08/25/2026
🔨 RACISM HAS NO PLACE IN FREEMASONRY.
I'm going to say this plainly.
If you entertain racist beliefs, you are standing in direct opposition to some of the most fundamental principles Freemasonry claims to teach.
I don't care how many degrees you've received.
I don't care how many years you've been a Mason.
I don't care what chair you've occupied, what jewel hangs from your collar, how perfect your ritual is, or how many Grand Lodge officers know your name.
If you believe another man is inherently beneath you because of the colour of his skin or his race, I genuinely have to wonder:
What exactly attracted you to Freemasonry in the first place?
Because somewhere along the journey, you missed something enormous.
📐 WE MEET UPON THE LEVEL.
We say those words constantly.
But they're meaningless if we only believe them when the Brother standing beside us looks like us.
The Level doesn't ask about the colour of a man's skin.
The Square doesn't change according to ethnicity.
The Compasses don't draw different boundaries around different races.
The Plumb doesn't measure one man differently from another.
And the obligation of Brotherly Love doesn't come with a racial exemption.
If our symbols mean anything, they have to mean something when applying them becomes uncomfortable.
🏛️ AND UGLE HAS BEEN REMARKABLY CLEAR ABOUT THIS.
Let's establish something first.
There is no worldwide governing body of Freemasonry.
The United Grand Lodge of England does not rule every Grand Lodge on Earth. Individual Grand Lodges are sovereign bodies, and recognition is a relationship between them. UGLE describes recognition as determining whether another Grand Lodge is considered regular and whether intervisitation between their members is permitted.
But given UGLE's historical influence and the enormous family of recognized Grand Lodges that developed from British Masonic traditions, I believe its example deserves serious attention.
And its current Equality Policy could hardly be clearer:
“Freemasonry stood against political, racial and religious discrimination.”
UGLE goes on to state explicitly that, in the course of Freemasonry, a member must not discriminate against, harass or victimise anybody on the basis of race.
And this isn't merely a suggestion about good manners.
UGLE states that violations can constitute conduct bringing Freemasonry into disrepute and can become a matter for Masonic discipline. It even recognizes that similar conduct outside a Masonic setting may constitute Masonic misconduct.
Good.
That's exactly the standard we should expect from ourselves.
🔨 WE SHOULD DEMAND BETTER OF MASONS.
We love talking about making good men better.
Well...
better than what?
Better at memorizing ritual?
Better at wearing regalia?
Better at opening and closing Lodge?
Sure.
But surely the whole damn point goes deeper than that.
Better character.
Better judgment.
Greater tolerance.
More compassion.
More self-examination.
Greater recognition of the dignity of our fellow man.
UGLE today identifies its guiding principles as Integrity, Friendship, Respect and Service, and traces Masonic tradition to Enlightenment ideals including tolerance, meritocracy and high standards of interpersonal civility.
Explain to me where racial superiority fits into any of those.
It doesn't.
⚒️ AND WE NEED TO STOP HIDING BEHIND “THAT'S JUST HIS OPINION.”
No.
A Brother preferring Ford over Chevy is an opinion.
A Brother thinking pineapple belongs on pizza is an opinion.
A Brother believing another race of human beings is inherently inferior is something considerably more serious.
We don't have to hate that Brother.
In fact, Masonry gives us another option.
Challenge him.
Talk to him.
Educate him.
Put the working tools to work.
Give a man an opportunity to examine his prejudices and knock another rough corner from his ashlar.
People can change.
That's supposedly why we're here.
But refusing to tolerate racism doesn't mean we have to tolerate racist behaviour indefinitely.
Brotherly Love does not require moral cowardice.
🕯️ AND HERE'S WHERE I WILL GO FURTHER.
This next part is my personal opinion, not a statement of policy from my Lodge, District, Grand Lodge or UGLE.
I would like to see the recognized Masonic world eventually take an even stronger position.
If a Grand Lodge openly embraces racial discrimination as institutional policy—or knowingly protects explicit racial discrimination rather than confronting it—I believe other regular Grand Lodges should seriously reconsider whether Masonic recognition should continue.
Because recognition should mean something.
UGLE's formal Basic Principles for Grand Lodge Recognition establish standards by which another Grand Lodge's regularity is judged.
Racial equality is not presently written there as a separate Basic Principle in the way I'm proposing.
Perhaps someday it should be.
Because in my view, institutionalized racial supremacy is impossible to reconcile with meeting upon the Level, Brotherly Love, tolerance, merit and the moral equality we claim to practice.
If we're going to talk about regularity, then character and conduct shouldn't suddenly become irrelevant.
🌍 IMAGINE WHAT FREEMASONRY COULD REPRESENT.
A Lodge where a Black man, White man, Asian man, Indigenous man, Arab man, Latino man—or any other Brother—can walk through the same door...
Stand before the same altar...
Take obligations upon the Sacred Law binding upon his conscience...
Receive the same working tools...
And call the men around him:
Brother.
Not because we pretend differences don't exist.
But because we've decided those differences do not determine a man's human worth.
That is something worth defending.
Especially in a world that seems increasingly eager to divide human beings into tribes.
So if you're carrying racial hatred into the Lodge...
put it on the rough ashlar.
Examine it.
Question where it came from.
Challenge it.
Take the Common Gavel to it.
Because Freemasonry isn't supposed to reinforce every prejudice we walked through the door carrying.
It's supposed to make us confront them.
We demand better of our candidates.
We demand better of our officers.
We demand better ritual.
We demand better leadership.
Then we damn well ought to demand better character from ourselves.
Meet upon the Level.
Act upon the Square.
Practice Brotherly Love.
And recognize the dignity of the man standing beside you.
Regardless of the colour of his skin.
Racism has no place in Freemasonry.
Full stop.
🔨 Keep building, Brethren.
These are my personal views and do not necessarily reflect those of my Lodge, District or Grand Lodge.
