Thursday, October 30, 2008
Obama Infomercial Freemasonry References
A Freemasons Blog Post has identified some Masonic innuendo in the Obama October 29 Infomercial broadcast on a number of U.S. television and cable networks. During minute 25 as the narrator makes a reference to Grandfathers we find a brief flash of a Shriner in a mini-go kart with two men in white shirts standing beside. If you freeze the video and advance it slowly you will also see the bottom of a long Shriner Fez Tassle some of them use. As the 'Grandfather' discussion continues you will see several Masonic style bearhug handshake embraces which are used in the 'five points of fellowship' grip. This is the one where the hands shaking are concealed by the bodies of the two men pressed together, with the other arm wrapped around each others back (Clip).
Why do we bother with this somewhat tiresome Freemason hint/handsign/handshake watch? Firstly because Freemason membership non admission/denials for various current(non horizontal) public figures are not to be believed, and to disprove the Masons claim that Freemasonry is not involved in politics and that Freemasons don't use their membership for gain and advantage.
Mr. Obama has not been as prolific in his Masonic 'Ring Knocking' as John the Masonic Sign Machine McCain but he has done so on occasion, most 'craft'ily during the rally where he announced Biden's VPship with Biden placing his hand horizontally in the middle of Obama's back after the masonic bearhug handhshake . Masons online have stated in posts that Obama is a Prince Hall Freemason along with the Rev. Wright and that they know he is a 'brother'(Regular or Prince Hall variety unstated) because they sat in 'Lodge' (i.e. during the closed ritual where the doors are guarded) with him.
Because Mr. Obama is a member of the 'Brotherhood' you can be sure if elected he will appoint and advance many Freemasons to positions in his administration in front, and behind, the scene. This is ultimately one of the key points with Freemasons, you are not electing or accepting just the individual Freemason, you are electing or accepting his entire extended masonic network. 'The Pillar of Mutual Support' of preference and mutual aid inside binding oaths of keeping their brother masons secrets.
In Summary Freemasonry is heavily involved in Politics, Freemasons use membership in Freemasonry for personal advantage and Freemasonry deceives non-Freemasons on the masonic membership of current prominent public figures. In other words Freemasonry is a Secret Society.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Obama Campaign & Uniformed Police Details
Received this tip from a usually reliable masonic source. It appears to be from a Michigan State Police email list discussion thread. My immediate thoughts on it I append at the bottom of the post.
FW's Musings in Reply:
Maybe assassination concerns? Seen the movie the Godfather one too many times I guess. But alot of cops are Masons, but on the other hand I believe he is Prince Hall and has quite a few liberal mason politicians supporting him. Strange.
From:
Sent: Saturday, October 18, 2008
To:
Subject: Fw: A Michigan Police Officer's take on Obama
FY info:-
To all,
I have read all of the emails from Law Enforcement & Military personnel about Barack Obama's rudeness and what seems to be disgust for basically anyone in uniform. Well, it's my turn to add to the list of emailers and here it is:
So members of the Calhoun County Sheriff's Department, Michigan State Police, (me included) and other local agencies inside Calhoun County are working with Secret Service in the security of Mr. Obama. Mr. Obama's bus arrives in Battle Creek and pulls into the stadium area. Before Mr. Obama exits the bus, he has the Secret Service get off and tell all Law Enforcement personnel in uniform that they now have to stand behind the bus so Mr. Obama is not seen with anyone in a Law Enforcement uniform before he gets off or while in the public view. So, everyone from Michigan State Police, Sheriff's Deptments and other agencies look at each other for a brief second, go and stand behind the bus out of sight so Mr. Obama does not have to see, or been seen with, what to him is 'undesirables' since he refuses to be seen , or even acknowledge Military or Law Enforcement personnel in uniform.
And he wants to be our commander-in-chief!
At a time of war and terrorism in our world, this presidental candidate who is being protected by various branches of the military & law enforcement at the tax payers expense, refuses to acknowledge, be seen with, have in his photographed background, any type of Military or Law Enforcement in uniform.
But this is not in the headlines or in the news or on TV. The TV news doesn't show us marching around behind the bus. In the future, look and see if you can see a single soldier or police officer in uniform when you see Obama. Why? I wonder what the story or media frenzy would be if it was Muslims, blacks, whites, Jews, or any other race, gender, religon, and/or occupation, that Mr. Obama refused to be seen with or have around him.
Why would I make this up? Everyone in Law Enforcement knows we have traditionally had more funding under Democrats.
Just food for thought leading up to November 4th.
[Name Redacted]
Michigan Tactical Officer's Association
Michigan State Police
Executive Board Member
FW's Musings in Reply:
Maybe assassination concerns? Seen the movie the Godfather one too many times I guess. But alot of cops are Masons, but on the other hand I believe he is Prince Hall and has quite a few liberal mason politicians supporting him. Strange.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Letter from a soon to be ex-Freemason
God bless you and your work.
Sunday, April 27,
From: "M"
To: mason_stoppers@yahoo.com
I just want to say God Bless you.
I am a Freemason - soon to be an ex-Freemason.
I've been through the three degrees of the Blue Lodge. I've gone even further than that... I went through the Scottish Rite to obtain the 32° of Freemasonry. I was very proud of my membership in the fraternity in the short time I belonged, much to my current chagrin.
I have only been a member for a year. Before I joined, I was quite proud to be Catholic. Several years ago, I was even considering the priesthood before I left the Church for some time. I was quite bitter... not at the Church, but at myself, at my own sinfulness, and at my own pride. I joined Freemasonry knowing the Church's prohibition against the organization, and was familiar with your web page well before I was initiated into the first degree. I very much enjoyed being a Freemason. I made a lot of good friends and grew as a person due to my membership.
Yet, admittedly, something in my soul had been aching since that day I went through my very first initiation. I had certainly lapsed as a Catholic and had been deep in my sins well before I took that step, but something within masonry had been killing me spiritually and I certainly felt it.
Freemasonry is a subtle beast. The average person within its ranks has very little idea of the evil that lurks beneath its massive symbolism, but that evil is certainly there. Every aspect of masonry is cunningly designed to destroy men's souls by pulling them away from Christ. I was lucky - Christ Our Lord never allowed me to close my ears to individuals such as yourself whom spoke the truth of the organization. I am grateful for that beyond any words that I could possibly express.
Masonry, both directly and indirectly, is at the heart of all that is wrong with the world today. It breeds apathy to Christ and His Church. It is a doorway to evil spirits. When one goes through the degrees, one is divested of all metals, which especially includes holy sacramentals which might protect one from the demonic energies one comes into contact during the rituals. All prayer is directed to the "Grand Architect Of The Universe", whom assuredly is not the Christian God, for Christ is not to be acknowledged within the lodge as anything other than just a man. Christ is not mentioned lest the followers of other religions be offended, yet Masonic ritual refers explicitly to pagan gods whom ought to offend any faithful Christian. The nature of Masonry ought to be clear from this alone.
Freemasonry is the Luciferian religion shrouded in dark secrecy. Its subtleties are such that, unless one studies occult iconography apart from masonry, one cannot comprehend the totality of what is being taught. Freemasonry is the anti-Church and its spirit is most assuredly anti-Christ. Masons whom read this will certainly call me a bigot and accuse me of never being a Mason in the first place, but neither is true. It is not my fault that they never understood the essence of the "Craft" in the first place. I regret having a part in that "Craft" in the first place.
There is a far greater Brotherhood in the world than Masonry could ever hope to be. This is certainly a claim that most Masons would deny on its very face until I name it, after which they ought to be ashamed. The Brotherhood that is greater than Masonry is the Church of Jesus Christ, which no institution built by man or devil can possibly rival. Any Christian who requires a greater bond of fellowship than that which they gain through the grace of Christian baptism most certainly sells their Lord short, for He can bond men in a far greater manner through His Sacraments than any occult ritual could hope to do.
I am not expressing myself as fully as I wish I could, but it suffices to say that I regret having belonged to the Masonic Lodge despite any perceived good I might have gained through my membership. It profits us nothing to gain the world but to lose our souls.
Thank you for taking the time to read this email, God bless you, and keep up the good work.
In Christ,
--
M
Sunday, April 27,
From: "M"
To: mason_stoppers@yahoo.com
I just want to say God Bless you.
I am a Freemason - soon to be an ex-Freemason.
I've been through the three degrees of the Blue Lodge. I've gone even further than that... I went through the Scottish Rite to obtain the 32° of Freemasonry. I was very proud of my membership in the fraternity in the short time I belonged, much to my current chagrin.
I have only been a member for a year. Before I joined, I was quite proud to be Catholic. Several years ago, I was even considering the priesthood before I left the Church for some time. I was quite bitter... not at the Church, but at myself, at my own sinfulness, and at my own pride. I joined Freemasonry knowing the Church's prohibition against the organization, and was familiar with your web page well before I was initiated into the first degree. I very much enjoyed being a Freemason. I made a lot of good friends and grew as a person due to my membership.
