We need to stop saying Freemasonry is 'Secular'

I recently came across a social media post from a Provincial Grand Lodge celebrating World Religion Day. It was warm, well-intentioned, and completely contradictory. In one breath it declared Freemasonry “a secular organisation that welcomes men of all faiths.” In the next, it reminded readers that, as Masons, we must believe in a Supreme Being.

This is not an isolated mistake. I have noticed more and more Brethren describing the Craft as secular, and it needs to stop. The word secular effectively means a complete absence of religion. That is not Freemasonry. That has never been Freemasonry.

In this edition of Daily Masonic Progress, I am going to clarify why Freemasonry cannot be secular and offer the specific alternative we should use instead. We are going to:

1. Discover why Freemasonry’s teachings cannot function without their spiritual foundation.

2. Recognise the religious character embedded in every Lodge meeting you attend.

3. Understand how to accurately describe Freemasonry’s relationship with faith.

By the end, you will understand how to accurately describe Freemasonry’s relationship with religion, as well as why it is critical to get it right. And it’s not just me being pedantic, but it is to protect the fidelity of the Craft itself.

Like many words in today’s language, the meaning and usage has evolved over its time. In its original sense, the word secular meant that it was temporal rather than eternal, or what happened to us on this world rather than what happened to us after. It was more of a civil rather than ecclesiastical meaning, and I can understand why Brethren reach for this word. It is a fair attempt to describe our unique relationship with religion and spirituality, except that it is completely the wrong word to use.

Our degrees instruct us to be students of the liberal arts and sciences, particularly grammar and rhetoric, and this means we must ensure that our use of language is precise. After all, the language used in our ceremonies is precise and specific for a reason. There is a purpose behind maintaining the King James style of English in our degrees. The distinct meaning of words in that specific dialect carries weight and intention and reinforces the original meaning of the degrees when they were codified. Every phrase has been carefully chosen, and we do not use words carelessly in Lodge, and nor should we use them carelessly when describing what we do to the outside world.

There are a number of examples of words we use in our ceremonies which have taken on a different meaning in today’s society. For example, “diverse” in our ceremonies is very different to “diverse” in society. Consider what we mean when we use the term, and then consider how society uses the term “diversity” today and the inferences it carries. As Masons, we need to be mindful of the modern meaning and usage of words to ensure that we are properly representing what we intend.

When we originally used the term “without religion,” its intended application meant that we did not bring religious differences into what we did. It was more “without difference of religion” rather than what today’s meaning and understanding of secular actually is.

Today, secular means without religion, and not just without. It means the complete and utter absence of anything religious, spiritual, or faith-based entirely.

A secular space is one from which the sacred has been entirely removed. Not minimised. Not set aside. Removed and devoid of it altogether. It is a space where mentioning anything even slightly religious is offensive to those within it.

There is no prayer. There is no invocation of the Divine. There is no sacred text. There is no acknowledgement in any way, shape, or form of God, whatever name you choose to give Him. There is no acknowledgement of God, gods, or any higher power whatsoever.

The spiritual dimension does not exist in a secular framework because it has been deliberately and entirely removed.

Freemasonry promotes freedom of religion, where each Mason is free to believe in whichever God he so chooses, so long as his God is divine, supreme, and the creator of all things. However, to put it simply, secular means freedom from religion. It is not the liberty to choose whichever faith speaks to your soul; it is the removal of faith completely and altogether.

A secular government makes no reference to God. A secular school teaches no religious doctrine and offers no prayer. A secular public square excludes religious expression from shared space. These are not spaces where religion is merely private or personal. These are spaces where religion is absent by design.

More pointedly, secular has become the preferred term of those who advocate for the removal of religion from public life. It is the banner under which atheist and humanist organisations march. When we call ourselves secular, we align ourselves with that movement, whether we intend to or not.

This is not who we are. Freemasonry does not achieve harmony by excluding religion. We achieve it by transcending sectarian division while remaining firmly grounded in the sacred.

To understand why Freemasonry cannot be secular, we must first understand what our degrees actually teach. Our degrees operate on three distinct layers of allegory, each addressing a different dimension of human experience.

The first is the praxeological layer. This is the realm of the body, of physical experience, of the tangible world we navigate every day. Our rituals use concrete symbols, tools of the operative mason, actions performed in sacred space. This layer is how we practically apply the lessons of our degrees to our daily lives and work.

The second is the psychological layer. This is the realm of the mind, of self-knowledge, of the inner work we must each undertake. In the psychological layer, we explore the inner meaning and symbolic significance of the allegory, focusing on how it reflects the human condition, personal growth, and the journey of self-discovery. The journey from Entered Apprentice to Master Mason mirrors the journey of psychological development. We descend into darkness, confront mortality, and emerge transformed. This is not mere theatre. It is a map of the soul’s passage toward wholeness.

