Freemasonry: A Very Short Introduction - Andreas Önnerfors 2017
The 21st century
Three centuries of freemasonry
It is always challenging to reflect on and interpret contemporary events, but it is possible to account for a few lines of development that have characterized the first fifteen or so years of the new millennium. First of all, research into freemasonry has increased to a new level through academic and masonic collaboration. Political developments after 1990 made huge amounts of source material looted by the Nazis (and then again by the Soviets) available, in some cases dating back more than 250 years to when they were originally kept as the private property of individual lodges. While these records were subsequently returned to their original owners, collections frequently ended up in public archives, open to non-masonic researchers given certain restrictions. This happened, for instance, in Germany, simply for pragmatic reasons: most lodges had been eradicated and their buildings destroyed between 1935 and 1945.
A new availability of sources prompted private masonic collections also to adopt a more open policy. Pioneered by individual researchers during the last decades of the 20th century, a new generation of academics turned to sources that had never been consulted before. Furthermore, around the year 2000, the UGLE and the Dutch Order of Freemasons invested in university-based research initiatives (in Sheffield and Leiden), an example which has been followed by the Grand Lodges of California and of Canada (Ontario) and other masonic initiatives. Platforms for international congresses were established, bringing together academics and freemasons who share common research interests.
These joint ventures have however not proven to be without friction since the internal perspectives of practitioners in freemasonry frequently clash with the external, problematizing, and critical analyses of their observers. This holds particularly true when masonic issues such as the divide between different forms of freemasonry, the alleged role of freemasonry in important historical developments, or female freemasonry are addressed. Common understanding has yet to be established. Within academia, PhD and research projects have been carried out and a string of conferences and symposia have been arranged. All these initiatives have in sum created a huge body of academic literature and new insights into the historical development of freemasonry, with its cultural and social implications. New light has for instance been shed on freemasonry in the Middle East, female participation, freemasonry as a topic in the 18th-century press, or its significance as a rare instance of esoteric practices in a Western context. This trend towards more quality-assessed research contributes to a larger transparency. Within freemasonry, public relations processes have also been adapted to the digital age in which social media and Internet presence are self-evident tools for communication and interaction with members as much as with the society in which they exist.
A second trend, however contradictory, is that despite the open availability of academically assessed research and transparent information politics from most grand lodges, misapprehensions, negative stereotypes, and conspiracy myths do still prevail. They exercise a considerable and persistent influence upon popular perception, media, and culture, a trend that has only accelerated in the digital age. Tens of thousands of search results on the Internet will tell its readers about plots of world dominance, the ’true’ meaning of the One Dollar note, or that pop stars and actors use their music and movies to disseminate masonic or alleged ’Illuminati’ symbols in order to control the mind-set of the masses. Claims are made that communists, capitalists, Zionists, aliens, the Bilderberg Group, Jesuits, the CIA, and the mafia alike all use freemasonry or other secret societies as a smoke-screen for their evil machinations, working to bring about the collapse of human society as we know it. The problematic side of this development is that the age of the Internet has also created phenomena like fact-resistant echo chambers where people only listen to information that confirms whatever they want to hear.
Partly, this development has been championed by a new wave of fiction about freemasonry promoted in books like Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code (2003) or The Lost Symbol (2009; explicitly referencing freemasonry) or movies like National Treasure (2004). These fictional accounts meet popular demand for narratives in which world history really is structured by a band of conspirators who are invisible to the general public. Possibly this is a reaction to secularization and the alleged disappearance of master narratives in our late or post-modern world. When sense no longer is provided coherently by institutions or authorities like Church, science, literature, or education, people are inclined to search for meaning elsewhere.
The third trend refers to a contemporary resurgence of interest in masonic membership. This might be occasioned by the impact of popular culture, the new openness in masonic public relations, or a new willingness to engage in community organizations on a local level. Another reason might be that the uncertainties of the late modern world make membership in a centuries-old organization attractive. It promises to connect back in time and provide space for traditional and offline forms of ritualized and quite elaborate (usually male) sociability with direct interpersonal encounters. Indeed, as discussed earlier, recent years have witnessed a growing female participation in freemasonry. Despite these trends, divisive issues of religion, race, gender, and sexual orientation do still haunt freemasonry on a global level. Meanwhile, the threat remains that a resurgence of authoritarian politics worldwide might once again negatively impact upon the brotherhood.