Yet, admittedly, something in my soul had been aching since that day I went through my very first initiation. I had certainly lapsed as a Catholic and had been deep in my sins well before I took that step, but something within masonry had been killing me spiritually and I certainly felt it.
Freemasonry is a subtle beast. The average person within its ranks has very little idea of the evil that lurks beneath its massive symbolism, but that evil is certainly there. Every aspect of masonry is cunningly designed to destroy men's souls by pulling them away from Christ. I was lucky - Christ Our Lord never allowed me to close my ears to individuals such as yourself whom spoke the truth of the organization. I am grateful for that beyond any words that I could possibly express.
Masonry, both directly and indirectly, is at the heart of all that is wrong with the world today. It breeds apathy to Christ and His Church. It is a doorway to evil spirits. When one goes through the degrees, one is divested of all metals, which especially includes holy sacramentals which might protect one from the demonic energies one comes into contact during the rituals. All prayer is directed to the "Grand Architect Of The Universe", whom assuredly is not the Christian God, for Christ is not to be acknowledged within the lodge as anything other than just a man. Christ is not mentioned lest the followers of other religions be offended, yet Masonic ritual refers explicitly to pagan gods whom ought to offend any faithful Christian. The nature of Masonry ought to be clear from this alone.
Freemasonry is the Luciferian religion shrouded in dark secrecy. Its subtleties are such that, unless one studies occult iconography apart from masonry, one cannot comprehend the totality of what is being taught. Freemasonry is the anti-Church and its spirit is most assuredly anti-Christ. Masons whom read this will certainly call me a bigot and accuse me of never being a Mason in the first place, but neither is true. It is not my fault that they never understood the essence of the "Craft" in the first place. I regret having a part in that "Craft" in the first place.
There is a far greater Brotherhood in the world than Masonry could ever hope to be. This is certainly a claim that most Masons would deny on its very face until I name it, after which they ought to be ashamed. The Brotherhood that is greater than Masonry is the Church of Jesus Christ, which no institution built by man or devil can possibly rival. Any Christian who requires a greater bond of fellowship than that which they gain through the grace of Christian baptism most certainly sells their Lord short, for He can bond men in a far greater manner through His Sacraments than any occult ritual could hope to do.
I am not expressing myself as fully as I wish I could, but it suffices to say that I regret having belonged to the Masonic Lodge despite any perceived good I might have gained through my membership. It profits us nothing to gain the world but to lose our souls.
Thank you for taking the time to read this email, God bless you, and keep up the good work.
In Christ,
--
M
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Three Six's are Eighteen
What can one say about Freemasonry other than it is the "gift" that keeps on giving. Case in point I was listening to George Noory interview Alex Jones on Coast to Coast AM the other night about Bro. Ted Turner's recent illuminations on the Bro. Charlie Rose show. A caller made the observation that if one looked at the logo for the Trilateral Commission one could see that the three curved arrows could be seen as three six's. Now I already had the logo posted on the site seeing the organization was founded by one of the most 'powerful' Freemasons in the World - the Rockefeller brothers, but I had never picked up on that. Yes it is three six's.
Also on the three six's subject this past week saw some odd doings. We have the start of the trial of the 18 accused terrorists in Canada, the start trial of the 18 accused terrorists in the UK, and the seizure of 18 girls from the FLDS Church(Cult Compound with Armed Men as reported by TIMEWARNERAOLCNN's Bro. Anderson Cooper).
A spooky coincidence, or a coincidence of Spooky's? Perhaps we are witnessing some kind of elaborate psych-ops stunt to 'shape' public opinion on 'the war on terror' by the brotherhood-of-spooks. I guess the images coming from this weeks Bucharest Conference in Ceaucescu's former Palace under N.A.T.O.'s "cunningly concealed" 'embedded' masonic-occult swastika symbol flag wasn't considered 'all-powerful' enough.
'A career in G overnment...'
Thursday, April 03, 2008
'Shriners of North America' vs. Vernon Hill
The "SLAPP" lawsuit against Shriner Whistleblower Vernon Hill is carrying on, despite Sandy Frost's investigation and the recent allegations against the Royal Order of Jesters, the secretive Shriner insider group. Here is a copy of an email update on the doings of Vernon's fight with the Shrine H.Q. in Tampa FLA. Vernon hooked up with a former IRS investigator a couple of years ago and started going through Shriner public financial records after having his complaints of fundraising irregularities first ignored and later taken notice of - by being removed from his volunteer position in a local Shrine unit. At one time Vernon and the Investigator had a website that contained quite a number of financial documents from their investigations, but it was taken offline shortly after the Shrine HQ launched their suit against them. Of note the endowment for the Shrine is something like $8 Billion Dollars, the largest in the U.S., so the battle is a somewhat unequal one financial resource wise. After the New York Times articles were published, which basically covered the same ground of Noble Vernons investigation, it remains unclear what continued purpose the suit by Shrine HQ still serves. Surely members of an organization like this should be able to bring their concerns to light.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Bill Young b.young1932@gmail.com
Date: Mar 12, 2008 3:51 PM
Subject: Noble Vernon Hill
To: blemieux@shrinenet.org
I and hundreds of other masons that are watching the progress of the lawsuit, 'Shriners of North America vs Vernon Hill," are very disgusted. New Yorks Times on March 19, 2007 exposed the Shrine in a front page article writtten by Stephanie Strom. If you are not aware of it, you can find it by going to www.nytimes.com. Then search for "Strom." The article will be about # 50, "In Shriner Spending, A Blurry Line Of Giving." Then go to http://sandyfrost.newsvine.com and to the Buffalo news paper of Sunday march 9, 2007. There you can read Sandy's 22 articles that tell all about the shriners and Jesters and the Jesters (Shriners) alleged violations. No one from the Shrine has rebutted any of those "alleged" violations. None of you have challenged those reporters. How can your lawyers say he defamed the Shrine organization if all of this has gone unchallenged by the Shrine? Whereas, your Tampa based law firm filed a lawsuit against Noble Vernon Hill in about September 2006 for defamation. Vernon Hill is a friend of mine. He was a cancer survivor and a member of Sudan Temple. Being very conscientious, he asked for transparency in the millions of dollars the Shrine collects and controls. Now as a result of a multi billion dollar organization bringing those charges, they have caused him to suffer a mild stroke and is now stricken with Bell's palsy. Has under gone recent operations for skin disorders and above and beyond all of this, he has to this date spent thousands of dollars fighing those charges. A lawsuit surely he could win but cannot out spend the endless funds your organization can use in an attempt to destroy him. it is like David and Goliath. They have already destroyed his health. What more do they want? What little assets he has for him and his wife to live the remainder of their lives on!!
You have almost absolute power over the Shrine Organization. Therefore, I beg you to intervene in this lawsuit immediately and stop it. Doctor/Imperial Potentate, you will do your organization a great service by not allowing this lawsuit to get into the media. If you have ever taken anything seriously and I suppose you have including the Master Mason's obligation, you can use that obligation and help this worthy brother. Believe me, this lawsuit will not go away unless you take charge. Your reply to your decision would be greatly appreciated.
--
Bill Young
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Bro. Kenneth Copeland
'Believers Voice of Victory' Televangelist Freemason Kenneth Copeland speaking in front of his $20 million Ministry jet. Mr. Copeland is the former personal pilot for Pastor Oral Roberts, who is also believed to be a Freemason.
Controversial Theological Statements and Teachings by Mr. Copeland:
Biblical Discernment Ministries
God lives on a mother planet: “Heaven has a north and a south and an east and a west. Consequently, it must be a planet.”
Apologetics Coordination Team
"You don’t have a God in you. You are one!”
Berean Faith
"Well, they say, you need balance in this, get out there in that hyper faith, that name-it-and-claim-it, that blab-it-and-grab-it. YEAH! We named it and claimed it and got it. (crowd cheers) Blabbed it and grabbed it and still got it ! Hallelujah! And our bills are paid."
Kenneth Copeland (speaking at John Hagee's Church, August 18, 1999)
A Column of Mutual Support
1. On Copeland's daily television program Believer's Voice of Victory, 2008 Republican Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee made six appearances on the program from Sunday November 25, 2007 through Friday November 30, 2007, discussing integrity of character. Mr. Huckabee is a Freemason.
2. A Frequent Guest on Mr. Copelands program is controversial Pastor John Hagee, who himself has been accused of Anti-Catholicsm and heretical teachings, including the recent video promotion for his latest book were he stated that 'Jesus did not come to be the Messiah'. Pastor Hagee hosted and endorsed Mike Huckabee at his Texas Megachurch during the 2008 U.S. Presidential Primary. Mr. Hagee is also believed to be a Freemason.
