Published, Jun 4, 2014 at 20:29
As I enter my 74th year I am surprised that in the second decade of the twenty first century there is no debate on the corrosive effects the ancient practices of freemasonry have on Scottish life.
I say corrosive as my personal experiences of freemasonry have, in the main been negative. My antipathy towards freemasonry may be because I have lived all my life in Scotland where there are more freemasons per head of population than any other country in the world, and where the Craft has a link to sectarianism through Orangeism.
Perhaps I am more sensitive to such things being Irish descended and nominally at least RC, but another Irish-descended man, felt the same way as I do about secret societies.
The following is a verbatim extract from a speech that President John F. Kennedy gave at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on April 27, 1961, to the American Newspaper Publishers Association.The speech was entitled: “The President and the Press”.
“The very word “secrecy” is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are, as a people, inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it.
See at 6 minutes 30 seconds on this video LINK
Given the prevalence of Masons in all walks of life I am not surprised that those who share my negative views (and the views of the late US president) do not air them openly. The Masons are not to be messed with after all.
However I am surprised that the positive case for freemasonry never seems to be made.
If it as good as the Masons maintain why are they not shouting it from the rooftops and why are they so secretive about being in the Craft?
I have not studied the subject to any extent, but have knowledge of it from being on the receiving end, so to speak, for at least half a century. So I thought that I should put my views on this taboo subject online and see if they might, perhaps, spark a debate on the merits or otherwise of the Craft.
I have divided the blog into five pages; the First Page dealing with my early life, the Second Page dealing with the unique sectarian nature of freemasonry in working-class Central Scotland, the Third Page my experiences during my life as a working man, the Fourth Page will deal with my experiences as a businessman, and the Fifth Page tells the sad tale of my public petition, PE01491, that was lodged with the Scottish Parliament LINK calling for legislation to make decision-makers register membership of secret societies.
PE01491 cites my own case, Stott v Minogue, and the Social Security Commissioners Appeal Decision in the case of Victor Duncan CSI/136/02 LINK
Sadly, despite the fact that my petition had received positive support from the public (with 3,116 people from 36 countries signing their support), the parliament could not be persuaded to bring Scotland in line with Norway as the clerk to the PPC did not present my letter from the Domstol to the committee and this caused me to withdraw my petition.
The letter from the Domstol was a cornerstone of my petiton and was written response to my enquiry in support of a previous, similar petition, I lodged in 2000.LINK
For this, my latest petition, I asked the Domstol to give me an update, and they have advised me that the number of judges who must register membership of the freemasons has been extended to include Land Court judges. Sadly Anne Peat the clerk to the committe did not give them my letter and though she apologised for this I had to reluctantly abandon my petition.
It is not as if the position in Norway is irellevent to us here in Scotland as using the number of Masons per head of population in Norway and their percentage in the judiciary and applying this in pro-rata basis, it would suggest Scotland has 88 Masonic judges/sheriffs! LINK
“Scotland’s Future?” a government White Paper published on 26 Nov 2013 mentions Norway Forty One times!
Given the Scottish Government’s admiration for the way that Norway has wisely stewarded their North Sea oil revenue, might he wish to emulate our Norse cousins in their openness and transparency in the justice system?
Who knows, but perhaps we might find out who the 88 Scots Masonic justices are, but then again maybe not as I understand Alex Salmond the former First Minister is a Mason, and other influential MSPs such as Angus MacDonald are also Masons. Or maybe they are not, because in the case of MacDonald he declared in the Scottish Parliament’s Register of Interests, that he was a Mason while sitting in judgement on my petition (Something Grand Lodge were happy to publicise LINK ) but has since removed this fact from the register! LINK
I thought that Masons made a vow for life. Does the secret handshake have a sell-by date? Have Brother MacDonald’s promises to help a brother in distress expired or been terminated? I think we should know, but then again, perhaps it’s a secret.
UPDATES
10 June 2015 Sid Gallagher’s book on his treatment at the hands of Masonic magistrates worth a read: LINK
11 December 2015 the third part of Freemasonry, dealing with my early work experiences in the now published.
18 July 2017 LINK to Extra-judicial register requirement for Norway’s judges.
29th December 2017: The Times reports that “Mafia join Italy’s freemasons to ‘do deals’ with judiciary” LINK
As Masons make up 2.9% of our population, compared to Italy’s 0.02% we have 147 times more brethren than them. If Italy has a big problem then Alba’s is enormous. Oh Brother!
My experiences of freemasonry as a businessman, the final episode of my Masonic musings can be found here: LINK