BSA 100 – Lessons in Organization

The Boy Scouts of America in three parts:
Part I – Being a Boy Scout | Part II – Masonic Origins? | Part III – Organization

national office

Having looked at the past 100 years of the Boy Scouts, it is important to spend some time on their organization so as to put into perspective how it operates and perhaps take a lesson for how a member centric organization functions with a national leadership while still retaining its local focus. The value of having a national organization is easy to see when you look beyond the titles and examine the work being performed in service to the organization. Rather than platitudes and titles, an engine of progress and motion is working behind the scenes to grow, nurture, and build the overall brand, something that Freemasonry does not have in a way comparable to that of the BSA.

An initial aspect of interest with the Boy Scouts as a body is that the national organization structure removes the diversity of individual states from practicing Scouting in their own manner and sets a national standard by which the entire body adheres to. Further it delegates down from the top to the increasingly more local organizations the management and practice down to the Troop level through committees and charter councils. At the lowest rungs the troop becomes, like the lodge, the local corporate unit, still broken into patrols which function within the troop. This seems to have allowed for the troops to retain a diversity of its local community from which the members reside.

An interesting aspect of juxtapose is to look at the Scout Troop to a system, more familiar to readers, of the Masonic lodge. Troops are made up of members from the local community, staffed by their parents and guardians, and chartered by an organization (church, civic group, business, etc) to operate. The group meets in weekly meetings for the purpose of training, planning, rank progression, with a variety of activities taking place at any given time. The meeting has leadership that directs it (similar to a Worshipful Master) with junior officers (like the Wardens) who assist where and when necessary. The meetings have a distinct purpose however, and like a corporate business meeting, it breaks out into teams to accomplish its various tasks, something unlike a Masonic Lodge meeting.

Scouting Stamp
The U.S. Postal Service recognized the Boy Scouts of America on July 27, 2010 at the National Jamboree with the release of the Scouting stamp, recognizing 100 years of Scouting in America.

To appreciate the local operation, we should look at how the Scouts operate from a national level that makes its way to the troops.

First Masonry, as most readers will know, is based on a lodge system with each local lodge reporting loosely to a regional management (or District Inspector) but directly through its charter reports to a state level governance, called the Grand Lodge. In North American Masonry, the reporting structure stops there as directives, edicts, publications, and announcements come from it. The Grand Lodge also functions as the state point of contact for marketing, brand protection, and broader national communication. In a direct line, the individual Mason reports to a lodge, and the lodge to a Grand Lodge. In this line of succession there is some blurred lines of responsibility as to public interaction and marketing go (if any exist at all), and practice is set by the Grand Lodge based loosely on its custom which varies in nuance from state to state in dress, recognition between bodies, landmarks of the institution, and custom. At a high level lodges have similar practice, but custom and dress has a great degree of variance from local lodges between states, because of a lack of standardization. Observational, this has created silo’s of Freemasonry rather than a unified national body as with the Boy Scouts. Perhaps in its founding this was an organizational hazard and part of its planned incorporation to cultivate a unified message and purpose.

Structurally, the Boy Scout’s are localized at every level so as to meet the needs of its constituency. Diagrammatically, the troop reports to a unit committee, which reports to the Chartered Organization which then reports to a District, and then a Local Council. The Local council in return reports up to an Area Committee, which then report to a Regional who in turn reports to a National Council.

By reporting level this looks like:

National Council, BSA

This level is the overall leadership in the Executive Board and sets the general direction of the of the work of the Scouts. This Board is entirely volunteer except for the National Commissioner, International Commissioner, and the Chief Scout Executive. The Council develops programs; sets and maintains quality standards in training, leadership selection, uniforming, registration records, literature development, and advancement requirements. It does not directly administer to the troops, packs, venturing crews, etc, rather it delegates downward.

Regional Council (Committee and Board)

The country is broken into Regions for better management and governed by a Regional Committee and Council. The Council exercises the authority and responsibility of the Regional Committee whenever the Regional Committee is not in session but both function to implement national BSA policy and programs. Additionally it plans events and activities for its specific region and to train members of the various standing committees. All members at this level are also volunteers.

The Regional Board conducts the affairs of Scouting in the region on a day to day basis in conformity with regional committee and board policy

Area Council

Regions are further broken into areas where the Area council functions similarly o the Regional in setting, managing, and implementing local activities.

Local Council

Local councils are usually not-for-profit private corporations registered within the State in which they are headquartered, they administer any program they wish in the BSA portfolio through an annually issued charter to administer the BSA programs in their area. To hold the charter the Council adheres to certain program, financial and accounting standards. Local councils are privately funded and are not financially linked to the National Council or local units. Funding comes from donations, corporate sponsors, and special events. The local council is led by volunteers, with administration performed by a staff of professional Scouters. The Council President is the top volunteer; the Scout Executive is the top professional. In many ways this appears as essentially a franchise from the national body.

