This is actually a long and complicated question that I have not been able to find a real good [b:1pnrehrf]Catholic[/b:1pnrehrf] answer to. I do happen to have a tract about Masons that is published by Evangelicals and it uses mostly their theology to explain why Masons are not considered Christian.

Some of the information from that tract is valuable and I will see if I can regurgitate some of the good parts.

Basically, the thing is that they do not believe that Christ is the only way to heaven. They accept other people of other faiths as being equally valid. They also have some different theology on Jesus – I don’t remember the exact details. Also, I think part of it is the whole “secret society” thing where they are another group that is not necessarily there to promote general Christian values, but their own with their own rites (ceremonial things) that are secret. The church is meant to be public and open, not secret. Jesus did not create a secret society, but one where all are allowed to join.

All of the rites of the Catholic Church are public and meant to be shared with the community – that is the whole ideal behind Christianity is the community, not secrecy.

It’s kind of hard to find good information on the Masons. Most of their websites that I have seen are pretty vague. According to their websites I think the basic requirement for membership is “being a man on good will.” Now whatever that means…who knows? “Good will” is something that has been debated about by philosphers for years.

Anyway, I hope this helps. ” title=”Smile” />

P.S. From a moderator standpoint I am going to move this topic to the Non-Christian Religions forum.