The third is the theological layer. This is the realm of the spirit, of our relationship with the Divine, of the sacred ground upon which all Masonic work ultimately rests. Every degree points beyond itself toward the Great Architect of the Universe. Every symbol, rightly understood, connects the Mason to something transcendent.

Body, mind, and spirit. All three layers are essential. Remove any one of them, and the structure collapses.

Consider how the 24-inch gauge operates across all three layers. At the praxeological level, it instructs us to measure our tasks, break them down into manageable portions, and tackle each portion in turn. It is a practical tool for managing our time and our work. At the psychological level, it teaches us to examine how we divide our attention and energy, to reflect on whether we are living in balance, and to consider what portions of ourselves we are neglecting. At the theological level, it reminds us that our time on this earth is measured, that each portion of our day is a gift from the Creator, and that we are accountable for how we spend it in His service and in service to our fellow man.

One symbol. Three layers. Body, mind, and spirit united in a single teaching.

A secular organisation might offer the praxeological layer, presenting practical frameworks and self-improvement techniques. It might even offer the psychological layer, providing tools for self-reflection and personal growth. But it cannot offer the theological layer. By definition, it has excluded it.

Freemasonry has not excluded it. The theological layer is not an optional extra for those who happen to be religious. It is built into every degree, every symbol, every word of our ritual. To remove it would be to gut the Craft of its deepest meaning.

Without the theological layer, everything else collapses.

Consider our central allegory: the building of King Solomon’s Temple. This is not merely a story about construction techniques or project management. It is a sacred narrative drawn from Scripture, recording the building of a house for God. Remove the theological layer, and King Solomon’s Temple becomes just another building project. The allegory loses its power because it loses its purpose.

The same is true for our Masonic principles. Morality, equality, integrity, brotherly love, relief, and truth are not self-sustaining concepts. They require a foundation. Without the theological layer, these principles are not grounded in anything beyond personal preference. Morality becomes opinion. Justice becomes whatever those in power decide it is. Integrity becomes negotiable depending on circumstances.

The theological layer provides objective truth. With God as the foundation, right and wrong are not matters of subjective interpretation. They are fixed. They are real. They exist whether we acknowledge them or not.

Consider the operative mason’s craft. To build a structure that will stand, the mason must work with objective standards. Square means something specific. Level means something specific. Perpendicular means something specific. These are not matters of opinion. If a mason decides that “square” is whatever feels right to him, the building will not stand. It will be weak, unstable, and eventually collapse, causing significant harm to all within it.

The same principle applies to moral and spiritual structures. Without objective truth, without a fixed standard against which to measure our conduct, the entire edifice becomes unstable. Our principles become suggestions rather than foundations. Our obligations become optional rather than binding.

This is not merely a Masonic concern. We can observe it in society at large. As the number of people declaring themselves non-religious continues to rise, so too does the erosion of basic decency and shared moral understanding. When there is no objective standard, every man becomes a law unto himself. The result is not freedom but chaos.

Freemasonry has always understood this. We do not merely encourage belief in a Supreme Being as a matter of tradition. We require it because without that foundation, nothing else we teach can stand.

Think about what occurs every time we open a Lodge. The Volume of the Sacred Law is placed upon the altar and opened. Not closed, not hidden away, not treated as optional. Opened. It remains there throughout our work, a constant presence at the centre of everything we do.

In our Craft, the primary Volume of the Sacred Law is the Holy Bible. This is not arbitrary, nor does it vary by jurisdiction. Across all regular Freemasonry globally, the Holy Bible sits at the centre of our work. The Bible contains God’s word, but it also contains the documented allegory upon which our entire system is built: the construction of King Solomon’s Temple. That narrative runs through our degrees like a golden thread. The Temple’s architecture, its craftsmen, its sacred geometry, its tragic history; all of it forms the symbolic foundation of the Masonic journey. Without the Bible, we would lose not only the divine authority that underpins our obligations but also the very story from which our ritual draws its meaning.

When a candidate of another faith is initiated, his own sacred text may be added to the altar alongside the Bible, and he takes his obligation upon the book his conscience holds sacred. This is how we honour the different faiths held by our members. But the Bible remains present as the primary Volume of the Sacred Law, because it is the source of our allegory. King Solomon’s Temple is not found in the Quran or the Vedas. It is found in Scripture, and Scripture remains central to our work.

This is not decoration. The VSL is one of the Three Great Lights of Freemasonry, and no Lodge can be opened, no degree conferred, no Masonic work conducted without it. Our ritual tells us that the VSL governs our faith. It is the rule and guide to our faith.

A secular organisation would never place a holy book at the centre of its proceedings. A secular organisation would consider such a thing inappropriate, perhaps even exclusionary. Yet for us, it is foundational. Without the VSL open upon the altar, we are not a Lodge. We are just men in a room.

Before any man can be initiated into Freemasonry, he is asked a question. The wording varies by jurisdiction, but the substance is universal: Do you believe in a Supreme Being?

