From: "Peter Trei" <trei@process.com>
Date: Mon, 11 Aug 1997 21:23:57 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Masons and Fnords
Message-ID: <199708111308.GAA18202@toad.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



Mike Duvos <enoch@zipcon.net> writes:


At 2:00 AM -0700 8/9/97, David D.W. Downey wrote:

>To show how much this country *was* in fact based upon Christianity,
>one has only to look at our money. "In *God* we trust.

That slogan was added only fairly recently - I think in the 30's. The
reverse of the Great Seal (the pyramid) has been on the dollar bill only
since the Roosevelt administration, and was almost unknown to the 
average citizen before that.

> Tim May writes:
> 
> > Actually, _all_ of the Founders were Masons. Tim Bob says check it out.
> 
> Correct.  Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, and others were Deists, and
> Masons, and would have laughed hysterically at the absurd notion of the
> divinity of Jesus Christ.

Nope. While many of the Founders were Masons, by no means all were. 
In particular, there is no evidence that Jefferson was ever a 
member.

Robert Hettinga <rah@shipwright.com> writes:

>Well, Unitarians like to claim Jefferson, because of a nice letter he
>wrote to Joseph Priestly. Of course, we like to claim *all* the cool
>people...

The Masons are guilty there too... try reading the entry on 
Freemasonry on Bierce's "The Devil's Dictionary".

John Young wrote:

>Tim May wrote:
>>--Tim May, 34th Degree Mason, former resident of Alexandria, home of
>>the Masonic Temple.

Tim is engaging in his traditional hyperbola here - I can assure you 
that he is NOT 34th degree, and I strongly doubt that he is a Mason 
of any shape or form.

But:

>Now this is modest understatement with regard to this MT, the Godzilla
>of Masonic Temples, worth a side trip from the Capital of the Freeh
>World. You won't believe your eyes at this pyramid scheme putting the
>originals at Giza to shame.

>That over-reaching Alexandria Masonic Temple is matched only by the
>Mormon in Utah and the Buddhist in W.VA and St. Peters and Angor Wat
>and ... Billy Gates' Xanadu.

Aside from a nit (it's not a temple, but rather a memorial: "The 
George Washington Masonic National Memorial" to be exact), this is 
largely correct. It's a really grand, funky piece of architecture, 
and open to the public, with free guided tours. Over 300 feet tall, 
and on the highest point in Alexandria, it has a *very* impressive 
view from the top, taking in all of DC and miles around.

There's a website at http://www.georgewashington.org. It overhypes 
the site's importance to Masonry, but gives you some views of the 
exterior and interior.

If you're in the area with a couple hours to kill, it's definitely
worth a visit (it's only a few minutes from National Airport). 
Don't miss the bookshop/souveneir stand.

Those in the Silicon Valley area might also want to visit the 
Rosicrucian Museum in San Jose, a similarly funky building,
belonging to an unrelated group.

Peter Trei
trei@process.com