What If?

The Crusade, the Holocaust, Northern Ireland, the Six Days War, Chechnya, Pakistan and India, 9-11, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia and the war with Iraq.  These are a very few of the wars, police actions, social unrest, whatever you want to call them that have marred not only ancient history but the world we live in today.

What has sparked all this hatred and killing over the years is intolerance.  Whether that intolerance is based on religion, politics, or race, is immaterial.  It all leads us down the same path.  I would like to read you several quotes.  “To God belongs the future of the heavens and earth; all matters will be returned to Him.  Therefore, you shall worship Him and put your trust in Him.  Your Lord is never unaware of anything you do” (Koran).

“You shall steadfastly preserve, for God never fails to reward the righteous” (Koran)

“We have given the Children of Israel the Scripture, Wisdom, and Prophethood, and provided them with good provisions and we prefer them over all others people." (Koran)

“You must fulfill what has crossed your lips and perform what you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God, having made the promise with your own mouth.”

“Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall cease from labour; even at plowing time and harvest time you shall cease from labour.”

These quotes are taken out of the Koran and the Torah.  They are not too different, if they are different at all, from passages that could be read out of the Bible.  But due to intolerance this means nothing.  Some of the fiercest hatreds are between people’s that have exactly the same religious backgrounds. In Christianity, for example, the killing in Northern Ireland has gone on for decades if not hundreds of years, all based on a difference of opinion between the Catholic and Protestant churches even though we worship the same God and read the same Bible.  In the middle-east Shiite and Suni Muslims kill each other willingly due to minor differences in interpretations of the Koran.  This religious difference was one of the main reasons for the Iran-Iraq war and look at where the consequences of that have lead.  Iraq was armed, become jealous of Kuwait oil, began the Dessert Storm, that caused sanctions which continue today, those sanctions cause bitterness in the Muslim community, who arm terrorists, who cause 9-11 which has lead to an invasion of Afghanistan and to a possible war with Iraq.

These are religious based but many are race based.  The American South in the 50's and 60's, the distant past and today.  Persecution and killing based on colour and colour alone.  Imagine not being able to use a water fountain because you were a different colour.  Look at India where your station in life, even today, in many instances, is based on the status of your parents and can not or will not be changed. Tribes in Africa war with each other for control of the government of countries, the winner to control the resources and oppress the loser.  The world today is full of such examples.  Genetically speaking Arabs and Jews are identical as are the Tribes of most of the African Countries.  People are killing their cousins if not their brothers.

What if the world was more like Masonry?  As Masons we do not make distinctions based on creed or colour, position or title.  All are Masons.  We consciously do not name God, Allah or Jehovah but use terms instead that are not based on any religion.  The Great Architect of the Universe, the Grand Geometrician of the Universe and the Most High are terms which do not prejudice us towards or against any religion.  A pauper can have as much or more say in the running and governance of his lodge as an individual born with a silver spoon. 

We do not have symbols like the Star of David, the Crescent Moon or the Cross displayed in our lodges for this purpose.  We are a non denominational organization.  As long as you believe in a Higher Being you can be obligated on any Holy Book.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the rest of the world believed as we do, that the worth of a man is not based on what his religion is, how much money he has, what his skin colour is or what his politics are.  The worth of a man should be based on who he is and what his moral code demands of him. 

Until the world reaches a point where we can look at another without seeing this multitude of differences we as Masons will always have a calling .  We all should strive to make the world more like Masonry.  Above the petty differences that cause intolerance and able to see the good in others due to these differences.  We must teach the world to judge the man for the man, as Masons do and disregard anything that is not based on the universal truths of morality and virtue.

What if the world was more like Masonry?