Local Councils promote the Scouting programs, register units and personnel, provide facilities and leadership for year-round outdoor programs and summer camps, and insure the general principals of scouting are adhered to. Additionally they insure the integrity of the merit badge system, ensures badges-and insignia are protected, and provide training to the Local Units and community groups using the Scouting program. Most importantly the Local Council sets the standards in Scout policies (locally).

Local Councils report to Regional Councils on finances, scouting membership, numbers of scouts attending camps and on their review of charter renewal applications for the Troops and Packs.

District

The District is an optional add-on to mobilize resources in the growth and success of Scouting units in the area. Traditionally they are composed of volunteers, and provide training, and programs for Scouts.

Chartered Organization

This is the sponsoring body that owns and runs a particular Scout Troop granted as a franchise of sorts) to operate a Boy Scout unit. Typically the chartered organization has goals similar to the Scouting organization such as a school, church, civic organization, business, etc. The chartering organization provides a meeting place for the Scouts, selects a Scoutmaster, approves unit leadership and provides a representative to liaise with the Troop.

Unit committee

The Unit committee is three composed of three or more qualified adults selected by the chartered organization who’s responsibility is to deliver quality unit programs, manage unit administration, and utilizes programs to accomplish the Troops goals and development.

Individual Unit – Troop

The Unit is composed of the Scouts themselves, which are broken into patrols which have their own structure of operation including Scribes, Quartermasters, Librarians, Chaplin, Guides, Historians, Assistant Patrol Leaders, and instructors, as well as many others. This is the essential functioning component of the Scouts and the most fundamental expression of the Boy Scouts purpose.

At the Troop level, then, is the foundation of the Scouts life, like the Lodge for the Mason. The Troop is a fluid body of new and returning members which functions to facilitate the Scout experience. Meetings consist of training on the basis of First aid to the types of lashings to affix two or more poles together. A function of the Scout meeting is the individual progress of the Scouts. Unlike Masonry, the Boy Scouts have a variety of testable points by which the candidate progresses. These points, spread between merit badges, knot tying, projects, teaching, and memorization. These processes serve to bring the Scout into a tight relationship with the corporate body, progressing through a series of ranks demarcated with each subsequent achievement. It’s in these progressions that a highly valuable lesson is taught to the member , lessons retained for the rest of their life. For example the Scout learns the fundamentals of first aid, how to tie a knot to secure materials in place, conservation, leadership, and even how to plan a complex and multi thousand dollar project. All of this takes place weekly at the recurring troop meeting.

Adapted from the U.S. Scout Service Project.

As you can see, the organization is deep in that there is a tremendous infrastructure to protect its purpose and product. One of the most notable elements in recent history is the close and careful cultivation of the Boy Scout Brand which is one of its strongest corporate properties and essentially the product itself which is licensed or franchised to the Chartering body.

This level of brand development/protection is outside the capacity of Masonry at present and likely the cause of its slip in public awareness (especially when contrasted in the work of the Shrine which has a highly cultivated presence and brand). The model of the Scouts organization is something that Masonry can take a lesson from in several ways. First to disassociate the idea of the Lodge as the focal point for the group activity which allows the attention instead to be focused on activities, projects, and community engagement rather than utility bills and infrastructure management. The importance of the body of work performed out shines the landed importance on the place in which the work takes place. This is not to suggest a franchising, but the experimentation of an un-landed lodge (like a traveling lodge) that can focus on its community involvement by literally being in the community.

Also, having a National Organization, unlike the Masonic Grand Lodge system, allows for a specific set of standardized processes that can be made universal so that each operating lodge has a basis of operation integrity especially when coupled with a leadership structure which allows the adoption of locally flavored practice and preferences with permutations built into the foundational rules local users. In essence, the infrastructure allows for the BSA Troops to operate without worry as to what they are in operation of, they have a National Standard of material and an activity chain of National command supporting and growing the organization.  We can see this in the basic principal of the Boy Scout Handbook where essentially the codex of Scouting resides.

Responsibility still ultimately falls on the local body, but with an arsenal of tools, training, a strong stable brand, and a national level of marketing the work of the local can more specifically focus on the work of building Boy Scouts.

In conceiving the organization, its easy to say that it is a complex model of operation. Boy Scout Troops are thriving across the country (and world) and continue to offer programs for young people. A Wikipedia article on recent Boy Scout Controversies places numbers just over 2.7 million members (in all Scouting groups) as of 2009, with a similar downward trend that Freemasonry is experiencing (roughly a 22% average per decade loss).

