There are fewer secrets to Freemasonry than most non-members imagine;
even many Masons are not entirely clear on what is and is not secret in
Masonry. The moral principles of Masonry are the same as those taught
you in Sunday school or at your mother’s knee (sometimes over it!); it
is only the exact procedures and words by which those principles are
taught in Masonry that are secret, for it is the knowledge of those that
distinguishes a Mason from those who are not members. To be entitled to
the fellowship peculiar to the Lodge, a Mason must be able to identify
himself, and these secrets provide the means for doing so.
A
better term than 'secrecy' would be privacy. Masonry is not a public
organization like a town council. It is an association
of private citizens, just like a golf club or a church. No one except members has a right to know about the internal workings of any
of these things. They are private to the group, not 'secret'.
