This Statement, approved by Grand Lodge on 4th August 1949, is required
to be read aloud at the Annual Installation Meeting of every Lodge holding
of the Grand Lodge of Scotland.
In August 1938 the Grand Lodges of England, Ireland and Scotland each
agreed upon and issued a statement identical in terms except that the
name of the issuing Grand Lodge appeared throughout. This statement,
which was entitled "Aims and Relationships of the Craft",
was in the following terms:-
From time to time the Grand Lodge of Scotland has deemed it desirable
to set forth in precise form the aims of Freemasonry as consistently
practised under its jurisdiction since it came into being as an organised
body in 1736, and also to define the principles governing its relations
with those other Grand Lodges with which it is in fraternal accord.
In view of representations which have been received, and of statements
recently issued which have distorted or obscured the true objects of
Freemasonry, it is once again considered necessary to emphasise certain
fundamental principles of the Order.
The first condition of admission into, and membership of, the Order
is a belief in the Supreme Being. This is essential and admits of no
compromise.
The Bible, referred to by Freemasons as the Volume of the Sacred Law,
is always open in the Lodges. Every candidate is required to take his
obligation on that Book, or on the Volume which is held by his particular
Creed to impart sanctity to an oath or promise taken upon it.
Everyone who enters Freemasonry is, at the outset, strictly forbidden
to countenance any act which may have a tendency to subvert the peace
and good order of society, he must pay due obedience to the law of any
state in which he resides or which may afford him protection, and he
must never be remiss in the allegiance due to the Sovereign of his native
land.
While Scottish Freemasonry inculcates in each of its members the duties
of loyalty and citizenship, it reserves to the individual the right
to hold his own opinion with regard to public affairs. But neither in
any Lodge nor at any time in his capacity as a Freemason is he permitted
to discuss or to advance his views on theological or political questions.
The Grand Lodge has a1ways consistently refused to express any opinion
on questions of foreign or domestic state policy either at home or abroad,
and it will not allow its name to be associated with an action however
humanitarian it may appear to be, which infringes its unalterable policy
of standing aloof from every question affecting the relations between
one Government and another, or between political parties, or questions
as to rival theories of Government.
The Grand Lodge is aware that there do exist bodies styling themselves
Freemasons, which do not adhere to these principles, and while that
attitude exists the Grand Lodge of Scotland refuses absolutely to have
any relations with such bodies or to regard them as Freemasons.
The Grand Lodge of Scotland is a sovereign and independent body practising
Freemasonry only within the three Degrees and only within the limits
defined in its Constitution. It does not recognise or admit the existence
of any superior Masonic authority however styled.
On more than one occasion the Grand Lodge has refused, and it will continue
to refuse, to participate in conferences with so-called International
Associations claiming to represent Freemasonry, which admit to membership
bodies failing to conform strictly to the principles upon which the
Grand Lodge of Scotland is founded. The Grand Lodge does not admit any
such claim, nor can its views be represented by any such Association.
There is no secret with regard to any of the basic principles of Freemasonry,
some of which have been stated above. The Grand Lodge will always consider
the recognition of those Grand Lodges which profess and practise and
can show that they have consistently professed and practised, those
established and unaltered principles, but in no circumstances will it
enter into discussion with a view to any new or varied interpretation
of them. They must be accepted and practised wholeheartedly and in their
entirety by those who desire to be recognised as Freemasons by the Grand
Lodge of Scotland.
From The Grand Lodge of Scotland
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