Without a doubt there are many lessons to take away from the Boy Scouts, from their history, their operation, and their organization. Unlike most century old institutions, looking at what has taken shape in the last 100 years to coalesce into what it is today, an outsider can be encouraged to imagine what the Boy Scouts of America will become in its next century. Strong leadership from early visionaries and a strong organizational foundation has allowed for the progression of a clear vision of purpose to promote “patriotism, courage, self-reliance, and kindred values”, all of which the Boy Scouts have cultivated. They are truly an American institution and an asset to the spirit of young people everywhere. Being Prepared is every bit the noble endeavor it seems and on so many levels the very basis of shaping young men for the ideal of civic engagement to become good men.

All in all, the Boy Scouts have had a stellar century and this centennial celebration is a milestone in American culture and a monumental achievement for American youth, to which the only thing to say is congratulations on a terrific organization. It is absolutely one that Freemasonry should take note from in both its operation and its outlook. The Scouts sprang up in the minds of those who saw the need for action in the face of a rapidly changing nation, foreshadowing the national call to instill values in children, and it still blazes a trail to educate, motivate, and activate the imagination and active civic expression in fast maturing boys. Despite recent controversies, the Boy Scouts is still a member run organization operating in a manner to uphold its principals which perhaps puts it at odds with the present day zeitgeist of multiple perspectives and ever shifting outlooks. But, just as it adapted to a changing world in 1910, so too have the Scouts emerged to embrace the 21st century at its 2010 centennial.

If you want to support your local Scouting body, I encourage you to visit the Boy Scouts of America web site. Or, with your donation, help support scouting through their fund raising which supports their camps, equipment, and uniforms.

Or, if you have a young man looking to improve himself, I recommend joining the Scouts today.

To gaze into the abyss…

We stand, as it were, on the shore, and see multitudes of our fellow beings struggling in the water, stretching forth their arms, sinking, drowning, and we are powerless to assist them.

Felix Adler

We Will Never Forget

“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”

Friedrich Nietzsche

BSA 100 – Origins Scouting and Masonry

The Boy Scouts of America in three parts:
Part I – Being a Boy Scout | Part II – Origins | Part III – Organization

There are many stories about how the Boy Scouts came into existence:  Unknown Scouts on foggy London streets, clubs organized for wayward boys, or alternative organizations to an increasingly urbanized way of life.  What is for sure is the zeitgeist, or spirit of the age, in which the idea of the Scouts emerged.

In short, as the middle class began to take shape in early 20th century and families moved from rural farms to urban city, there was a growing concern among some about the loss of patriotism and individualism instilled in young people.  Part of that drive was a sort of early social welfare that included programs to provide physical, mental, and spiritual development for those who wanted them.  The YMCA was an early promoter of these reforms and an early proponent (and organizer) for the Scouts which in quick turn, in 1910, incorporated as the Boy Scouts of America with the express purpose of teaching boys “…patriotism, courage, self-reliance, and kindred values.” The Scouts first Director, Edgar Robinson was a former YMCA administrator who brought his skills and expertise and applied them to the newly formed Boy Scouts.

Read a complete time-line of the Early Scouts formation.

The prospect of a National Boys movement as such even garnered a national Federal Charter by Congress in 1916 as both a Patriotic and National organization.

What the scouts captured was an ideal citizen, a compassionate, reverent, and committed member.  The ideal of this is codified in its mission statement which has gone through some evolution from its origins to present day.

1936 – “Each generation as it comes to maturity has no more important duty than that of teaching high ideals and proper behavior to the generation which follows.”

2008 – “to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law”

Two notable predecessors of the Boy Scouts in the United States were the Woodcraft Indians started by Ernest Thompson Seton at Cos Cob, Connecticut, in 1902 and the Sons of Daniel Boone founded by Daniel Carter Beard in 1905 at Cincinnati, Ohio.  A more pronounced source came in 1907 from the founding of the Scouting movement in England by British General Robert Baden-Powell who used elements of Seton’s works to create Several small local scouting programs for boys.

Wikipedia says of this inspiration:

Beard (right) with Scouting founder Robert Baden-Powell (seated) and Ernest Thompson Seton (left)

“In 1909, Chicago publisher W. D. Boyce was visiting London, where he encountered the Unknown Scout and learned of the Scouting movement. Soon after his return to the U.S., Boyce incorporated the Boy Scouts of America on February 8, 1910. Edgar M. Robinson and Lee F. Hanmer became interested in the nascent BSA movement and convinced Boyce to turn the program over to the YMCA for development in April 1910. Robinson enlisted Seton, Beard, Charles Eastman and other prominent leaders in the early youth movements. In January 1911, Robinson turned the movement over to James E. West who became the first Chief Scout Executive and Scouting began to expand in the U.S.”

It makes for an interesting Masonic aside to find the parallels between Masonry and Scouting, yet only a few concrete connections to American Freemasonry can be found that have carried to present day.