Hagee and Fmr. House Majority Leader Newt. Gingrich in a recent advertisment for a rally hosted by Mr. Hagee, which was also promoted during an appearance on 'Believers Voice of Victory', Mr. Copelands program, who also attended the rally. Mr. Gingrich is also believed to be a Freemason. (Update 04/10/08: Mr. Gingrich is said to have denied he was a Freemason when asked during a recent interview, as has Ron Paul.)
Hand-on-Shoulder is a Secret Recognition Sign used by Freemasons, taken from their Initiation Ritual.
Bro. Schwarzenegger & Bro. Bloomberg
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Blair and Schwarzenegger Global Warming Ceremony
Schwarzenneger & Bloomberg Global Warming Theatre
Blair and Schwarzenegger Global Warming Ceremony
Schwarzenneger & Bloomberg Global Warming Theatre
Monday, March 10, 2008
Freemasonry's Version of Democracy
Recently it has been drawn to my attention that the online 'encyclopedia' Wikipedia will not allow any links to articles on the Freemasonry Watch website to be posted to it's site. This appears to have been 'arranged' by Masonic Editors, who evidently control all the entries and pages on Wikipedia related to Freemasonry.
Today it was noticed that the search engine Yahoo! was not returning Freemasonry Watch in any of it's search results. Previously the site had been in the top three for a number of keywords. In fact on conducting a search using the keyword Freemasonry Watch the site itself did not return at all. In other words the largest website on the internet that has articles critical of Freemasonry has completely vanished. Quite impressive.
This is how Freemasonry operates, it does not tolerate criticism or dissent. A great many webpages critical of Freemasonry have disappeared over the years after continual organized complaint and intimidation campaigns by Masons. Don't believe, then try creating such a website sometime and see all the problems you have keeping it online. This is the reality of Masonic 'Liberty'. From the 1820's arson of Capt. William Morgan's print shop to the World Wide Web masonic thought police very little has changed when it comes to Masonry and it's critics.
Today it was noticed that the search engine Yahoo! was not returning Freemasonry Watch in any of it's search results. Previously the site had been in the top three for a number of keywords. In fact on conducting a search using the keyword Freemasonry Watch the site itself did not return at all. In other words the largest website on the internet that has articles critical of Freemasonry has completely vanished. Quite impressive.
This is how Freemasonry operates, it does not tolerate criticism or dissent. A great many webpages critical of Freemasonry have disappeared over the years after continual organized complaint and intimidation campaigns by Masons. Don't believe, then try creating such a website sometime and see all the problems you have keeping it online. This is the reality of Masonic 'Liberty'. From the 1820's arson of Capt. William Morgan's print shop to the World Wide Web masonic thought police very little has changed when it comes to Masonry and it's critics.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
National Treasure: The Senior Advisor to Google
Update December 21st:
Freemasonrywatch has been restored to it's previous place in the pagerank universe. Thank-you Google. May you and your employees and Senior Advisors have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays.
==================================================
I do believe Brother Al has been a visitor of this website, as has a number of other public/private Freemason politico's.
To wit Mr. Gores Masonic Signing performance at the Bali 'Planetary Emergency' Conference and also the Nobel Peace Prize Awards a few days before, which was a rather impressive display of 'Secret' Freemason Signals of both kinds, i.e. the Brother Napoleon and Mulroney Methods, as I shall term them for ease of illustration.
Masonry is extremely intolerant of criticism of itself. Enter the Senior Advisor to Google who appears singularly or in 'combination' with some of his brothers to have spiked the search engine results for this website on December 14, the night of the premier of the 'Christmas' Hollywood Blockbuster National Treasure: Book of Secrets and the Close of the Bali Conference, featuring Mr. Gore in full Masonic windmill mode.
Public Sector or Private Corporation, it makes little difference to this powerful occult 'religious' order. They call it Masonic Leadership, I call it an Oppressive Secret Society.
Freemasonrywatch has been restored to it's previous place in the pagerank universe. Thank-you Google. May you and your employees and Senior Advisors have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays.
==================================================
I do believe Brother Al has been a visitor of this website, as has a number of other public/private Freemason politico's.
To wit Mr. Gores Masonic Signing performance at the Bali 'Planetary Emergency' Conference and also the Nobel Peace Prize Awards a few days before, which was a rather impressive display of 'Secret' Freemason Signals of both kinds, i.e. the Brother Napoleon and Mulroney Methods, as I shall term them for ease of illustration.
Masonry is extremely intolerant of criticism of itself. Enter the Senior Advisor to Google who appears singularly or in 'combination' with some of his brothers to have spiked the search engine results for this website on December 14, the night of the premier of the 'Christmas' Hollywood Blockbuster National Treasure: Book of Secrets and the Close of the Bali Conference, featuring Mr. Gore in full Masonic windmill mode.
Public Sector or Private Corporation, it makes little difference to this powerful occult 'religious' order. They call it Masonic Leadership, I call it an Oppressive Secret Society.
Wed, 19 Dec 2007
From: "FW"
Subject: Page Ranking
To: @google.com
Dear Sir,
I am not sure I am sending this to the correct
address, but here goes.
I believe that someone at Google, perhaps under the
influence of Al Gore, or other members of a 'frateral
group' may be suppressing the page rank results for
for the website freemasonrywatch.org. I believe this
commenced December 14 the day of the premier of the
movie National Treasure.
For seven years the Freemasonry Watch website has
consistently placed 1st, 2nd, or 3rd for the keywords
Freemasonry, Freemasons, or Freemason. After December
14 it dropped to 13th, 18th, and 18th. I don't
understand the reason for such a drop. The site gets a
quite long green bar on the google tool bar pagerank.
Could you or someone else look into this for me. I
don't think it is fair that powerful persons can
affect the google search engine results for sites they
dislike. There is a long history of members of this
organization trying to suppress it's critics,
including launching repetitive and malicious
complaints against webhosts and book publishers.
Thank-you for your time,
Freemasonry Watch
http://freemasonrywatch.org
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Dune Buggy Hits Crowd at Shriners Parade
Eight people were injured including some children receiving broken legs by out of control Shriner 'mini' cars in a parade in Tennessee. The 'mini' cars don't appear to be so 'mini' from pics and video of the accident. One police officer interviewed didn't think the Shriner mini cars were very safe for the parade spectators.
Print and Video
http://wdef.com/news/dunebuggy_hits_crowd_at_shriners_parade/08/2007
Additional Recent News Items related to Freemasonry and Freemasons
http://freemasonrywatch.org/breaking_masonry_news.html
Technorati Profile
Print and Video
http://wdef.com/news/dunebuggy_hits_crowd_at_shriners_parade/08/2007
Additional Recent News Items related to Freemasonry and Freemasons
http://freemasonrywatch.org/breaking_masonry_news.html
Technorati Profile
Thursday, April 06, 2006
The Kiwi trying to break the Code
12.03.06
By Jonathan Milne
A black limousine is waved through the gate of London's Royal Courts of Justice and slides up to the door of the back courthouse, the grey concrete Thomas More Building.
A large bodyguard steps out first, and looks around warily. Gail Rebuck, of Random House, the most powerful woman in British publishing, emerges, followed by Steve Rubin, president of the US subsidiary Doubleday.
Finally, a small nervous-looking American with receding blond hair steps out. It's Dan Brown, 40, the unprepossessing Wizard of Oz behind The Da Vinci Code.
His 2003 thriller has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide and he reportedly earned US$45 million ($70m) in royalties in the first year alone. And he looks worried.
Then a tall, slim New Zealander crosses the courtyard with his wife. They have just arrived on foot through the main entrance, like most other people. We know he is 58: Michael Baigent celebrated his birthday on the first day of this court case, in which he and Richard Leigh are suing Random House for plagiarism.
In 1982, the two men, with Englishman Henry Lincoln, wrote a piece of historical conjecture called The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, in which they argued Jesus had been a claimant to the throne of Palestine - a mere mortal. After his crucifixion, his wife Mary Magdalene and their child fled to the south of France, where they founded a royal dynasty that survives to this day, to the fury of the Roman Catholic Church.
The book was controversial. They went head-to-head on television with the Bishop of Birmingham. But they never faced media scrums such as those outside court this month.
Random House may not be the Vatican but it is still a formidable opponent, especially two months out from the first screening of the $57m Da Vinci Code movie, starring Tom Hanks. The scheduled release of that movie and the millions Random House is earning every month from Brown's book, are jeopardised by this lawsuit. So when Michael Ferran Meritxell Baigent gave his name in the witness stand on Tuesday, and swore to tell the truth about the origin of Dan Brown's novel, it was with inevitable trepidation.
Through three days, the grey-haired Baigent twirled his glasses between thumb and index-finger and tired under cross-examination. Time and time again he was forced to politely acknowledge that his evidence of similarities between the books did not stack up: "I concede that, my Lord," he said, repeatedly.
Mr Justice Peter Smith toyed reflectively with his moustache. Random House barrister John Baldwin bristled with impatience.
Yet Baigent remained strangely composed. For, it would seem, he was after some far greater truth.
