Mormonism and Freemasonry

The relationship between Mormonism and Freemasonry began early in the life of Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement.

Smith's older brother, Hyrum, and possibly his father, Joseph, Sr. were Freemasons while the family lived near Palmyra, New York.

Nevertheless, by the 1840s, Smith and several prominent Latter Day Saints had become Freemasons and joined the Masonic Lodge in Nauvoo, Illinois.

[4] There is, therefore, only a 1 in 9 chance that the documentation cited in Terry Chateau's quote references Joseph Smith Sr and not some other man by the same name.

[5] He and Sidney Rigdon were initiated as Entered Apprentices in the evening after the Installation, thereby becoming members of the newly-formed Nauvoo lodge; Abraham Jonas presided over that degree ceremony.

... Joseph and Sidney [Rigdon] were inducted into formal Masonry ... on the same day ..." being made "Masons on Sight" by the Illinois Grandmaster.

by Dr. Reed C. Durham, Jr., as printed in "Joseph Smith and Masonry: No Help for the Widow's Son", Martin Pub.

[10] However, minutes from the Nauvoo lodge on the same day do state, "Joseph Smith applied for the third and sublime degree...he was duly raised..."[11] On 17 March 1842, the Relief Society was established as an auxiliary group for the female members of the church.

[21] Only a few additional meetings were held prior to departure of those who followed Young to the Great Basin in 1846 after the succession crisis.

[27] At least the first five presidents of the LDS Church are confirmed to have gone through the three degrees of Freemasonry: They had all joined while living in Nauvoo, Illinois, bringing the practice westward when the Saints migrated to Utah.

LDS Church temple worship shares a limited commonality of symbols, signs, and vocabulary with Freemasonry, including aprons, tokens, ritualistic raising of the arms, etc.

[43] Additionally, the symbols of the square and compasses exist in other ancient traditions far older than Masonry such as in Christian art and the Chinese legend Fuxi and Nüwa.

The similarities were marked enough for Heber Kimball to quote Joseph saying that Freemasonry "was taken from the priesthood but has become degen[e]rated.

"Brigham Young is quoted as describing the origin of the temple rituals in a fashion that directly relates to the story of Hiram Abiff from Masonic folklore.

Although Young changed some of the key Masonic aspects about Abiff to fit better with the view of LDS Church temples, the story is the same: It is true that Solomon built a temple for the purpose of giving endowments, but from what we can learn of the history of that time they have very few if any endowments and one of the high priests [Hiram Abiff] was murdered by wicked and corrupt men, who had already begun to apostatize, because he would not reveal those things appertaining to the priesthood that was forbidden him to reveal until he came to the proper place.After the Saints' failed attempts to obtain charters from England and Mexico, Brigham Young decided not to pursue the goal any further.

It would not do, however, to refuse a young man who wanted to be married in the Temple a recommend because of his being a member of the Church and from its ordinances.

The following question has recently been asked us by one of our Stake Presidencies: How strict shall we be with young men who wish to go to the temple who have united themselves with secret orders?

"It is true that many of our people have been led to join some of these societies on the ground that their aims and objects are purely charitable and social in their character, and besides, inducements are held out of procuring life insurance at greatly reduced rates.

But however worthy their aims and objects may be, this fact remains: They are outside the pale of the church and kingdom of God, and brethren in allying themselves with them divide their allegiance with organizations that are man-made, and which have not been devised of the Lord for the building up of Zion; and in doing this they render themselves liable to have their feelings alienated, in whole or in part, from the church which requires their all.

We may say on this point, that it is the testimony of brethren who have joined organizations of this character and severed their connections with them, that their tendency is to draw away from the church; and it may be said and expected, without question, if the lines were sharply drawn between Mormon and non-Mormon, that all such organizations would be found in the ranks of our enemies, on the principle set forth in the saying of our Savior, "Those who are not for us are against us."

We understand that plausible excuses are given for joining these organization [sic] which amount to certain financial advantages which it is expected our brethren will obtain either for themselves during their lifetime or for their families, at their death.

While we cannot consent to aught calculated to bring division and consequent weakness to the church, at the same time with have no desire whatever to deal harshly with brethren who have been led to become members of lodges or secret societies; but to all such who have faith enough to withdraw from them, and never be found again associating yourselves with any organization which has not been instituted of the Lord for the building up of His Zion in the earth, and to all brethren who manifest a desire to receive this advice we would give temple recommends, also permit them to join in prayer circles if found otherwise worthy.

In addition to the above we feel to direct your attention to the importance of the young men under your jurisdiction receiving proper instruction on this subject before they join secret societies; and we would suggest, instead of making this a subject for public discourse, that it be talked of at priesthood and quorum meetings.Snow's outlook on secret societies in general may have been formed from: Later policies in the church against joining secret societies in general had been formed more due to such trade unions and organizations as noted above; however, when the Grand Lodge of Utah lifted its formal ban against members of the Church, the Church removed mention of secret societies from its policies.

Since this time, the LDS Church's First Presidency has not made an official statement as to whether Freemasonry in particular is compatible with its membership.

"[44] A more tolerant statement is found in the book Encyclopedia of Mormonism, written by church members, stating, "The philosophy and major tenets of Freemasonry are not fundamentally incompatible with the teaching, theology, and doctrines of the Latter-day Saints.

Exceptions have historically been those grand lodges that employ the Swedish Rite system, which requires a Christian Trinitarian belief of its members; these are located in the Nordic/Scandinavian countries.

So, even in some of the countries where the Swedish Rite is employed, there still exist alternate options for Latter-day Saints to become Masons.

In 2019, the LDS Church produced a YouTube video in its Now You Know series entitled "Joseph Smith and Masonry."