First of those connections being through Daniel Carter Beard and his Sons of Daniel Boone, of which a notable Masonic award exists today for the support of Freemasonry and Boy Scouting aptly called the Daniel Carter Beard Masonic Scouter Award which is presented to any Master Mason who has made significant contributions to youth through Scouting. This is a selective award, the purpose of which is to recognize the recipient’s outstanding service to youth through the Boy Scouts of America.

A second, and perhaps more prevalent in the daily operation of lodge and troop, is the National Association of Masonic Scouters which works to foster and develop support for Boy Scouts of America by and among Freemasons while upholding the tenants of Freemasonry.

A third connection is a bit more at the root of the early organization.  Following Robinson as director of the newly formed BSA, James E. West was appointed director.  West also happened to be a Freemason (complete records of his lodge affiliations have been a challenge to find).

Freemasons for Dummies blog recently reported on the Lodge opened at the 100th Jamboree in conjunction with Fredericksburg Lodge No. 4. Said of the event: The meeting was simply amazing as nearly 500 masons attended. The Lodge was opened on the Entered Apprentice degree, so that all Masons could attend. Most of us were dressed in our full scout uniforms. Introductions were made and the wealth of Masonic knowledge in the room was impressive. Numerous Masters and Past Masters, 3-4 past state Grand Masters, heads of Scottish Rite and York Rite bodies, etc.

In his career, West was instrumental in the early Scouts being a strong champion for it on many fronts, building its acceptance and credibility to many groups including the unions who disliked its early anti organizing language and with the Catholic Church (which at first prohibited membership because of its non Catholic start with the then very protestant YMCA).

Looking beyond Beards contribution and West’s obvious affiliations to Masonry, another possible Masonic connection to the Boy Scouts comes through Baden-Powell himself.

Much has been written on this subject, and its easy to find many references that say that Baden-Powell was NOT a Freemason (including a letter from then UGLE Secretary J. MacDonald in 1990) , and that the Scouts were in no way a Masonic club for boys.

Despite the similarities between the two and the obvious awards and rank progression it is possible, however, to find a small connection to Baden-Powell and Masonry through Rudyard Kipling, who, as many readers will know, was a very prolific Mason and who took his Masonry very seriously in both his works of fiction (See the The Man Who Would Be King film and its original book) and in his poetry (see The Mother Lodge).  Baden-Powell and Kipling kept very close association from the start of their friendship which began somewhere between 1882 and 1884 in Lahare, India.  Its doubtful to say that the friendship led to a Masonry based civic organization for boys, but its possible to see how through conversation and comparison some elements might have been wound together, especially as you read more extensively into their friendship which continued for many years until their passing.

Further, its more likely to see how the spirit of the age contributed to the early Scouting movement, especially as youth orders seemed to lend themselves to more grown up responsibilities expressed, in some measure, through the British Scout Defense corps (or even perhaps in the more nefarious Hitler Youth which existed from 1922 to 1945, the Young

The Young Soviet Pioneers

Soviet Pioneers from 1922 – 1991, or even more alarming the American Boy Scouts which was a parallel of the Boy Scouts of America which existed from 1910-1920 and organized as a more militaristic program to train boys).  A bolder aspect of this ideal of civic citizen contribution can perhaps be seen in the Civil Conservation Corps which had a two fold aspect of building the well-being of the country and putting unemployed men to work.  In that same period there was a growing sense of losing the youth to the changing society, and the Boy Scouts were an early precognition of just how important it was to keep the youth engaged and conscious to civic involvement.  In the years following the BSA incorporation, Eleanor Roosevelt was a champion for youth engagement as she championed in 1930 the American Youth Congress which saw, then as now, the need to engage youth and instill values.

But, from the relationship of Baden-Powell and Kipling, and this spirit of the age, came the essence of what would become the Cub Scouts taking shape from Kipling’s work “The Jungle Book” published n 1893 (the Disney film came out in 194s) .  The Wolf Cubs, as Baden-Powell had styled them, felt that the Jungle Book was every bit suitable to the idea of youth scouting.  Kipling was in such agreement that he even contributed much of his Jungle Book to it including the exact method of the Wolf Cub howl instructing its call as:

“A-KAY-Lar with an accent on the second syllable which can be prolonged indefinitely. The initial A on the other hand is almost a grunt – ‘Er’- Try this and you will see the beauty of the thing.”

Some other notable elements from The Jungle book that made there way into the Cub Scouts include “Law of the Pack,” “Akela,” “Wolf Cub,” “grand howl,” “den,” and “pack” all (and more) used with Kipling’s blessing.

See the History of Cub Scouting for a time line of its formation up to its 75th anniversary in 2005.

