As Requested: Alex Kennedy's Masonic Origins Research Paper.

"Tawny" is a hue of brown.
As opposed to bloodshot, which was probably the colour of the songwriter's eyes when he wrote that.

Well Alex, I finally got around to reading your paper and I must say that it is very well balanced. You manage to attempt to discredit these stories while maintaining the need to embrace the ideals that they represent, a noble sentiment. It would be easy, as many do, to treat the alternative histories with disdain and pour scorn on the people that pursue them, but I think you managed to stay just the right side of the personal line that many Christian Freemasons normally tread.

Although, as you find it amazing that people are willing to create a theory from a multitude of coincidences of time, geography and ideaology, I, and others like me, are equally amazed to find that Christian Freemasons are willing to ignore such a myriad of seemingly connected coincidences, in favour of the we are all " ...lunatics..." approach.

Throughout the modern age, men of science have become more and more respected and influential, men whose theories were based on coincidences and anomalies, the theories are proven and become the new basis for concepts such as Gravity, Evolution and the such. One of those theories is the Big Bang, most unbiased scholars and even some from the wrong side, agree this is the way the Universe started and yet there is no proof, just a lot of seemingly connected events that take us almost all the way back to the beginning...but not quite. So are the people that make the final leap to... hey I think it was the Big Bang but I can't prove it... lunatics as well.

My point is that at some stage it is reasonable to assume a conclusion and although not be right on the money, you can get pretty close. This I believe is the case for the Templar / Freemason connection. We will probably never know to what extent they are connected, it may just have been a nucleus of knights that started a group to continue their outlawed brotherhood, or as the more outlandish theories state, to protect the Bloodline of Christ, but I believe they were connected.


[edit on 26-6-2004 by Smudge]

There is a huge difference between the theory of gravitation and the theory that Freemasonry is derived from the Templars. The theory of gravity is based on innumerable observations, all of which agree; and also on experiements, in which the proponent of the theory has proposed experiments, with hypotheses about the results, which have been bourne out by the actual experiment itself.

Some may argue that all evidence is circumstantial, but I believe it is disingenuous to say that there is not a real difference of kind between observing that all objects fall with an acceleration of 9.81 m/s * s and saying that the word "tyler" sounds like it might be French, and the Templars were French, therefore the Freemasons are Templars. At that stage, we are getting into Love is Blind, God is Love, therefore Stevie Wonder is God territory.

I'm not sure I follow what being a Christian Freemason has to do with anything. You are correct in your assumption that I am both Christian and a Freemason, but that has no effect whatsoever on my attitude toward Masonic history. Believe me, I would be among the most delighted to learn that Freemasonry has a tangible connection with Jesus. I just don't think the evidence is there.

[edit on 27-6-2004 by AlexKennedy]

The Christian thing is based upon my conversations with other Freemasons, it seems to be that the Christian guy's are less favourable to alternative Christian theories and their Freemasonary connection. Yes Freemasonary connected to Jesus would be acceptable to members I'm sure, its the thought that Jesus may well have been misrepresented by the modern church that causes the problems. If this is true and in fact the church butched up the story removing the importance of women and turning the mortal Jesus into the literal Son of God, then that is the point when most Christians start to feel threatend.