Freemasonry
Redwood Lodge’s founders. Digital collage — Shai Afsai
Religious Accommodation in Rhode Island Freemasonry — A Lecture (2019)
This essay, in different forms, was delivered as a lecture at the Redwood Lodge meeting held in Freemasons’ Hall, East Providence, Rhode Island, on January 14, 2019; at the Harmony Lodge meeting held in the Doric Masonic Center, Cranston, Rhode Island, on May 1, 2018; at the Jenks Lodge meeting held in the Masonic Temple, Pawtucket, Rhode Island, on April 24, 2017; and at the Collegium Luminosum meeting held in Freemasons’ Hall, East Providence, Rhode Island, on November 30, 2015.
Some of its content and ideas were also explored in various ways in the following earlier essays: ‘A Postscript to “Jews, Freemasons, and Religious Accommodation: Rhode Island’s Redwood Lodge and the Congregation of the Sons of Israel and David,”’ Rhode Island History Journal 76 (2018): 72–86; ‘“Freemasonry and Religious Accommodation in Rhode Island” — An Addendum,’ Heredom: The Transactions of the Scottish Rite Research Society 25 (2017): 621–630; ‘A Clarification: The 1889 Masonic Cornerstone Ceremony and Temple Beth-El,’ Rhode Island Jewish Historical Notes 17 (2017): 475–486; ‘Judaism and Freemasonry in Rhode Island,’ The Online Review of Rhode Island History, 28 October 2017; ‘Rhode Island Craft Freemasonry and Sectarianism,’ The Square Magazine, June 2017: 22–24; ‘Freemasonry and Religious Accommodation in Rhode Island,’ Heredom: The Transactions of the Scottish Rite Research Society 23 (2015): 137–170; ‘Jews and Freemasons in Providence: Temple Beth-El and Redwood Lodge,’ Rhode Island Jewish Historical Notes 16 (2013): 417–427; ‘Jews, Freemasons, and Religious Accommodation: Rhode Island’s Redwood Lodge and the Congregation of the Sons of Israel and David,’ Rhode Island History Journal 71 (2013): 2–19; and ‘The Lion and the Lamb: A Look at the Symbolism of Redwood Lodge’s Coat of Arms,’ The Journal of the Masonic Society 11 (2010/2011): 12–14.
Rhode Island History Journal 76:2 (Summer/Fall 2018), pp. 72–86
Thomas Paine, Deism, and the Masonic Fraternity
Journal of the American Revolution, Annual Volume 2018 (Yardley: Westholme, 2018), pp. 343–354
Thomas Paine’s close associations with famous Freemasons in America, England, and France have not only frequently been taken as evidence that he was a Freemason himself, but have also been seen as explaining his sudden rise to literary and political prominence after arriving in the American colonies from England. His writing of an essay “On the Origin of Free-Masonry” several years before his death has similarly been interpreted as proof that he was a committed member of the fraternity.
However, a close reading of “On the Origin of Free-Masonry” shows that Paine was not a Freemason at the time of its composition and that the essay’s purpose is to attack organized religion as much as to explicate Freemasonry’s beginnings. “On the Origin of Free-Masonry,” which posits a druid origin to the Masonic fraternity, is of a piece with the confrontational religious approach Paine embraced in his later works, where he denounced revealed religion and endorsed deism.
An earlier version of this article is available online:
Thomas Paine, Deism, and the Masonic Fraternity, Journal of the American Revolution, November 7, 2016
Judaism and Freemasonry in Rhode Island
The Online Review of Rhode Island History, October 28, 2017
Freemasonry and Religious Accommodation in Rhode Island
Heredom: The Transactions of the Scottish Rite Research Society 23 (2015), pp. 137–170
An earlier article on this subject is available online:
Rhode Island History Journal 71:1 (Winter/Spring 2013), pp. 2–19