It was hard for those "trained in the Christian tradition" like him to disregard what they had learned in Sunday school, he said, but his research indicated Jesus was a mortal with a claim to the throne of Palestine.
As a child growing up in Wakefield, on the outskirts of Nelson, Baigent attended Catholic Church three times a week. His father was a "fervent Catholic" teacher, who ensured his son was taken out of school from the age of 5 to have private lessons in Catholic theology from either a priest or a monk. But gradually he came to doubt what he was being taught. "After realising I would never have the same beliefs as my father, I attended, in turn, every Christian church in our town, including Methodist, Anglican, Presbyterian and Mormon churches," he says.
After watching Baigent's third gruelling day in the witness box, his English wife, Jane, and daughter Tansy, 20, agreed to venture across Fleet St to Daley's Wine Bar, to fill in some of the gaps in the life story of a very private man.
Baigent's father had left the family when his son was 8. His maternal grandfather, Lewis Baigent, became the man he looked up to. He took his grandfather's surname.
Jane says: "His grandfather answered intelligently all Michael's questions about everything he was interested in - his grandfather always rooted out answers."
Baigent went to Canterbury University but quickly gave up on the science courses he had thought would help him in his grandfather's timber mills and instead began a BA in comparative religion and philosophy, studying Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity, and discovering Eastern religions and meditation.
He joined "The Builders of Adytum", an occult group following what could be defined as Christian Kabbalah. "He was interested in a history that New Zealand doesn't have, ancient civilisations," says Tansy. "New Zealand is very isolated and he left as soon as he could. He wished to see the world."
Baigent went to Australia and South-East Asia. But, in his determination to experience the world, he didn't take enough money, and, when he arrived in India, he had to survive without accommodation on "a potato and a bowl of soup".
"There was another homeless man lying on the street with his daughter, and he used to share an orange with this man each morning."
He returned to Auckland to complete his degree but continued his fascination with esoteric religious thought and "heretics" like the Knights Templar. In 1976, in London, he met the long-haired Richard Leigh, who shared his interest in the esoteric.
They shared a Camden flat and Leigh introduced him to France's Rennes-le-Chateau mystery - it took over his life. "With hindsight, I became obsessed with it," Baigent says in the court documents.
He sold his expensive cameras to fund their research, worked briefly in the BBC photographic department and worked night shifts at a soft-drinks factory.
Leigh and Lincoln followed the trail from Rennes-le-Chateau, through the Priory of Sion, the Merevingian dynasty, the Grail Romances - all the way back to Jesus and the child they claim he fathered to Mary Magdalene.
The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail was published on January 18, 1982, the day after the authors' television clash with the Bishop of Birmingham. It shot up the bestseller lists, and Paramount bought the film rights. It has reportedly sold about two million copies since - not a patch on The Da Vinci Code, but still healthy. Indeed, sales of the former jumped 745 per cent in the first week of the court hearing - around 30,000 extra sales. If that continues through to the judgment, it will help offset the authors' legal costs a little - and also those of defendant Random House which, ironically, is also Dan Brown's publisher.
But the authors will need to win the case to make it worthwhile: experts estimate their legal costs at more than $1.3 million. Unconfirmed newspaper reports say they are seeking more than $25 million in damages.
"Brother Michael" Baigent's job as editor of the quarterly Freemasonry Today can hardly pay much, though that and his books force him to keep the family address in Somerset secret. Being a prominent Freemason and critic of the Catholic Church seems to attract strange and not necessarily friendly types, the family feels. Tansy says she once suggested her father use a nom de plume: "At the time he wrote Holy Blood Holy Grail, he got quite a lot of stigma. I think he had to face quite a few hostile people but he didn't want to hide away."
Jane adds: "Obviously the Pope and the Catholic Church got upset about him because he criticised the Catholic Church in his book The Inquisition. But if he thinks something needs to be exposed or brought into the public domain, he will say it."
And perhaps that is why Baigent seems so composed in the witness box. For him, it is not just a legal battle but also a philosophical one. He is playing for higher stakes.
Maybe that's why Dan Brown, a devout Christian, looks concerned.
Outside the court, the usually reclusive Brown insisted that he would never deny the crucifixion: "I am well aware of Christ's crucifixion and ultimate resurrection as the very core of the Christian faith," he said.
But Baigent believes his arguments about Jesus's mortality, if accepted, have the potential to mend fences between religions.
Islam already recognises Jesus as a prophet, Judaism is happy with Messianic contenders, and some strands of Christianity already accept Jesus's mortality - he argues it is just the Catholic Church that feels threatened.
His ordeal in the witness box is now over - but Brown's turn begins tomorrow. Baigent respects Brown, but he wants his work to be recognised, says wife Jane.
"He's not angry. It just seems unfair And this hasn't been an easy thing to do."
- HERALD ON SUNDAY
By Jonathan Milne
A black limousine is waved through the gate of London's Royal Courts of Justice and slides up to the door of the back courthouse, the grey concrete Thomas More Building.
A large bodyguard steps out first, and looks around warily. Gail Rebuck, of Random House, the most powerful woman in British publishing, emerges, followed by Steve Rubin, president of the US subsidiary Doubleday.
Finally, a small nervous-looking American with receding blond hair steps out. It's Dan Brown, 40, the unprepossessing Wizard of Oz behind The Da Vinci Code.
His 2003 thriller has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide and he reportedly earned US$45 million ($70m) in royalties in the first year alone. And he looks worried.
Then a tall, slim New Zealander crosses the courtyard with his wife. They have just arrived on foot through the main entrance, like most other people. We know he is 58: Michael Baigent celebrated his birthday on the first day of this court case, in which he and Richard Leigh are suing Random House for plagiarism.
In 1982, the two men, with Englishman Henry Lincoln, wrote a piece of historical conjecture called The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, in which they argued Jesus had been a claimant to the throne of Palestine - a mere mortal. After his crucifixion, his wife Mary Magdalene and their child fled to the south of France, where they founded a royal dynasty that survives to this day, to the fury of the Roman Catholic Church.
The book was controversial. They went head-to-head on television with the Bishop of Birmingham. But they never faced media scrums such as those outside court this month.
Random House may not be the Vatican but it is still a formidable opponent, especially two months out from the first screening of the $57m Da Vinci Code movie, starring Tom Hanks. The scheduled release of that movie and the millions Random House is earning every month from Brown's book, are jeopardised by this lawsuit. So when Michael Ferran Meritxell Baigent gave his name in the witness stand on Tuesday, and swore to tell the truth about the origin of Dan Brown's novel, it was with inevitable trepidation.
Through three days, the grey-haired Baigent twirled his glasses between thumb and index-finger and tired under cross-examination. Time and time again he was forced to politely acknowledge that his evidence of similarities between the books did not stack up: "I concede that, my Lord," he said, repeatedly.
Mr Justice Peter Smith toyed reflectively with his moustache. Random House barrister John Baldwin bristled with impatience.
Yet Baigent remained strangely composed. For, it would seem, he was after some far greater truth.
It was hard for those "trained in the Christian tradition" like him to disregard what they had learned in Sunday school, he said, but his research indicated Jesus was a mortal with a claim to the throne of Palestine.
As a child growing up in Wakefield, on the outskirts of Nelson, Baigent attended Catholic Church three times a week. His father was a "fervent Catholic" teacher, who ensured his son was taken out of school from the age of 5 to have private lessons in Catholic theology from either a priest or a monk. But gradually he came to doubt what he was being taught. "After realising I would never have the same beliefs as my father, I attended, in turn, every Christian church in our town, including Methodist, Anglican, Presbyterian and Mormon churches," he says.
After watching Baigent's third gruelling day in the witness box, his English wife, Jane, and daughter Tansy, 20, agreed to venture across Fleet St to Daley's Wine Bar, to fill in some of the gaps in the life story of a very private man.
Baigent's father had left the family when his son was 8. His maternal grandfather, Lewis Baigent, became the man he looked up to. He took his grandfather's surname.
Jane says: "His grandfather answered intelligently all Michael's questions about everything he was interested in - his grandfather always rooted out answers."
Baigent went to Canterbury University but quickly gave up on the science courses he had thought would help him in his grandfather's timber mills and instead began a BA in comparative religion and philosophy, studying Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity, and discovering Eastern religions and meditation.
He joined "The Builders of Adytum", an occult group following what could be defined as Christian Kabbalah. "He was interested in a history that New Zealand doesn't have, ancient civilisations," says Tansy. "New Zealand is very isolated and he left as soon as he could. He wished to see the world."
Baigent went to Australia and South-East Asia. But, in his determination to experience the world, he didn't take enough money, and, when he arrived in India, he had to survive without accommodation on "a potato and a bowl of soup".
"There was another homeless man lying on the street with his daughter, and he used to share an orange with this man each morning."
He returned to Auckland to complete his degree but continued his fascination with esoteric religious thought and "heretics" like the Knights Templar. In 1976, in London, he met the long-haired Richard Leigh, who shared his interest in the esoteric.