This is not a formality. It is a Landmark of our Craft. A man who cannot answer yes cannot become a Mason. It does not matter how good his character, how sincere his interest, how strong his recommendation. Without belief in the Divine Creator, the door remains closed.

Secular organisations do not have religious prerequisites for membership. They cannot, by definition. The moment you require belief in God as a condition of entry, you have stepped outside the secular framework entirely.

Freemasonry stepped outside that framework centuries ago. We have never been inside it.

There is a better term, one that accurately describes our position: non-sectarian.

Non-sectarian means not affiliated with or favouring any particular religious denomination. It acknowledges the presence of faith, welcomes the differences between faiths, and refuses to privilege one tradition over another. A non-sectarian space does not exclude religion. It includes all religions without bias.

This is precisely what we do. We require belief in a Supreme Being, but we do not prescribe how that belief must be expressed. The Christian, the Jew, the Muslim, the Hindu, the Sikh may all kneel at the same altar, take the same obligations, and call each other Brother. Their faiths differ. Their Freemasonry does not.

The primary VSL on our altar is always the Bible, and alongside it may sit the Torah, the Quran, the Vedas, or another sacred text recognised by the candidate’s faith. This is not secular tolerance. This is non-sectarian inclusion.

Freemasonry has long described itself as non-partisan in matters of politics. We do not exclude political opinion from our membership. We simply decline to favour any party, faction, or ideology over another. A Conservative and a Labour voter may sit side by side in Lodge, united by something that transcends their political differences.

Non-partisan does not mean apolitical. It does not mean our members have no political views. It means we, as an institution, take no side.

The parallel for religion is non-sectarian. We do not exclude religious belief. We require it. But we decline to favour any denomination, tradition, or creed over another. A Catholic and a Protestant, a Sunni and a Shia, may sit side by side in Lodge, united by their shared belief in the Great Architect of the Universe.

Non-partisan in politics. Non-sectarian in religion. The pairing is clean, accurate, and true to who we are.

Consider the building of King Solomon’s Temple. The stones were hewn, squared, and numbered in the quarries, prepared so precisely that when they arrived at the Temple site, they could be fitted together without the sound of hammer, axe, or any tool of iron. This was not a matter of “close enough is good enough.” Every stone had to be precisely sized. Every angle had to be precisely square. Every surface had to be precisely level and plumb.

The operative masons understood that precision was not optional. A stone that was almost square would compromise the integrity of the wall. A foundation that was nearly level would cause the structure above it to lean, to crack, and eventually to fall. When you are building something intended to stand for generations, there is no room for approximation.

But this principle extends far beyond human construction. Consider the universe itself. The Great Architect was precise in His creation. The forces of nature, the constants that govern physics, the distances between celestial bodies, the conditions required for life to exist: all of these are calibrated with such extraordinary precision that if any one of them were even slightly different, the universe as we know it would not function. Stars would not form. Planets would not hold their orbits. Life would be impossible. Creation itself testifies to the necessity of precision.

We are speculative Masons. We do not build physical temples, but we build something no less enduring: a system of moral and spiritual instruction intended to stand the test of time. The same principle applies. If we are imprecise in our language, if we use words that do not mean what we intend, we compromise the integrity of what we are building. The message becomes distorted. The meaning shifts. What we pass on to future generations is not the Craft as it was entrusted to us, but a weakened version of it.

When we call ourselves secular, we are laying a crooked stone. It does not fit. It contradicts everything around it. And if we continue to use it, we weaken the structure we are trying to build.

Precision in language is not pedantry. It is fidelity to the Craft. It is the same care the operative masons took when they squared their stones and tested their work against the plumb and level. It reflects the precision of the Great Architect Himself. We owe our Brethren, our candidates, and the generations who will follow us nothing less.

Freemasonry places the sacred at the centre of everything we do. The VSL on the altar. The prayer at opening and closing. The invocation of the Great Architect. The moral lessons drawn from the Holy Bible. The obligations taken before God.

We are not a religion. We offer no sacraments, no path to salvation, no theology of our own. But we are deeply, unavoidably, fundamentally religious in character.

We presuppose faith. Freemasonry assumes faith already exists in the candidate. We do not create it, teach it, or provide it. It is a prerequisite. The candidate must arrive with belief already in place.

We build upon it. Freemasonry takes that existing faith and uses it as a foundation. Our moral teachings, our allegories, our spiritual development all rest upon what the member already believes. We are not the ground floor. We are the structure erected on ground the candidate has already laid.

We would not exist without it. Without faith as the foundation, the entire Masonic system collapses. The obligations have no weight if not taken before God, because God is the witness. The Volume of the Sacred Law has no authority if it is merely a prop. The theological layer of our allegory has no meaning if there is no Divine.

To call this secular is to misunderstand both Freemasonry and the meaning of words.

We are non-sectarian. Let us say so clearly, and let us retire the word that contradicts who we are.

Faith is not optional, peripheral, or incidental to Freemasonry. It is the necessary condition upon which everything else depends.