Why You Can’t Be a Lutheran Pastor and a Freemason

Secret Societies, Ecclesiastical Practice, and Gnostic Heresies

When I was in the process of Candidacy in the ELCA, I had to sign a lot of documents. These were related to scholarships and loans for school, leases for on-campus housing, one document where I promised to be chaste, and one where, among other things, I affirmed that I was not and had never been a member of the Freemasons. That one stood out to me. A college dalliance with organized leftist politics had me scanning for clauses about being a member of the Communist Party, but I hadn’t expected anything about the Freemasons. So, what gives?

Like most people in the US, what I think I know about the Freemasons mostly comes from pop culture, which mostly links them to conspiracies to secretly rule the world or shape history or something. What I actually knew about them was pretty limited: they are a social club exclusively for men and they have meetings, hang out, and participate in charity. They network, make connections, and maybe even strike a few deals, but that’s to be expected any time prominent people congregate. I found no real evidence of secret plans for world domination or human sacrifice. In fact, I even got a tour of a lodge from a Freemason!