They shared a Camden flat and Leigh introduced him to France's Rennes-le-Chateau mystery - it took over his life. "With hindsight, I became obsessed with it," Baigent says in the court documents.
He sold his expensive cameras to fund their research, worked briefly in the BBC photographic department and worked night shifts at a soft-drinks factory.
Leigh and Lincoln followed the trail from Rennes-le-Chateau, through the Priory of Sion, the Merevingian dynasty, the Grail Romances - all the way back to Jesus and the child they claim he fathered to Mary Magdalene.
The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail was published on January 18, 1982, the day after the authors' television clash with the Bishop of Birmingham. It shot up the bestseller lists, and Paramount bought the film rights. It has reportedly sold about two million copies since - not a patch on The Da Vinci Code, but still healthy. Indeed, sales of the former jumped 745 per cent in the first week of the court hearing - around 30,000 extra sales. If that continues through to the judgment, it will help offset the authors' legal costs a little - and also those of defendant Random House which, ironically, is also Dan Brown's publisher.
But the authors will need to win the case to make it worthwhile: experts estimate their legal costs at more than $1.3 million. Unconfirmed newspaper reports say they are seeking more than $25 million in damages.
"Brother Michael" Baigent's job as editor of the quarterly Freemasonry Today can hardly pay much, though that and his books force him to keep the family address in Somerset secret. Being a prominent Freemason and critic of the Catholic Church seems to attract strange and not necessarily friendly types, the family feels. Tansy says she once suggested her father use a nom de plume: "At the time he wrote Holy Blood Holy Grail, he got quite a lot of stigma. I think he had to face quite a few hostile people but he didn't want to hide away."
Jane adds: "Obviously the Pope and the Catholic Church got upset about him because he criticised the Catholic Church in his book The Inquisition. But if he thinks something needs to be exposed or brought into the public domain, he will say it."
And perhaps that is why Baigent seems so composed in the witness box. For him, it is not just a legal battle but also a philosophical one. He is playing for higher stakes.
Maybe that's why Dan Brown, a devout Christian, looks concerned.
Outside the court, the usually reclusive Brown insisted that he would never deny the crucifixion: "I am well aware of Christ's crucifixion and ultimate resurrection as the very core of the Christian faith," he said.
But Baigent believes his arguments about Jesus's mortality, if accepted, have the potential to mend fences between religions.
Islam already recognises Jesus as a prophet, Judaism is happy with Messianic contenders, and some strands of Christianity already accept Jesus's mortality - he argues it is just the Catholic Church that feels threatened.
His ordeal in the witness box is now over - but Brown's turn begins tomorrow. Baigent respects Brown, but he wants his work to be recognised, says wife Jane.
"He's not angry. It just seems unfair And this hasn't been an easy thing to do."
- HERALD ON SUNDAY
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Fraternal Greetings From Robert Lomas
Date: Wed, 01 Feb 2006
From: "Dr Robert Lomas" r.a.lomas@bradford.ac.uk
To: mason_stoppers@yahoo.com
Subject: Copyright Theft
*It has been drawn to my attention that you are using copyright
images stolen from the plates section of The Hiram Key without
permission
*Please remove these images at once
Failure to comply WILL result in a complaint to your Internet
Service Provider, which has 'Terms of Service' which copyright
theft violates. Don't risk losing your internet connection and your
reputation by being downright stupid!
You are quite free to critize Freemasonry and I defend your right
to do so. I do not defend your right to steal my images and use
them in a cause I do not support.
In case you have stolen so many images that you have trouble finding
these particular ones, they are at
http://freemasonrywatch.org/tracingboard.html
I look forward to the swift removal of the stolen images, as even on
the net few people will take the word of someone who can be shown
to be prepared to steal and misrepresent.
Robert Lomas
====================================
Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2006
From: "FW" mason_stoppers@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: Copyright Theft
To: "Dr Robert Lomas" r.a.lomas@bradford.ac.uk
Dear Dr. Lomas,
Thank-you for bringing to my attention this matter, I
have added the attribution, authorship, and
availablity to each of the images.
Your research and these images in particular as you
noted in your book revealed for the first time actual
photographs of a Masonic Ritual inside a Masonic
Temple, never before seen.
We feel here at the leading Masonic Research Facility
in the World - Freemasonry Watch, that we simply must
include this discovery as part of our educational and
academics efforts towards the general public on the
importance of Freemasonry, under the accepted 'Fair
Use' provisions.
We in no way intended or intend to breach your
copyright, in fact we have long promoted 'Hiram Key'
on this website via book reviews and prominent direct
Amazon.com links to it and other of your works.
We appreciate your affirmation of the right and
necessity of Freemasonry Watch to continue it's
'work', and wish you the very best of success with
your new book 'Turning the Hiram Key'.
S & F
Freemasonry Watch
====================================
The Official Website of Robert Lomas
=====================================
Copyright and Fair Use in the Classroom, on the Internet, and the World Wide Web
http://www.umuc.edu/library/copy.html
http://www.eff.org/br/
From: "Dr Robert Lomas" r.a.lomas@bradford.ac.uk
To: mason_stoppers@yahoo.com
Subject: Copyright Theft
*It has been drawn to my attention that you are using copyright
images stolen from the plates section of The Hiram Key without
permission
*Please remove these images at once
Failure to comply WILL result in a complaint to your Internet
Service Provider, which has 'Terms of Service' which copyright
theft violates. Don't risk losing your internet connection and your
reputation by being downright stupid!
You are quite free to critize Freemasonry and I defend your right
to do so. I do not defend your right to steal my images and use
them in a cause I do not support.
In case you have stolen so many images that you have trouble finding
these particular ones, they are at
http://freemasonrywatch.org/tracingboard.html
I look forward to the swift removal of the stolen images, as even on
the net few people will take the word of someone who can be shown
to be prepared to steal and misrepresent.
Robert Lomas
====================================
Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2006
From: "FW" mason_stoppers@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: Copyright Theft
To: "Dr Robert Lomas" r.a.lomas@bradford.ac.uk
Dear Dr. Lomas,
Thank-you for bringing to my attention this matter, I
have added the attribution, authorship, and
availablity to each of the images.
Your research and these images in particular as you
noted in your book revealed for the first time actual
photographs of a Masonic Ritual inside a Masonic
Temple, never before seen.
We feel here at the leading Masonic Research Facility
in the World - Freemasonry Watch, that we simply must
include this discovery as part of our educational and
academics efforts towards the general public on the
importance of Freemasonry, under the accepted 'Fair
Use' provisions.
We in no way intended or intend to breach your
copyright, in fact we have long promoted 'Hiram Key'
on this website via book reviews and prominent direct
Amazon.com links to it and other of your works.
We appreciate your affirmation of the right and
necessity of Freemasonry Watch to continue it's
'work', and wish you the very best of success with
your new book 'Turning the Hiram Key'.
S & F
Freemasonry Watch
====================================
The Official Website of Robert Lomas
=====================================
Copyright and Fair Use in the Classroom, on the Internet, and the World Wide Web
http://www.umuc.edu/library/copy.html
http://www.eff.org/br/
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
E-M@sonry 'Stuff'
Just a short blurb on a few bits and pieces I thought I could post before I forgot them.
First a couple of new Pro-Masonic blogs and one Masonic-Critical one.
http://free-mason-alert.blogspot.com 'Free-Mason-Alert - Is there no Help for the Widows sons in Alabama?' A Mason in Alabama documents Klan activity in his Grand Lodge and his attempt, unsuccessfuly, to fight it. Reminds me of the series of alt.freemasonry post by a 'Brother' in the Grand Lodge of Oklahoma way back in 1999. In that case the Mason went so far as to get into letter flame war with the Supreme Council 33 in Washington DC. He got nowhere of course and ended up publically resigning. http://freemasonrywatch.org/racism.html (Hope that's the right page I filed it on, think you have to scroll down a bit.)
What else now.
http://masonictraveler.blogspot.com 'Masonic Traveler' is a Masonic Blogger that seems to be attempting to document the Masonic 'Blogosphere'. Not too many of the Geezers have bothered to pick up the Blog banner. Of course many of the Grand Lodges have recently called on the carpet their members for freelancing on the internet and have succeeded in shutting down a number of Masonic discussion boards. Not too surprised about that given the number of 'attacks' FW has been on the receiving end of over the years. Not too many in the last year though, maybe the 'Lightbringers' are finally getting used to the FW 'luminosity'. Let it all hang out Bro's...
Say if anyone is interested there is a link I posted yesterday on the 'FW Middle Chamber' to a new film about Freemasonry I found trolling around the net - 'The Lightbringers: The Emisarries of Jahbulon'. Lots of footage of inside some well known Masonic Temples including Great Queen Street in London and the Royal Arch Monstrosity in the 'City of Brotherlove' in Philly. Dug the three headed spider representation of 'that non-word' as one masonic net type phrased the infamous Royal Arch secret word for 'deity'.
