.
People who grew up in Denver's Highlands neighborhood, for example, are familiar with the large sand-colored Masonic Temple on Federal Boulevard.
Yet most are too young to remember its origins, when the cornerstone laid in 1927 was heralded by a vast procession parade of 150 Knights Templar and the El Jebel Shrine Band.
The origins of Freemasonry itself are similarly shrouded, or forgotten.
Most academics trace Freemasonry back to the medieval stonemasons who built the great cathedrals of Europe. The secret handshakes and passwords developed back then, because they frequently traveled to strange towns and needed a way to prove they were part of the mason's guild.
The formal organization of Freemasons started in 1717, however, with the Grand Lodge of England, when the work of masonry became not physical but philosophical.
Instead of building churches, they became the builders of men. Their trademark remained the square and compass of the ancient architectural craftsmen, and they created a symbolic set of instructions based on this lineage to instruct men in the moral and spiritual life.
The three Masonic degrees - entered apprentice, fellow craft and master mason - are given after rituals that include extensive memorization of texts, along with secret handshakes and passwords.
"The study of their history, philosophy, symbolism, and ritual can consume a lifetime of research and practice," writes Christopher Hodapp, past master of Knights Templar, in "Freemasons for Dummies."
In the 18th century, with its emphasis on Enlightenment values - equality, fraternity and liberty - Freemasonry became associated with social, even revolutionary, change.
Such American patriots as Benjamin Franklin and George Washington were Freemasons. Nine signed the Declaration of Independence, and 13 signed the Constitution.
This intersection of Masonry and American history triggered conspiracy theories that Freemasons seek control of the government.
But Masons say their only goal is to build good men who work behind the scenes to improve their neighborhoods.
"We're a brotherhood of men under the fatherhood of God," says Thomas Cox, grand master of the Grand Lodge of Colorado. "The Freemasons of North America give over $2 million a day, 365 days a year, to philanthropic projects."
He comes from a long line of Masons - including his father, grandfathers and uncles.
But his son, 40, is like many Gen-Xers and baby boomers: He has not joined this age-old fraternity.
Membership has declined in recent
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