Anti-Masonic movements are nothing new. They have arisen periodically ever since lodges first went public in Europe. Usually these movements arose in response to the secretive nature of the craft. Pope Clement XII's Edict Against Masonry, the facts that in 1831 William Wirt and Amos Ellmaker ran for President and Vice President on an Anti-Masonry ticket, and the written recorded of a speach by President John Quincy Adams against masonry, are all indications of the past history of anti-masonry. During colonial times, lodges were accused of a variety of crimes includingtorture and murder. 1 It was easy for such unsubsstantiated rumors to abound since the craft was limited in defending itself. Anti-Masonic movements continued periokically, though they actually did little to harm masonry, even with the stinging criticism of such Christian notables as Dwight L. Moody and charles G. finney, until the 20th century.

The anti-Masonic movement of the 20th century has taken on a decidedly different focus and approach in its attacks on masonry.2 In order to understand this movement, one needs to understand its etiology, which distinctively sets it apart from the antecedents of this movement. To understand the etiology of this movement one must know something of dynamics of the protestant church of the 20th century which gave birth to it. The 20th century found the Protestqant Church facing an internal struggle. 3 A new school of Biblical School scholars were stressing a radically new approach to Biblical Scholarship. This approach, known as "Higher Criticism" served to spawn several theological movements such as Liberalism, New-Orthodoxy, and Fundamentalism. The fundamentalists were opposed to "Higher ample testimony to the sincerity of this small but vocal branch of protestantism. 5 That this movement continued to grow and become even more virulent can be seen in the intensity of their protest against the publication of the Rivised Standard Version of the Bible in the early 1950s.

Out of this movement came several evangelical thrusts. The first was an almost militant stance of protecting the Holy Bible from all threats, including scholars, whom the fundamentalists considered a dangerous threat, since they came from within the Church. The second thrust, which obviously evolved from the first, was an almost obsession with cults and heresies which were considered to be the greatest threat to the church (orthodozxy). Taking note of the Biblical emphasis on the cult and heresies of the firest century. 6 the fundamentalists launched an all out attack on cults. By the late 40s and early 50s scholars were gathering information on such cults as the Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Church of Christian Sciences, et.el. Information was gathered on their etiology, theology, and doctrine. Walter Martin's magnum opus, Kingdom of the cults. 7 was the culmination of such efforts.

It was out of this obsession with cults that a new anti-masonic movement arose. There were three reasons why masonry was targeted.

1. Masons were in all churches. the sheer size of the fraternity was seen as an indication of size of the assumed threat.

2. Masonry is secretive. The fact that masonry has secrets was seen as an indication that it had something to hide from the public. These secrets would no doubt reveal a sinister side to masonry.

3. Masonry has a religious connection. The fact that masonry has a religious connection is evidence of the heresy of masonry. i.e., that masonry had secrets (exoteric-truths) unavailable to the church. This gave rise to the indictment of masonry as a psedudo-religion.

It must be noted here that masonry was particularly vulnerable to these anti-masonic attacks for the following reasons.

1. Masonry has numerous bodies with differing precepts thus making it difficult to offer a comprehensive statement that reflects a synthesis of its variant parts.

2. Masons are reluctant to debate or defend the craft, especially since they are encouraged not to. 

3. Masonry does have secrets that pertain to its rituals, which are zealously guarded despite the fact they have all been exposed.

4. Masorny has had a number of writers within its own ranks who have published books and essays that heve exposed contra dictionary and inflammatory idesa.

The vulnerability of masonry and that reluctance of the craft to respond to attacks, except superficially, have combined to give anti-masons a sense of progress in their attacks. Since the mid 1980s these attacks have continued with fervor and intensity. One Christian Bookstore, recently surveyed, had five books, two booklets, and two pamphlets that attack masonry. The most striking thing abour these attacks is that they are gaining notice within the Church. This is evidenced by the volume of sales of these same resources in the Christion Bookstore that was previously mentioned. There are also videos that provide much of the same anti-masonic rhetoric but also demonstrate the degrees of the blue lodge. It is obvious that former masons have collaborated in this effort. The craft must realize that no amount of Public Relations Campaigns, Shriner's Parades, or discussions within the lodge will resolve these attacks nor undo the damage they have done. Moreover, now that the Church is involved, on a growing scale, the craft cannot no longer be ostrich masons, with their heads buried in the sand, thinking that by ignoring this it will go away.