Are the Freemasons evil?

[J. J.]

Here are some of the people that are or were Freemasons:

George Washinton, Franklin Roosevelt, Andrew Jackson, Gerald Ford, Jack Kemp, Harry Truman, Bob Dole, George McGovern, Scoop Jackson,  Jessie Jackson, Jesse Helms, Strom Thurmond, Thurgood Marshall, Earl Warren, Henry Wallace, Theodore Roosvelt, John Glenn, Trent Lott, Hubert Humphrey, Wendell Wilkie, Lyndon Johnson (not completed), Alexander Hamilton, Benidict Arnold, Benjamin Franklin, Andrew Johnson, William McKinley, James Buchannan and Harold Stassen.

Could you explain the political leanings of the members of this group?  Could you also explain why, if this group is so powerful, it produced so many losers?

[J. J.]

BTW:  Here is a legitimate Masonic site, which also has the heading "Our Black Sheep."

http://www.masonicinfo.com/famous.htm

[J. J.]

http://www.freemasonrywatch.org

That website is hilarious.  I was on there a long time ago.  While the Masons were traditionally VERY anti-Catholic that has faded over time and it is like any other fraternal organization- Guys having an excuse to get away from their wives for a little while.

I wouldn't exactly call it anti-Catholic, since PA State Senator Vincent Fumo is also a Freemason.  He's also a member of the Knights of Columbus and Mensa.  So was former PA state senator Frank Pecora, whom I've met, who is also Catholic.

[J. J.]

One can't be a Catholic and a Mason, since the Catholic church still prohibits membership. So if you join, you are basically excommunicated. This is one of the few issues I agree with the Catholic Chuch on.

And you can't be in favor of abortion and received communion, but Kerry does.  Fumo is, according to his biographic sketch, and in a member of a group that I believe requires you to be a practicing Catholic, the Knights of Columbus.

[J. J.]

Maybe Fumo is an honorary member of the Masons?

Not according to his bio.