Introduction:

For 40 years after the Second World War, Freemasonry was over-protective of its privacy. There was also a policy of not talking to the media or correcting any factual errors which appeared there.

As a result, many people developed strange perceptions of what Freemasonry is and what Freemasons do.

Since 1984, Freemasonry in England has returned to being open in order to dispel the many myths that have grown over the years.

These days, Freemasons are encouraged to talk about Freemasonry to their families, friends and colleagues.

Spokesmen are available and have been interviewed many times on television, radio and in the press.

Anyone can come and look round Freemasons’ Hall in London and many other Masonic meeting places around the country have public open days.

This website is part of the process of better informing people about Freemasonry.

“Many writers and thinkers have tried to define Freemasonry but it really defeats definition. It is too complex, too profound in conception, to be easily expressed in words.

Perhaps the simplest and best definition of all is the phrase “the brotherhood of man under the fatherhood of God.” Our Masonic forefathers had an understanding of human needs and human aspirations.

They may have never dreamed of the mindless computer which governs our lives, or the fission of matter which threatens our lives, but they understood human nature and what motivates the spirit of man.

Thus from a simple process of using stone and mortar for building they progressed to the most important of life’s functions, the building of character.”

-Louis L. Williams