Freemasonry in Christianity --- Is there room on the pew? is a blog post by a Christian Teacher who says he is teaching a course on cults and did a lecture or two on 'The Craft'. Could be an up and comer...
What else. Ah yes Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemasonry" 'Freemasonry' and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Freemasonry 'Anti-Freemasonry' are the two main pages but there are probably a dozen or more side pages. The site is kinda a cross between the old alt.freemasonry and the bad old un-GL cabletowed M.A.S.O.N.. Need to be one part lawyer and one part software programmer to survive there. There are a group of dozen or more Masons who may or may not have succeeded in turning the site into another GL boiler room 'Difficult Questions about Freemasonry' site. Maybe someone will straighten it out, but it is purely a numbers game on whose version stays up and whose gets deleted. Calling all "Anti's"...
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Blair Coven 'Channels' Luciferian Defeat...
Code: ZE06020406
Date: 2006-02-04
Religious-Hate Legislation Gets Toned Down
British Government Is Handed an Unusual Defeat
LONDON, FEB. 4, 2006 (Zenit.org).- A proposed hate law affecting religion was substantially watered down in a rare parliamentary defeat for Britain's Labor government on Tuesday. In two votes in the Commons the government lost; the first time by 10 votes, the second time by just one vote, reported the Independent newspaper the following day.
The Commons voted to accept some significant amendments along the lines of changes asked for when the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill was debated last October in the House of Lords. On that occasion the government's proposal was amended by an overwhelming majority of 149 votes.
The bill had proposed to make it an offense to stir up hatred against people on religious grounds; either spoken or written, in public or in private. Originally the law proposed by the government contemplated making insults and abuse an offense, as well as threatening words and behavior. The original proposal also made it an offense even if the person involved had not intended to stir up hatred.
The law as finally passed by Parliament stipulates that for a person to be charged it will have to be shown that "threatening" language or behavior was used, instead of the "threatening, insulting and abusive." It will also be necessary to prove that there was an intention to commit the offenses. The day Parliament voted on the law several hundred demonstrators gathered outside in protest against what they saw as an unjustified restriction on free speech.
The government had attempted to overcome opposition by accepting last-minute changes to the proposed law, the BBC reported Jan. 26. They accepted demands that incitement to religious hatred be covered by separate legislation rather than be joined to race-hate laws. And somebody could only be convicted if they intended or were reckless about inciting hatred. But the changes were not sufficient to placate critics.
Opposition to the law came from a wide variety of persons and groups. Comedians feared that it would no longer be possible for them to tell religious jokes. Civil rights activists were worried about restrictions on free speech. And a number of religious groups considered the law overly restrictive.
An editorial Tuesday in the Guardian newspaper noted this was the third attempt by the government since 2001 to pass a law on this subject. Its previous attempts had failed due to opposition in the House of Lords.
According to the editorial, the government's proposal "conflated threatening behavior and material, from which religious people deserve protection, with insult and abuse of religious belief, which is a necessary part of an open society."
Another problem was that it failed to "distinguish properly between the believer, who should not suffer for what he or she is, and the belief, which others must be entitled to attack, question and ridicule, even to the extent of causing offense to believers."
Defending free speech
The Christian Institute, an evangelical group, welcomed the changes made to the law. In a briefing last August it explained its opposition to the proposed law. The institute said the legislation would harm free speech and place governmental and judicial authorities in the position of judging people's religious beliefs.
As well, the institute noted that protection already exists for all people regardless of religion. Under British law it is already a criminal offense to incite a crime against another person, whether or not religion is the cause. And in 2001 Parliament passed laws establishing religiously-aggravated offenses. Another problem is that some religious groups are litigious, and they could hold the threat of prosecution over the heads of their detractors, the institute warned.
On Tuesday a group of humanists, secularists, Muslims and evangelical Christians wrote a letter published in the Telegraph newspaper, asking parliamentarians to vote against the law.
Among the signatories to the letter were two Muslims, Ghyasuddin Siddiqui, leader of the Muslim Parliament, and Manzoor Moghal, of the Muslim Forum. Their views contrasted with the stance of the Muslim Council of Britain. That council, generally seen as the country's most representative Islamic body, supported the legislation, according to the Telegraph.
Other signatories to the letter included Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of the National Secular Society, and representatives of the British Humanist Association, the Christian Institute and the Evangelical Alliance.
"As people with strong views on religion, we know how easy it is to offend those with whom you disagree and how easy it is to resent what others say, and see insult in it," the letter stated. "But we also recognize that a free society must have the scope to debate, criticize, proselytize, insult and even to ridicule belief and religious practices in order to ensure that there is full scope -- short of violence or inciting violence or other criminal offenses -- to tackle these issues."
When the bill was debated last October in the House of Lords, numerous press articles pointed out problems with the legislation. On Oct. 12 the Guardian reported that one Protestant evangelical group, Christian Voice, warned that it would consider using the new law to prosecute bookshops selling the Koran for inciting religious hatred.
Australia's experience
On Oct. 23 the Sunday Times reported that witches and Satanists could use it to trigger police investigations of their critics. This was no empty warning, the article reported, citing a case in Australia.
In fact, the Australian experiment with religious hate laws has been widely cited by opponents. In December 2003 the first case was heard in the state of Victoria under the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001.
The Islamic Council of Victoria filed a complaint about statements made by evangelical pastors Danny Nalliah and Daniel Scot during a March 2002 seminar. In December 2003, Judge Michael Higgins found the two had made fun of Muslim beliefs.
Last June 22, the judge ordered the pastors to print public apologies in newspapers and on their Web site, the Herald-Sun reported the next day. The judge observed that the two pastors had passionate religious beliefs which he thought caused them to break the law. "That does not excuse their conduct," he said, "but does go some way to explain why they acted as they did."
In a commentary published July 4 in the Sydney Morning Herald, Emily Maguire noted that the group the pastors belong to, Catch the Fire, is undeniably hostile to Islam, and that the declarations made by them were deeply offensive to many Muslims.
Nevertheless, she argued that the freedom to criticize religion is important. Moreover, "silencing such speech creates martyrs, while giving the views a thorough airing allows response," Maguire wrote. The pastors later appealed the decision.
Following the judge's decision, Cardinal George Pell of Sydney also came out against the idea of religious-hate laws, in an article published July 3 in the Sunday Telegraph.
The archbishop welcomed the decision of the New South Wales state government not to support a proposal to introduce a law against religious vilification. "Such a law would undermine the freedom it seeks to protect, would be counterproductive and end up curtailing free speech as well as deepening the rifts between different religious groups," wrote Cardinal Pell.
The following month a senior Victorian judge called for changes to the state's law on religious vilification, the Herald-Sun reported Aug. 2. Judge Stuart Morris' comments came as he dismissed a lawsuit launched by a convicted sex offender and self-proclaimed witch. Robin Fletcher had claimed the Salvation Army's Alpha Christianity course, offered in jails, discriminated against him on the ground of his Wiccan religion. The volatile mix of free speech and religion might be bubbling for quite some time.
Date: 2006-02-04
Religious-Hate Legislation Gets Toned Down
British Government Is Handed an Unusual Defeat
LONDON, FEB. 4, 2006 (Zenit.org).- A proposed hate law affecting religion was substantially watered down in a rare parliamentary defeat for Britain's Labor government on Tuesday. In two votes in the Commons the government lost; the first time by 10 votes, the second time by just one vote, reported the Independent newspaper the following day.
The Commons voted to accept some significant amendments along the lines of changes asked for when the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill was debated last October in the House of Lords. On that occasion the government's proposal was amended by an overwhelming majority of 149 votes.
The bill had proposed to make it an offense to stir up hatred against people on religious grounds; either spoken or written, in public or in private. Originally the law proposed by the government contemplated making insults and abuse an offense, as well as threatening words and behavior. The original proposal also made it an offense even if the person involved had not intended to stir up hatred.
The law as finally passed by Parliament stipulates that for a person to be charged it will have to be shown that "threatening" language or behavior was used, instead of the "threatening, insulting and abusive." It will also be necessary to prove that there was an intention to commit the offenses. The day Parliament voted on the law several hundred demonstrators gathered outside in protest against what they saw as an unjustified restriction on free speech.
The government had attempted to overcome opposition by accepting last-minute changes to the proposed law, the BBC reported Jan. 26. They accepted demands that incitement to religious hatred be covered by separate legislation rather than be joined to race-hate laws. And somebody could only be convicted if they intended or were reckless about inciting hatred. But the changes were not sufficient to placate critics.
Opposition to the law came from a wide variety of persons and groups. Comedians feared that it would no longer be possible for them to tell religious jokes. Civil rights activists were worried about restrictions on free speech. And a number of religious groups considered the law overly restrictive.
An editorial Tuesday in the Guardian newspaper noted this was the third attempt by the government since 2001 to pass a law on this subject. Its previous attempts had failed due to opposition in the House of Lords.