The obvious connections aside, Freemasonry and the Boy Scouts have a few other traces in common.  One less obvious but perhaps overt connection is in the Order of the Arrow, created in 1915, which has been described as a Masonic ritual embedded into the Boy Scout organization.

Created by E. Uner Goodman and Carroll Edison, the two collaborated to make a club within the club – to create a camp fraternity to improve the Scout’s summer camp experience.

From Wikipedia:

Goodman and Edson decided that a “camp fraternity” was the way to improve the summer camp experience and to keep the older boys coming back. In developing this program they borrowed from the traditions and practices of several other organizations. Edward Cave’s Boy’s Camp Book was consulted for the concept of a camp society that would perpetuate camp traditions. College fraternities  were also influential for their concepts of brotherhood and rituals, and the idea of new members pledging themselves to the new organization. Ernest Thompson Seton’s Woodcraft Indians program was also consulted for its use of American Indian lore to make the organization interesting and appealing to youth. Other influences include the Brotherhood of Andrew and Phillip, a Presbyterian church youth group with which Goodman had been involved as a young man, and Freemasonry. The traditions and rituals of the latter contributed more to the basic structure of the rituals than any other organization. In an interview with Edson during his later years, he recalled that the task of writing the first rituals of the society was assigned to an early member who was “a 32nd degree Mason.” Familiar terms such as “lodge” and “obligation,” were borrowed from Masonic practice, as were some ceremonial practices. Even the early national meeting was called a “Grand Lodge,” thought to be a Masonic reference. Goodman became a Mason only after the OA was established.

Goodman was Raised in Lamberton Lodge No. 487, Philadelphia, Pa. about 1917 according to Denslow’s 10,000 Famous Freemasons.

The aim of the order of the arrow is to allow Scouts to choose from among their numbers the individual who best exemplifies the ideals of Scouting.  Those selected are to embody a spirit of unselfish service and brotherhood.

Goodman said of it:

“The Order of the Arrow is a ‘thing of the spirit’ rather than of mechanics. Organization, operational procedure, and paraphernalia are necessary in any large and growing movement, but they are not what count in the end. The things of the spirit count: Brotherhood, in a day when there is too much hatred at home and abroad; Cheerfulness, in a day when the pessimists have the floor; Service, in a day when millions are interested only in getting or grasping rather than giving.”

From the other side of the threshold there are some Masonic Grand Lodges that recognize cross over clubs like the National Association of Masonic Scouters and promotes a greater level of interactivity with troops.  The most significant interactions with Freemasonry today, however, are those Masons with sons who have served in some capacity in the leadership of their Troop or Local Council.

Freemasonry does not rank in the top 10 of organizations that support the Scouts (the top 5 being the LDS Church, the Methodist Church, the Roman Catholic Church, PTA Groups, and private citizen groups) which is a terrible missed opportunity for lodges to engage and support an organization in such affinity to its own ideals.  The reason for this I can only extrapolate is that Scouting is perceived to encroach on its own membership from participating in DeMolay, the Masonic youth order, founded in 1919.

With this briefest glimpse at the Scouts origins, the next step is to look at its organization to appreciate its flexible and member friendly approach to put the priority on the Scouter and less on the place the Scouts practice.

Up Next: Part III – Lessons in BSA Organization.

BSA100 – Boy Scouts of America, 100 Years of Being Prepared.

The Boy Scouts of America in three parts:
Part I – Being a Boy Scout | Part II – Origins | Part III – Organization

2010 marked a significant milestone in the lives of young men all across the continent as the Boys Scouts of America celebrated its 100th Anniversary.

Started in 1906 the Boy Scouts, in the course of a few short years and group mergers, took its present shape in 1910 to become the premier young mans organization that it is today. Premier because few organizations produce the quality young men that the Eagle Scout embodies. For its adult leadership, the Wood Badge is the mature persons Eagle Scout equivalent which embodies the spirit of the Scouts into the adult leader who assumes the leadership role to guide the young men up that progressive climb.

boyscout

Said by some to be a quagmire of paperwork, the BSA is a mostly volunteer organization composed of parents and interested community members to guide its course. At the local level, troops (like lodges) are individually chartered and provide a space in which the member boys meet.

Like Freemasonry, the Scouts are a private membership organization that through and through is values-based. At its core is the teaching of being a responsible citizen, character development, educational programs, and self-reliance through participation in a wide range of outdoor activities.

The Scout Oath sums very squarely what it represents as it states:

On my honor I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country
and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong,
mentally awake, and morally straight.

Which is in turn supported by the Scout Law which says:

A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly,
courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty,
brave, clean, and reverent.

Both statements are meritorious to any individual that applies them to their life, but the Boy Scouts weave these ideas into the very fiber of the organization such that it becomes as much a part of the members being, as the characteristic brown and green uniform.

