Originally Posted by SisCyn
So where does Masonry fit into this fine kettle of soup?
You will like this.
The following chart is based on Baylor University sociologist Rodney Stark's study of American Christianity titled What Americans Really Believe. Stark’s new book is anchored in research he’s done on religion in the U.S. for more than 40 years, and relies on recent surveys conducted in 2005, 2006 and 2007 by the Gallup Organization for Baylor University.
Most Christians today are unaware that church attendance in America really did not pick up until after the Civil War and that Christianity was in a decline prior to that. From the early 19th century to the mid 19th century there was a growing interest in Free Thought in America.
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) is too little known today. Yet he was the foremost orator and political speechmaker of late 19th century America -- perhaps the best-known American of the post-Civil War era. On tour after tour, he crisscrossed the country and spoke before packed houses on topics ranging from Shakespeare to Reconstruction, from science to religion. Known as the Great Agnostic, Ingersoll was the best-known and most widely respected ambassador the American freethought movement would ever have.
In an age when oratory was the dominant form of public entertainment, Ingersoll was the unchallenged dean of American orators. He was seen and heard by more Americans than would see or hear any other human being until the advent of radio and motion pictures.
Ingersoll bitterly opposed the Religious Right of his day -- yet though he was an outspoken agnostic, he was also the foremost political speechmaker of the Republican Party. During Ingersoll's public life no GOP candidate for whom he declined to campaign attained the White House.
http://www.freethought-trail.org/pro...=Person&Page=5
A few things. Some of the founders were indeed Freemasons, but on this list, the only that have been accused of it are Franklin and Washington. Franklin, as I have already pointed out, self identified as a deist. Also, being a member of the freemasons does not, and still doesn't today, cause one to give up his Christian faith. It is more like a very exclusive group with some quirky rules, but it makes sense a few members of the colonial elite would join it. Further, there was very little participation in freemasonry by the masses in early America as it was contained mostly within elite circles. Here are a few things from the website:
http://www.aboutfreemasons.com/Freemasons
What is the role of Christianity in Freemasonry?
Every Lodge has a sacred book open during meetings and this book is generally the Bible. Members swear their oaths on this book and must even declare their belief in a “Supreme Being” to become Masons. All of this leads some people to conclude that Christianity and Freemasonry are interconnected. In reality, though, the sacred book at every Lodge can be any sacred text chosen by the Lodge and members can choose to believe in any Supreme Being they wish – whether that being is the Christian God, a Muslim deity or Hindu god. In fact, Masons are very clear in indicating that they accept men of all religious faiths and backgrounds. Some Masonic orders – specifically the Knights Templar – are explicitly connected to Christianity.
Can a Christian be a Freemason?
Freemasons and Christianity have a long and sometimes complicated history. Early Freemasons were Christian men and in fact Christianity was incorporated into Freemasonry in some ways. Freemasons need to proclaim a faith in a Supreme Being and most Lodges use the Bible as a scared text. Early Practicing Masons helped to build cathedrals and churches and some of the churches around the world in fact have Masonic symbols upon them.
Is Freemasonry a religion?
Freemasonry is a fraternity or a social society. It is not a religious organization or political organization and in fact has no political or religious affiliations. Muslims, Jewish persons, and Christians can all become Masons and Freemasonry will not interfere with their religious beliefs at all.
As for that chart Crocket posted, all it says is that people are more frequently registering with one local church and choosing that as their sole home. It has nothing to do with how frequently people attend religious services, nor how religious the people were. For example, polls have shown many more people went to church (percentage wise) weekly in the 1950s and also more people believed in God than today, yet, if I were to believe your post, Americans would be more religious today.
Since your so fond of copying and pasting, I'll do a little myself:
II. Religion in Eighteenth-Century America
Against a prevailing view that eighteenth-century Americans had not perpetuated the first settlers' passionate commitment to their faith, scholars now identify a high level of religious energy in colonies after 1700. According to one expert, religion was in the "ascension rather than the declension"; another sees a "rising vitality in religious life" from 1700 onward; a third finds religion in many parts of the colonies in a state of "feverish growth." Figures on church attendance and church formation support these opinions. Between 1700 and 1740, an estimated 75 to 80 percent of the population attended churches, which were being built at a headlong pace.
Toward mid-century the country experienced its first major religious revival. The Great Awakening swept the English-speaking world, as religious energy vibrated between England, Wales, Scotland and the American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s. In America, the Awakening signaled the advent of an encompassing evangelicalism--the belief that the essence of religious experience was the "new birth," inspired by the preaching of the Word. It invigorated even as it divided churches. The supporters of the Awakening and its evangelical thrust--Presbyterians, Baptists and Methodists--became the largest American Protestant denominations by the first decades of the nineteenth century. Opponents of the Awakening or those split by it--Anglicans, Quakers, and Congregationalists--were left behind.
As for Ingersoll, he was not mentioned once in my United States History textbook last year so I highly doubt that "He was seen and heard by more Americans than would see or hear any other human being until the advent of radio and motion pictures."
