I thought it would be worth posting a new topic about the Temple and Freemasonry from the perspective of a Freemason (32nd Degree) and ex-Mormon. I'm not in this forum much but I came across a post about it and wanted to chime in to make this topic more accessible, and give the perspective on the relationship between the two from my point of view as a longstanding Freemason.


A lot of people ask about the relationship between Freemasonry (more specifically Masonic ritual) and the Mormon Temple. I was a Mormon for most of my life, I joined the Masonic lodge 30 years ago. I did literally hundreds (maybe thousands) of proxy ritual work(s) over my Mormon career. I resigned my membership in Mormonism about 7 years ago.

The LDS Church recently did a PR video about Freemasonry and Mormonism. Since it was mostly propaganda (you can find it on YouTube), I wanted to clear a few things up.


Joseph Smith adopted Masonic ritual. There's no way getting around that. There are many, many similarities, but the ritual isn't 100% the same - and as the LDS Church has been modifying the Endowment ritual (like the elimination of the penalties after 1990), some of the ritual is still similar, but much is different. I would expect the Endowment to become less Masonic over time, and it wouldn't surprise me if they eliminate the square and compass from the garments, for example.

The history between the early Mormons and Freemasonry is fascinating. In a nutshell, both Hiram and JS Senior were Freemasons. Anti-Masonry was rampant in upstate New York. After the Mormons moved to Missouri and founded Nauvoo JS was made a "mason at sight" by the Grand Master (master of the Grand Lodge of Illinois - every US state has one) - a privilege that only the Grand Master can bestow. To be made a "mason at sight" means that you are "made" a Mason, without having to do the ritual work, including extensive studying and memorization work.


At the time, Mormons were a powerful voting block and Nauvoo was fast becoming the second largest city in the state after Chicago. A few weeks after his being made a mason at sight JS was initiated, passed, and raised (the first 3 degrees), which means that he witnessed the ritual work first-hand for the first time.

A few weeks after that, he claimed that an angel revealed the rituals to him (which were super Masonic, with a few exceptions). He advised the 12 and early brethren to join lodges. One possible reason was that he wanted more political influence/be recognized as legit and turn down the heat against Mormons. JS was uber political. Keep in mind that he ran to be the US President, which I believe he claimed was to bring awareness to the plight of the Mormons/as a missionary tool.

IMHO, Joseph Smith used the Fraternity for his own ends. If you look at his history with the Fraternity, it's pretty clear. He was fascinated by folk magic, and I'm sure some of this mentality drew him to the Craft as well as his political ends.

After a while (don't remember exactly how long) he started founding lodges without charters from the Grand Lodge of Illinois - a huge no-no. Lodges require a charter (permission) from the Grand Lodge to be considered legitimate. Because of this, all lodges in Nauvoo were suspended (kicked out), and their members no longer considered Masons.

The long and short of all this is that the temple ritual derived from Masonic ritual, even though (of course) the early leaders claimed that they had "the priesthood" and the "true ritual." There's an out-of-print book by a man named (I think) Cecil McGavin that explored the topic, I think published by Bookcraft. Forgive me, but it was a long time ago that I read it.

When the Mormons arrived in Salt Lake they didn't start lodges, which indicates to me that it was just a means to an end in Illinois,

Eventually, a Grand Lodge was established in Utah. It's just up the street from the Temple, btw. The Grand Lodge of Utah excluded Mormons until the 1990's I think (maybe earlier - there was a lot of bad blood because of the Nauvoo fiasco), but has rescinded the ban. Mormons may join Masonic lodges freely now, although Mormon leaders (in my experience) strongly discourage it. When I joined, I was an active Mormon and my bishop was really against it, as was my uber-Mormon (now ex-) wife. Mormons I told about it were against my involvement in their typical passive-aggressive way.

We Freemasons are a bunch of freethinkers, and religious dogma/authority doesn't sit well with us in general. There's nothing anti-Mormon in Lodges - the worst I've seen is some eye-rolling if you mention Mormonism. And yes, seeing the similarities was one of the books that ultimately broke my bookshelf - but just one. When I resigned Mormon membership and divorced my ex seven years ago, I got very active in the Lodge. It's an important part of my life now, and a way to hang with cool guys who are interesting and philosophical without being religious.

Great post, on topic- thanks!

Sounds perfect: "... and a way to hang with cool guys who are interesting and philosophical without being religious".

As Mormons is IMperfect.

Mormons took the most secret ("sacred") things from Masonry and denies any and all of it.

Such fools

In Moses 5:30-31, after killing Abel Cain becomes "Master Mahan," the "master of this great secret" (murder and get gain), after taking oaths administered directly and personally by Satan.

"Master Mahan," of course, sounds a lot like Master Mason. JS "restored" the Book of Moses as part of his Bible v2.0 Project in 1830-31, when he was still deep into his anti-Masonic phase.

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Several books have been published on the subject. One is "Mormonism and Masonry," first published in 1935. The Amazon edition is from 1956.

https://www.amazon.com/Mormonism-Masonry-Cecil-McGavin/dp/B0007FA814

I haven't read it, but from the Amazon summary it appears to be a "faithful" mormon response.

Another dates from 1924 with the same title, different author.

https://www.worldcat.org/title/mormonism-and-masonry/oclc/2603076

A more recent one from 2009 is "Exploring the Connection Between Mormons and Masons." The author is a mormon and a BYU grad, so take it for what it's worth.