The answer to that question is simple. No.
We do use ritual in the meetings, and because
there is always an altar or table with the Volume of Sacred Law open if a lodge
is meeting, some people have confused Masonry with a religion, but it is not.
That does not mean that religion plays no part in Masonry -- it plays a very
important part. A person who wants to become a Mason must have a belief in
God. No atheist can ever become a Mason.
Meetings open with prayer, and a Mason is taught,
as one of the first lessons of Masonry, that one should pray for divine counsel
and guidance before starting an important undertaking. But that does not
make Masonry a "religion."
Sometimes people confuse Masonry with a religion
because we call some Masonic buildings "temples." But we use the
word in the same sense that Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes called the Supreme
Court a "Temple of Justice" and because a Masonic Lodge is a symbol of
the Temple of Solomon. Neither Masonry nor the Supreme Court is a religion
just because its members meet in a "temple."
In some ways, the relationship between masonry
and religion is like the relationship between the Parent-Teacher Association
(the P.T.A) and education. Members of the P.T.A. believe in the importance
of education. They support it. They assert that no man or woman can
be a complete and whole individual or live up to his or her full potential
without education. They encourage students to stay in school and parents
to be involved with the education of their children. They may give
scholarships. They encourage their members to get involved with and
support their individual schools.
But there are some things P.T.A.s do not do.
They don't teach. They don't tell people which school to attend.
They don't try to tell people what they should study or what their major should
be.
In much the same way masons believe in the
importance of religion. Masonry encourages every Mason to be active in the
religion and church of his own choice. Masonry teaches that, without
religion, a man is alone and lost, and that without religion, he can never reach
his full potential.
But Freemasonry does not tell a person which
religion he should practice or how he should practice it. That is between
the individual and God. That is the function of his house of worship, not
his fraternity. And Masonry is a fraternity, not a religion.
