Every generation of Freemasons has faced the issue of the state of the Craft, as it exists in its day and as it will exist in the future. So it is for us today. In this first decade of the 21st century, Freemasonry faces yet another century of challenges, but within those challenges are also opportunities, opportunities unprecedented in their value to the Craft. If these opportunities are properly recognized and responsibly acted upon, the Craft will enjoy a resurgence that it has not experienced since the eighteenth century.

The Mirage

Masonic membership in America reached a high water mark in 1959 at just over four million. Since then there has been a steady decline in numbers until today membership stands at just under 1.5 million. It now appears that the decline will cease at between one million and 750,000.

This decline led to a great deal of soul searching and a reexamination of the Craft. There was an understandable, all too human, preoccupation with numbers. This examination led to doubt, criticism and significant change.

It is understandable that Masons would have looked inward in seeking the causes of this decline in membership. But we were responding to a mirage, as was every other fraternal and service organization in America. Robert D. Putnam’s landmark essay and subsequent book both entitled “Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital” established that our loss of membership is a consequence of a general decline in social participation which has effected every aspect of American civic life.

By focusing on ourselves and failing to perceive the true cause of our decline in numbers, we have gone down many false paths. One day classes, reduced proficiencies, and lately a loss of respect for our obligation towards secrecy are all a part of these changes. To stem this decline many Grand Lodges focused significant resources towards charitable activities in the belief that Masonry should be perceived more as a fraternal organization working for the public good. This, it was thought, would serve to lift the veil from our private functions, to depict us as another form of Elk or Lion. In recent years, lodges have opened themselves up and allowed ritual to be recorded knowing it would be publicly broadcast. This was done, as well, to say we have no secrets, when in truth we do.

The consequence of these measures, however, has not stemmed the decline in membership. And today a healthy reconsideration of what was discarded in the pursuit of numbers is well underway. The issue for Masons in this first decade of the 21st century is what are we going to do, not about our declining numbers which are at last poised to turn, but for the future of Freemasonry? In short, what Craft do we wish for ourselves and for the future? The answer to those questions lies in a new and unexpected place.

The Community And Freemasonry

Masonry has always been based on community. Our membership has been drawn largely from those who already have an existing association with a Mason. Historically, it has not been unusual for a lodge to consist primarily of men who work together, or who live in the same immediate locale. The percentage of a community who are Freemasons has historically been higher in small towns than in big cities.

Until just before the Second World War, America was still largely a rural nation with just under half the population living and working on a family farm. With the war, and the subsequent post-war industrial explosion, a profound migration occurred from the farm to the city until today eight in ten Americans live in a city.

Initially, Masonic membership numbers did not suffer with this migration. The community of the small town was largely transferred to that of the city neighborhood. But with the advent of freeways and the increasing use of cars, significant numbers moved from the inner city to the suburbs. This relocation coincides with the change in social capital recorded by Putnam. Days now involved a significant amount of commute time and wives began working in greater numbers. There was, as a result, less of an opportunity to reestablish community ties and once broken by a generation they were not restored. As a consequence, the traditional American community in which Freemasonry prospered has largely vanished. Remnants still exist in certain areas of suburbia, small towns and in sections of our large cities, but for the most part the communities from which we drew members and new lodges were formed have disappeared. This has adversely affected Masonic membership.

But a new form of community has arisen to replace that which we lost. It is a community, however, that is not widely recognized as such, though it is in large measure the future of the Craft.

The Internet And Freemasonry

It is said that the Internet is the best, and worst, thing to ever happen to Freemasonry. It is the best because it makes the tenets of Masonry more widely available than has ever been possible previously. It is the best because it makes for more effective lodge communication. It is the best because it allows Masons removed by distance to remain in active touch with their home lodge and lodge brothers.

It is the worst because that which we’d prefer to keep secret has never been more readily available. Every aspect of Craft ritual can be found with just the a few clicks of a mouse. It is the worse because never before has it been so easy to disseminate lies about us. It is the worse because never before has it been so easy for the profane to pretend to be brothers and gain the unwitting trust of those who truly are. It is the worst because never before has it been so tempting for a brother to forget his obligation while in the comfort of his own home, surfing in the artificial intimacy of Internet Masonry.

There exist today Internet lodges, both regular but more typically irregular. There are also individual websites, blogs, online forums and MySpace accounts. Anything and everything about Freemasonry is available somewhere in the digital universe.

To this development the various Grand Lodges have reacted in widely disparate ways. In some cases they have suspended or expelled certain brothers and ordered websites shut down. In other situations they have taken a laissez-faire approach, giving wide berth to the publication of information and activities clearly covered by a Mason’s obligation. If any North American Grand Lodge has yet adopted a formal policy related to the Internet it is not widely known.

The consequence of all this has been confusion about what a lodge and/or a brother as a Mason can and cannot do on the Internet. There is today no coherent approach to digital Freemasonry by the Grand Lodges or any national Masonic body. The state of Freemasonry on the Internet is most accurately described as chaotic.

Today those men interested in Masonry do not go to the library or buy a book. They surf the Internet. Likewise, contemporary Freemasons conduct their research largely on the Internet. Though still in its infancy, the Internet is already the single largest depository of Masonic information in history. Books long out of print and once not commonly available are now displayed in full on various websites. This body of work continues to grow every few weeks. This is, and will continue to be, an enormous boon for Masonic research.

Significantly, the Internet is also the world’s largest depository of anti-Masonic information and is the new home of clandestine masons and irregular lodges.

Note On This Paper

This paper is by Worshipful Brother Ronald J. Watkins, Past Master of Wayfarers Lodge #50, and Past District Deputy Grand Master for the Grand Lodge of Arizona. It is being presented in three parts due to it’s length, but it’s message is very important. It is used with permission.