It is very much a way of life, with an optimistic way to look at a past ideal of social virtue and civic engagement, something little seen today and even less instilled in young men. This social virtue is so much a component of the Boy Scouts that the highest rank, the Eagle Scout, is predicated on the completion of a service project for one of the communities in which the scout circulates. By its very conduct it is very easy to see that the ideal of a Boy Scout sums into the ideal of Leadership, Achievement, Character, Service, and Environmental Appreciation (did I mention the Scouts camp a lot?).

From a Masonic point of view, we can see the similarity to the aims of the organization in its workings. Both have a progressive line of promotion that elevates the junior member to a higher standing within the body – Tenderfoot to Eagle/Apprentice to Master – predicated on a set of civic principals and virtues of self improvement.

In the Masonic Lodge, the degree of Master as the most common level of lodge practice, the Scouts conduct meetings with all grades in attendance and impressively with greater participation, as they see all the participants as contributors to the units prosperity.

This mixed rank participation allows more experienced members to interact with younger scouts to teach, train, and impart their experience to those who will one day hold those elder leadership positions.

Unlike Masonry, the Boy Scouts has an age cap in which the youth in attendance need progress to his ability before he comes of age at 18. There is some latitude for those working on their Eagle Rank, but essentially, the Scouting door closes at the 18th birthday. That does not, however, eradicate the youths ability to continue on with the experiences of Scouting as there is a secondary body called the Venturing which has an older age ceiling with further rank advancement and meritorious awards. But, once a scout always a scout and opportunities abound for mature scouts to volunteer with his troop, mentor up and coming scouts, and evolve into a Scout Master in the future.

Also, for the college bound scout, there is a college fraternity – Alpha Phi Omega or APO which is roughly 17,000 students strong and more than 350,000 alumni. The purpose of APO is a service fraternity with principals derived from the Scout Oath and Law to promote leadership and service to humanity. This collegiate fraternity is a natural next-step for any Scout looking to continue his scouting path at university.

One important aspect of the Boy Scouts is faith, something that is inherent in scouting, but not in a fundamental way.

The official word on faith in Scouting is:

Scouting encourages each young person to begin a spiritual journey through the practice of his or her faith tradition. One of the key tenets of Scouting is “duty to God.” While Scouting does not define religious belief for its members, it has been adopted by and works with youth programs of all major faiths.

This is very similar to the Masonic ideal of faith in a supreme being with out an expressed definition of what that faith is. Unlike the Scouts, Masonry uses the Bible as the principal sacred book where as the scouts have developed a Religious Emblems Program to broaden the individual scouts faith and honor the various faiths of its membership. The groups range from the African Methodist Episcopal Church to Zoroastrianism.

Now that we have an idea of who and what the Scouts are today the next logical step is to look at where the Boy Scouts of America came from, which presents some interesting insight to the zeitgeist of the beginning 20th century and some possible unseen Masonic connections at its origin.

The Backyard Freemason

The Backyard Freemason, also known as Kerry Shirts, has been posting videos several months on You Tube and with a wealth of them on there now, I struck me to post some up and share them with a wider audience.

The author of the video is a relatively “young” mason but is already well steeped in the mysteries and philosophy.  Top it off with a well articulated position and some good information and you get a terrific video.

For now, sit back and enjoy the first episode of the Backyard Freemason.

Think of this as a primer of the videos to come as I’ll post more in upcoming weeks.

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Burn a Koran Day with the Dove World Outreach Center

This event has been canceled – Follow the story about how the Fla. pastor will ‘not today, not ever’ burn Quran, from the Washington Post .

I want to start this with the question I finish this piece with: Are YOU ruled by your passions?

Dove World Outreach Center, a New Testament Church based in Gainesville Florida, is holding a Burn a Quran day on the 9th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The event is to be in remembrance of the fallen victims of 9/11 and to stand against the evil of Islam. The church’s maxim: Islam is of the devil!

Akbar Ahmed, in ‘Burn Quran Day’ an outrage to Muslims a Special to CNN,
suggests that the event “has already caused alarm in the Muslim world, with the pre-eminent Sunni university, Al-Azhar in Cairo, Egypt, condemning it as “stirring up hate and discrimination.”

After a measure of looking at the website for the Dove World Outreach, at the heart of their action is a fear that the United States is falling to the influence of Islam (suggesting that Europe has already fallen), and that if we (Americans) do not stand up now Muslim’s will dominate government political office and ideology, eradicating what Pastor Terry Jones (author of the book Islam Is of the Devil) says is an American Christian ideal.

This speaks to a broader notion of the America being founded on an Evangelical Christian premise (from the founding fathers up to present day), and if explored further is increasingly becoming a part of the political rhetoric behind the scenes in American government.

