Robert G. Davis, 33°
PO Box 70, Guthrie, Oklahoma 73044

When Masonry gets back to standing up for what we have always stood for, we will again make the difference that counts.

Photo: "The Lodge Room Over Simpkins' Store," 1991 oil painting by Robert A. Soulé for the Supreme Council, 33°
My personal experience as a web surfer has given me a sense that European Freemasonry is doing many of the right things, as are some Brethren in our own country. Many European Lodges are filled to capacity with members at almost every meeting. Their agendas are focused on interesting and enlightening presentations. The Lodge is personally involved with the life of its members. They more tightly guard their outer door by use of the ballot box. They keep their overall Lodge membership small enough to insure a meaningful fraternal experience. They maintain an important balance between ritual, education, and social activities. And they never lose sight of the real mission of Freemasonry—the enlightenment of the individual. Perhaps in their own lifetimes, they have lived too close to political and religious intolerance. They know and can still feel the value of freedom.

Conversely, I am shaken when I stop to consider how much we take Freemasonry for granted in our own country. Consider for a moment what we would do if we were suddenly deprived of our Masonic rights and privileges, if our Lodges and Temples were closed or burned, if our fraternal bonds were severed, if Masonry lived only in memory.

Picture what tremendous value we would then place upon that which was lost. We are living in a country founded upon the highest ideals of liberty, justice, and freedom of thought and speech. Every informed Mason knows that these ideals exist largely because of our own fraternal legacy to America. But isn't it true that we usually lose our greatest privileges before we realize how rich they are?

This being true, are we not seriously discounting our own usefulness today by taking our Masonry too much for granted? Have we not rested a bit long from the real labor of taking our influence to the world? Is there not something lost when our great Fraternity is not exercising its ability to effect positive change in our own society? Have we lost our sense of purpose and relevancy as an organization?

It is not because we no longer have the manpower or financial resources to make a difference. The size of its membership or the amount of its charitable work ultimately will not judge the worth of any Lodge or Temple. Rather, every Masonic organization will be judged on the impact it has on the thinking of its members in every aspect of their economic and personal life. Something vital has gone out of Masonry when it no longer speaks to each member with the authority of its ideals. When this happens, the morale is gone, the heart is gone.

Our problem is not so much that we have lost leadership or resources. These things can be recovered quickly. The sad fact is that too many of our members today have lost sight of our essential effectiveness. We say we believe in Masonry, but what we really believe is that Masonry exists. We may profess our love for the Fraternity, but then refuse to dedicate a significant part of our lives to the promotion of its programs. We may say our lessons in morals and ethics are worthy, but never insist that these same principles actually work in business, in legislation, in the media, and in the home. We may say that we have entered into a sacred covenant with our Lodge Brother, and then prosecute him all the more when he errs.

The Mason who sincerely lives the ideals of brotherhood in his heart knows that the moral and ethical demands of Masonry are great. It means we must not betray a sacred covenant made to the Fraternity or to a Brother. It means that brotherly love and toleration of our fellows in all things cannot be breached. And it means that we will bring this same covenant to the outer world and let its influence penetrate society.

Every Mason should go through his life making sure it deserves the endorsement of the Craft. Today, more than ever, the maxims of truth, love, honor, integrity, and right living should be regarded by our society in preference to hate, revenge, intolerance, bigotry, and brutality. When people know nothing of our mission and then, worse yet, sit in judgement on us, the defense of our great Fraternity is not the only thing at stake; the future of our country is also in the balance.


As our European Brothers have shown us, it rests not so much on the strength of our military to insure the progress of our civilization, but on the will of those who exercise the great spiritual might of a people behind them. The greatest need of our crooked world today is to do some straight thinking. It's a need that Freemasonry can meet. We have retired from our task of active influence for far too long. It is time to rise again and let America know we are of the right stuff to correct its course of moral and ethical decay. To allow yet another opportunity for action and involvement to pass by, would be to betray our country, our Fraternity, and ourselves. When we get back to standing up for what we have always stood for, we will again make the difference that counts, and our world will be better for it. That's a legacy worth announcing and then passing on to the next generation!

  Robert G. Davis
is the Secretary of the Scottish Rite Bodies in Guthrie, Oklahoma. He is Past Master of two Oklahoma Lodges, serves as editor of the Oklahoma Scottish Rite Mason, is actively involved with Masonic education and renewal programs both in Oklahoma and nationally, and is a Past President of the International Philalethes Society.