According to the editorial, the government's proposal "conflated threatening behavior and material, from which religious people deserve protection, with insult and abuse of religious belief, which is a necessary part of an open society."
Another problem was that it failed to "distinguish properly between the believer, who should not suffer for what he or she is, and the belief, which others must be entitled to attack, question and ridicule, even to the extent of causing offense to believers."
Defending free speech
The Christian Institute, an evangelical group, welcomed the changes made to the law. In a briefing last August it explained its opposition to the proposed law. The institute said the legislation would harm free speech and place governmental and judicial authorities in the position of judging people's religious beliefs.
As well, the institute noted that protection already exists for all people regardless of religion. Under British law it is already a criminal offense to incite a crime against another person, whether or not religion is the cause. And in 2001 Parliament passed laws establishing religiously-aggravated offenses. Another problem is that some religious groups are litigious, and they could hold the threat of prosecution over the heads of their detractors, the institute warned.
On Tuesday a group of humanists, secularists, Muslims and evangelical Christians wrote a letter published in the Telegraph newspaper, asking parliamentarians to vote against the law.
Among the signatories to the letter were two Muslims, Ghyasuddin Siddiqui, leader of the Muslim Parliament, and Manzoor Moghal, of the Muslim Forum. Their views contrasted with the stance of the Muslim Council of Britain. That council, generally seen as the country's most representative Islamic body, supported the legislation, according to the Telegraph.
Other signatories to the letter included Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of the National Secular Society, and representatives of the British Humanist Association, the Christian Institute and the Evangelical Alliance.
"As people with strong views on religion, we know how easy it is to offend those with whom you disagree and how easy it is to resent what others say, and see insult in it," the letter stated. "But we also recognize that a free society must have the scope to debate, criticize, proselytize, insult and even to ridicule belief and religious practices in order to ensure that there is full scope -- short of violence or inciting violence or other criminal offenses -- to tackle these issues."
When the bill was debated last October in the House of Lords, numerous press articles pointed out problems with the legislation. On Oct. 12 the Guardian reported that one Protestant evangelical group, Christian Voice, warned that it would consider using the new law to prosecute bookshops selling the Koran for inciting religious hatred.
Australia's experience
On Oct. 23 the Sunday Times reported that witches and Satanists could use it to trigger police investigations of their critics. This was no empty warning, the article reported, citing a case in Australia.
In fact, the Australian experiment with religious hate laws has been widely cited by opponents. In December 2003 the first case was heard in the state of Victoria under the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001.
The Islamic Council of Victoria filed a complaint about statements made by evangelical pastors Danny Nalliah and Daniel Scot during a March 2002 seminar. In December 2003, Judge Michael Higgins found the two had made fun of Muslim beliefs.
Last June 22, the judge ordered the pastors to print public apologies in newspapers and on their Web site, the Herald-Sun reported the next day. The judge observed that the two pastors had passionate religious beliefs which he thought caused them to break the law. "That does not excuse their conduct," he said, "but does go some way to explain why they acted as they did."
In a commentary published July 4 in the Sydney Morning Herald, Emily Maguire noted that the group the pastors belong to, Catch the Fire, is undeniably hostile to Islam, and that the declarations made by them were deeply offensive to many Muslims.
Nevertheless, she argued that the freedom to criticize religion is important. Moreover, "silencing such speech creates martyrs, while giving the views a thorough airing allows response," Maguire wrote. The pastors later appealed the decision.
Following the judge's decision, Cardinal George Pell of Sydney also came out against the idea of religious-hate laws, in an article published July 3 in the Sunday Telegraph.
The archbishop welcomed the decision of the New South Wales state government not to support a proposal to introduce a law against religious vilification. "Such a law would undermine the freedom it seeks to protect, would be counterproductive and end up curtailing free speech as well as deepening the rifts between different religious groups," wrote Cardinal Pell.
The following month a senior Victorian judge called for changes to the state's law on religious vilification, the Herald-Sun reported Aug. 2. Judge Stuart Morris' comments came as he dismissed a lawsuit launched by a convicted sex offender and self-proclaimed witch. Robin Fletcher had claimed the Salvation Army's Alpha Christianity course, offered in jails, discriminated against him on the ground of his Wiccan religion. The volatile mix of free speech and religion might be bubbling for quite some time.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Pope: Church must influence political leaders
Chicago Sun-Times
January 26, 2006
BY NICOLE WINFIELD
VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI said in his first encyclical Wednesday that the Roman Catholic Church has a duty through its charitable work to influence political leaders to ease suffering and promote justice.
The document, ''God is Love,'' also warns against sex without unconditional love, which he said risked turning men and women into merchandise.
It had been eagerly anticipated because inaugural encyclicals offer clues about a pontiff's concerns.
The 71-page document can be seen as an effort by Benedict to stress the fundamental tenet of the Christian faith -- love -- and assert the church's duty to exercise love through its works of charity in an unjust world.
In the encyclical, Benedict rejected the criticism of charity found in Marxist thought, which holds that charity is merely an excuse by the rich to keep the poor in their place when the rich should be working for a more just society.
Opposes Marxist theology
That appeared to be an extension of the pope's firm rejection of the Marxist-inspired liberation theology, which he firmly denounced in his early years as the Vatican's chief doctrinal watchdog.
Liberation theology, which originated in Latin America, holds that criticizing the oppression of the poor and marginalized should be central to Christian theology, and that the Christian faith should be reinterpreted specifically to deliver oppressed people from injustice.
Benedict conceded that Marxist models of dealing with injustice by trying to provide for social needs did help the poor. But he said Marxism was a failed experiment because it could not respond to every human need.
''There will always be suffering which cries out for consolation and help. There will always be loneliness. There will always be situations of material need where help in the form of concrete love of neighbor is indispensable,'' he said.
Cardinal George comments
Vatican and other church officials said earlier this week that Benedict's theme of ''God is Love'' is very much in line with his thinking, teaching and his pledge from the start of his papacy to be a peacemaker.
''This is the pope as theologian and now as universal pastor,'' Cardinal Francis George, archbishop of Chicago, said. ''So it's a very pastoral theme -- it shows that side of him which was always there but perhaps not able to be expressed as easily in his former work.''
AP
January 26, 2006
BY NICOLE WINFIELD
VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI said in his first encyclical Wednesday that the Roman Catholic Church has a duty through its charitable work to influence political leaders to ease suffering and promote justice.
The document, ''God is Love,'' also warns against sex without unconditional love, which he said risked turning men and women into merchandise.
It had been eagerly anticipated because inaugural encyclicals offer clues about a pontiff's concerns.
The 71-page document can be seen as an effort by Benedict to stress the fundamental tenet of the Christian faith -- love -- and assert the church's duty to exercise love through its works of charity in an unjust world.
In the encyclical, Benedict rejected the criticism of charity found in Marxist thought, which holds that charity is merely an excuse by the rich to keep the poor in their place when the rich should be working for a more just society.
Opposes Marxist theology
That appeared to be an extension of the pope's firm rejection of the Marxist-inspired liberation theology, which he firmly denounced in his early years as the Vatican's chief doctrinal watchdog.
Liberation theology, which originated in Latin America, holds that criticizing the oppression of the poor and marginalized should be central to Christian theology, and that the Christian faith should be reinterpreted specifically to deliver oppressed people from injustice.
Benedict conceded that Marxist models of dealing with injustice by trying to provide for social needs did help the poor. But he said Marxism was a failed experiment because it could not respond to every human need.
''There will always be suffering which cries out for consolation and help. There will always be loneliness. There will always be situations of material need where help in the form of concrete love of neighbor is indispensable,'' he said.
Cardinal George comments
Vatican and other church officials said earlier this week that Benedict's theme of ''God is Love'' is very much in line with his thinking, teaching and his pledge from the start of his papacy to be a peacemaker.
''This is the pope as theologian and now as universal pastor,'' Cardinal Francis George, archbishop of Chicago, said. ''So it's a very pastoral theme -- it shows that side of him which was always there but perhaps not able to be expressed as easily in his former work.''
AP
Sunday, January 01, 2006
Sunday, December 18, 2005
E-M@sonry For The Uninitiated (Update 1)
It seems within a week of making the 'FW Blog' entry below
the 'Masters of the Craft' shut down TLR (The Lodge Room)
Discussion Board, the largest unofficial Masonic discussion
board on the net. As I indicated in the post below and will
briefly expand on here TLR had become the home of a group of
'e-M@sons' who have "terrorized" internet "anti's" for
the last few years. The group which consisted of U.S., U.K.
& Canadian zealous(hothead) Freemasons were run off a number
of Masonic and Non-Masonic Discussion Boards recently. The
admin at TLR had a brief posting before hotlinking to
another of his online masonic enterprise pages that described
his disgust at the behaviour of a number of Brethren
including the language and attacks against supposed 'brothers'
who disagreed with their tactics: http://www.thelodgeroom.com/forum/ 'The Lodge Room',
several of whom had been already banned from A.T.S. and
other Boards.