Each of these elements are a part of a greater whole, the building blocks that reach towards a pinnacle, an apex where the tipping point of is either balanced or overturned and a ideology takes hold. Even today, more Americans say Obama is a Muslim than they did when he took office, when clearly his religious affiliations were a part of the election rhetoric (remember Reverend Wright?).

Is this leading to a change in how we see religion in America?  Is it in an effort to change how Religion and politics interact (or at least shape public life)?  Or more specifically, in how we look at our relationship to Religion?  Is this a point in history when the notion of Religious Freedom is no longer relevant and a line in the sand is drawn to take a stand on what exactly is FREE and what is isn’t?  America is obviously less religious than it was 50 years ago, the Pew study on Religion and America from 2009 showed that more American’s are leaning away from the church rather than towards it, so is this new rhetoric a way to shock us and regain our attention?  Ahmed in his CNN piece mentions the perspective of the founding fathers saying “Not only does the burning of holy texts reflect the darkest days of medieval Europe and Nazi Germany, but it is hard to think of anything more un-American, by the definition of the Founding Fathers themselves.”

George Washington welcomed the Jews to America as the “stock of Abraham” while John Adams showed the utmost respect for Islam, naming the Prophet Mohamed as one of the greatest truth seekers in history. Benjamin Franklin called him a model of compassion.

…Thomas Jefferson kept the same Quran in his personal collection and it informed his decision to host the first presidential iftaar during Ramadan.”

This is a relevant conversation to Freemasonry in that it is not talking about faith, it is a dialog on how we intersect with it.  How can a society that is predicated on its membership having a faith stand by (or even support) the denigration of one of the faiths of its members?

What I suggest is that as Freemasonry recognizes ALL FAITHS, it therefore cannot tolerate the desecration of ANY FAITH, including the burning of a Holy Book that could share space on the very alter in which Masonic Oaths are taken.  This transcends the separation of faith and Masonry, and rests at the heart of what BEING a Mason is about.

But, I’m sure many would disagree with this position, that many Freemasons would see it not from the perspective of their affiliation to Masonry but through their faith, which I suggest puts them at odds with their Societies philosophy.

I am willing to take the stand and say that Freemasonry does not condone or tolerate the desecration of the Muslim Volume of the Sacred Law, and that the actions of the Dove World Outreach Center is anything but a peaceful extension of an Olive branch from a Dove as the centers name implies and is rather a means to declare A Christian Holy War on Islam. The message is coming from a church that declares Islam Satanic, I don’t know how else to interpret the message. The soldiers for this Christian Holy War are being made today, (see the film Jesus Camp if you need to see how), and Rev. Jones is firing the first shot to try and start it.

Without a doubt there is another way to commemorate 9/11 than the burning of a faiths holy scripture.

Are you ruled by your passions? Do you support the burning of the Koran on 9/11/2010?  Are you at odds with your Societies philosophy?

Cordoba House – Religious Expression or gross insult?

Surly by now you have heard about the proposal to construct an Islamic Mosque and cultural center near to the Ground Zero site in New York City. The proposal has passed a litany of hurdles already, and garnered the approval of both Mayor Michael Bloomburg and President Obama. Yet, many still have strong emotions and feelings against such a structure citing its lack of sensitivity to the catastrophe that took place there.

9/11 Families for a Safe & Strong America say of proposed Cordoba House that “a gross insult to the memory of those who were killed on that terrible day.’’ Yet, the proposed project was endorsed by Community Board No. 1 in lower Manhattan by a near unanimous vote in May.

This situation seems to necessitate me, as a Freemason, to look at it from the point of view of Anderson’s Constitution.

Anderson says:

But though in ancient times Masons were charg’d in every Country to be of the Religion of that Country or Nation, whatever it was, yet ’tis now thought more expedient only to oblige them to that Religion in which all Men agree, leaving their particular Opinions to themselves; that is, to be good Men and true, or Men of Honour and Honesty, by whatever Denominations or Persuasions they may be distinguish’d; whereby Masonry becomes the Center of Union, and the Means of conciliating true Friendship among Persons that must have remain’d at a perpetual Distance.

In the present context, the religion of the country is at first a challenge to find consensus, most would say that the U.S. is a Christian country. But, this becomes less the issue when we look at the Bill of Rights and the First amendment that says:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;

But this doesn’t tackle the issue of respect towards others feelings towards the proximity of the place of worship to the hallowed ground of 9/11.

It seems that this would be an excellent opportunity (Masonic or otherwise) for other faiths to partner and remold the idea of the Cordoba House into a place of Interfaith union.

This is a far stretch from its original intent of improving Muslim Relations with the West (which is off to a rough foot so close to Ground Zero) but in creating an interfaith temple it would provide a means to interact with all faith groups, to interact with the hallowed space of ground zero, and still be a focused point in the community to engage and broaden relationships, not just with Islamic groups and the west, but with all groups.