So what was the reaction of 'e-m@sonry' to having TLR shut
down? Did they take a moment to reflect, to change
their attitudes? Nope. The promptly resurrected a
discussion board off the previously banned and
shut-down site M.O.M.: http://www.lodgeroomuk.com/forum/ 'The Lodgeroom U.K. Forum'
and continued on where they had left off before, after dismissing
the creator of TLR, who wrote in his announcement of
trying, and failing, to stop the extremist rhetoric by these same
individuals. The 'operator' of the new board is believed
to be closely associated with the late great 'Freemasonrywatchwatch',
an effort to slander and demean the noble efforts at this end
of the Masonic rainbow. It will be interesting to see what transpires
next, but the forum appears to be the new central hive of
'e-m@sonry'.
On another matter there is now a group of a dozen or more Masons who have take residence at Wikipedia frantically deleting any and all entries related to the History, Teaching, and Rituals of Freemasonry that are not regurgitations of info found on dozens of Official Masonic websites . We've seen this sort of swarm activity by upset Masons before on the net, whether on alt.freemasonry or on many public 'conspiracy' or 'esoteric' discussion boards. It usually goes on for a while until the board operators or the public gets fed up with the Brethrens complete intolerance of viewpoints contrary to their own, and putting a stop to the
'encompassment', thereby digging the 'society with secrets' hole just a little deeper than it was before.
the 'Masters of the Craft' shut down TLR (The Lodge Room)
Discussion Board, the largest unofficial Masonic discussion
board on the net. As I indicated in the post below and will
briefly expand on here TLR had become the home of a group of
'e-M@sons' who have "terrorized" internet "anti's" for
the last few years. The group which consisted of U.S., U.K.
& Canadian zealous(hothead) Freemasons were run off a number
of Masonic and Non-Masonic Discussion Boards recently. The
admin at TLR had a brief posting before hotlinking to
another of his online masonic enterprise pages that described
his disgust at the behaviour of a number of Brethren
including the language and attacks against supposed 'brothers'
who disagreed with their tactics: http://www.thelodgeroom.com/forum/ 'The Lodge Room',
several of whom had been already banned from A.T.S. and
other Boards.
So what was the reaction of 'e-m@sonry' to having TLR shut
down? Did they take a moment to reflect, to change
their attitudes? Nope. The promptly resurrected a
discussion board off the previously banned and
shut-down site M.O.M.: http://www.lodgeroomuk.com/forum/ 'The Lodgeroom U.K. Forum'
and continued on where they had left off before, after dismissing
the creator of TLR, who wrote in his announcement of
trying, and failing, to stop the extremist rhetoric by these same
individuals. The 'operator' of the new board is believed
to be closely associated with the late great 'Freemasonrywatchwatch',
an effort to slander and demean the noble efforts at this end
of the Masonic rainbow. It will be interesting to see what transpires
next, but the forum appears to be the new central hive of
'e-m@sonry'.
On another matter there is now a group of a dozen or more Masons who have take residence at Wikipedia frantically deleting any and all entries related to the History, Teaching, and Rituals of Freemasonry that are not regurgitations of info found on dozens of Official Masonic websites . We've seen this sort of swarm activity by upset Masons before on the net, whether on alt.freemasonry or on many public 'conspiracy' or 'esoteric' discussion boards. It usually goes on for a while until the board operators or the public gets fed up with the Brethrens complete intolerance of viewpoints contrary to their own, and putting a stop to the
'encompassment', thereby digging the 'society with secrets' hole just a little deeper than it was before.
"They came on in the same old way and we stopped them in the same old way" – Duke of Wellington
Saturday, December 03, 2005
E-M@sonry For The Uninitiated
One in a series of periodic installments on some of the the current cyber enforcement doings by the self-appointed net-nannies of Ancient Free and Accepted Masonry.
A brief summary: http://freemasonrywatch.50megs.com was the old FW url they hijacked after bombarding the admins with complaints & http://freemasoninfo.ca was the url of M.A.S.O.N.(Masons Against Slanderous Offensive Nonsense)
The Website 'Freemasonrywatchwatch' has also disappeared. The M.O.M.(Ministry of Masons) discussion board http://www.mason-defender.net/forum/index.php?sid=59c23fc2bce8e06bef0ff99971ea7310 which was associated with Freemasonrywatchwatch now also appears completely inactive and it's aggressive banner and mission statement have been removed.
However the operators of these projects appear to be currently active on Above Top Secret Discussion Board in the 'Secret Societies' section http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/20/pg1/srtpages , and seem to be using 'The Lodge Room' group of boards http://www.thelodgeroom.com/forum/ 'The Lodgeroom Forum' which has an on again off again tyled policy in some of its section'(only open to posting and viewing by made Masons) as a base of operations.
Perhaps the Masters of the Craft determined that these 'ZEALOUS' Brothers were doing more harm than good to the reputation of the Fraternity.
The continual spamming of vulgarity filled posts to FW guestbooks and discussion forums and their twisted complaints to the same provider admins citing the posts they just made anonymously themselves, being one of the more noxious examples of their conduct.
Who knows exactly how many websites or forums which contained material related to freemasonry they disliked they succeeded in getting removed from the internet.
Or perhaps their efforts to 'silence the enemies of the craft' were deemed not sufficiently 'cunningly veiled' and the efforts continue still elsewhere in different forms?
Welcome to the wonderful world of Masonry on the Internet.
A brief summary: http://freemasonrywatch.50megs.com was the old FW url they hijacked after bombarding the admins with complaints & http://freemasoninfo.ca was the url of M.A.S.O.N.(Masons Against Slanderous Offensive Nonsense)
The Website 'Freemasonrywatchwatch' has also disappeared. The M.O.M.(Ministry of Masons) discussion board http://www.mason-defender.net/forum/index.php?sid=59c23fc2bce8e06bef0ff99971ea7310 which was associated with Freemasonrywatchwatch now also appears completely inactive and it's aggressive banner and mission statement have been removed.
However the operators of these projects appear to be currently active on Above Top Secret Discussion Board in the 'Secret Societies' section http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/20/pg1/srtpages , and seem to be using 'The Lodge Room' group of boards http://www.thelodgeroom.com/forum/ 'The Lodgeroom Forum' which has an on again off again tyled policy in some of its section'(only open to posting and viewing by made Masons) as a base of operations.
Perhaps the Masters of the Craft determined that these 'ZEALOUS' Brothers were doing more harm than good to the reputation of the Fraternity.
The continual spamming of vulgarity filled posts to FW guestbooks and discussion forums and their twisted complaints to the same provider admins citing the posts they just made anonymously themselves, being one of the more noxious examples of their conduct.
Who knows exactly how many websites or forums which contained material related to freemasonry they disliked they succeeded in getting removed from the internet.
Or perhaps their efforts to 'silence the enemies of the craft' were deemed not sufficiently 'cunningly veiled' and the efforts continue still elsewhere in different forms?
Welcome to the wonderful world of Masonry on the Internet.
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Over Ten Million Served
Saturday, August 13, 2005
Welcome
Welcome to the FW Blog
The Freemasonry Watch website has been on the net for a number of years and has grown to something like a thousand pages, and who knows how many linked articles.
We've had a number of guestbooks and discussion boards on free services over the years, most have been shut down after co ordinated complaint campaigns by Masons, who have also directed similar efforts against the website itself, sometimes to success but most often not.
It seems Masonry has had a hard time adapting to the 'new rules of the game' provided by the internet, which seems to have had a similar effect as the invention of the printing press, the tool 'Brother' William Morgan used to such grand effect, before the Masons of Western New York dumped him in chains on the bottom of the Niagara River.
Today we are in the era of the 'blog' although many net old timers prefer the discussion board format, which we have kept as well.
As far as I understand it a blog is a place where someone writes their thoughts about issues of the day and others post comments or link to it.
Perhaps commentary for this post, the first, could focus on what you think a blog is, how it should be used or run, etc..
Regards,
FW
The Freemasonry Watch website has been on the net for a number of years and has grown to something like a thousand pages, and who knows how many linked articles.
We've had a number of guestbooks and discussion boards on free services over the years, most have been shut down after co ordinated complaint campaigns by Masons, who have also directed similar efforts against the website itself, sometimes to success but most often not.
It seems Masonry has had a hard time adapting to the 'new rules of the game' provided by the internet, which seems to have had a similar effect as the invention of the printing press, the tool 'Brother' William Morgan used to such grand effect, before the Masons of Western New York dumped him in chains on the bottom of the Niagara River.
Today we are in the era of the 'blog' although many net old timers prefer the discussion board format, which we have kept as well.
As far as I understand it a blog is a place where someone writes their thoughts about issues of the day and others post comments or link to it.
Perhaps commentary for this post, the first, could focus on what you think a blog is, how it should be used or run, etc..
Regards,
FW
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)