Truly, this would be a Historic Narrative.

In the mean time, the debate on the project goes on, and voices from both sides of the argument insist on being heard going so far as to demand the Federal government block the proposed construction because of its proximity to the site (never mind that there is a strip club a mere three blocks away). From Sarah Palin on Facebook to 40 prominnent Religious Leaders supporting its construction, lots of voices vying to be heard. At the heart of the matter is the construction of a Islamic temple in such close proximity to a site attacked in the name of Islam.

Is the opposition to Cordoba House just opposition to religious freedom, or is it more specific to opposition to the Muslim temple itself? Is it a gross insult to place it so close to Ground Zero, or should alternatives be considered?  As a Freemason, can we apply the ideas of Anderson and look at it from the perspective of the ‘Religion in which all Men agree’ and allow religious freedom to dictate?

As a Freemason, can we apply the ideas of Anderson and look at it from the perspective of the ‘Religion in which all Men agree’ and allow religious freedom to dictate?

So What? The Dynamic of Masonic Membership.

Logo of Freemason Information.

The following was originally published in 2007. It is one of several essays in the book Masonic Traveler, where you can find a more refined and extended version of this missive.

Since this original publication in 2007, the dialog increased only to taper off again to a quiet whisper, if heard anywhere at all. In 2008/9 Stephen Dafoe produced a rebuttal of sorts, not in the context – but in the meaning of the numbers. His conclusions can be found in the article There’s a Hole in our Bucket, but I recommend that you read it after this piece so as to put all the information into context.

Changing Masonic Membership

The question above has been an institutional answer (yes, I said answer) that has plagued Masonry for the last 50 years. When I first heard it’s asking, I wasn’t sure what to think about it. I wasn’t even sure if I should talk about as it seemed like an internal problem, and not the fodder for the rank and file (you and me) to ponder. It wasn’t until my own realization that it was the rank and file that was ultimately the cause and effect of the question AND answer when its implications became clear.

As the adage goes, if you don’t talk about it, how do you fix it? And in such a large fraternity I felt that we absolutely needed to talk about it, NOW.

In doing some research, I found myself at the website for the MSANA, which is the Masonic Service Association of North America which is a national clearinghouse for all things Masonic in North America, but specifically an informational collection agency that gathers data and publishes literature for the overall benefit of the craft.

One of the items I found there were statistics on membership (now in archive) from 1925 to 2005.

The statistics are the national numbers of membership in the United States from 1930-2000 not graphed, but in a pretty uninteresting grid of data.

From a surface analysis what it showed was an early high figure, a dip, a huge growth period, and then a dramatic down trend in membership, specifically from a period of 1960 to close to present day. The graph below was created from this data.

Graph showing the change in masonic lodge membership numbers from 1930 to 2000.

What it charts is the membership numbers from 1925 to 2005.

For a comparison, this graph is the US population in the same period.

U.S. population growth between 1930 and 2000.

Obviously, the numbers are dramatically different – Freemasonry at one to four million and the US population at 100 to almost 300 million, but what it illustrates by contrast is the dramatic rise in US population (about half of which are male +/- 51/49%) and the dramatic decrease to male membership.

What I want to illustrate here is that while the US population has steadily increased, the population of Freemasonry has steadily decreased, substantially.

So to the question, so what?

Most who have been members for a significant time know that the membership of Freemasonry is changing. Lodge rooms are seating fewer and fewer members, old buildings bought and built in the boom era are being sold off as membership roles shrink and charters evaporate. We know that already, this isn’t new information. Every Masonic publication has said this at some point or another – “our numbers are retracting, that we felt a boom with the returning vets of WWII and Korea, and that their numbers swelled our ranks to their record numbers, topping at a height of 4,103,161 in 1959” -the glory days of the ancient and honorable.

But since that high water mark we have been in a steady decline in membership.

Again the question, so what?

The decline of the 1960’s and 70’s is often blamed on the selfish attitudes of the “tuned out” generation, the hippy turned Baby-Boomer, with widespread distrust of past paternal institutions, and a growth in a personal individuality, no one wanted to join, even when they later came of age the attitude of “Forget doing what Daddy did” and “why do I want to be a part of a secret institution of good old boys” prevailed. But was that really the problem?

I’m sure if analyzed in an academic fashion, we could explore the “why Freemasonry changed” notion in the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s, but I wonder if it would be enough to give us a real answer.

Some have suggested it was the institutional change towards fraternalism. Others suggest that it picked up and patriotic flavor of Americanism with the high number of veterans that came to its ranks. Trying to associate the increase to any one reason is difficult at best.

What the numbers do tell us is that in 10 year intervals, from 1960 to 2005, membership dropped by an average of 560,152 members. On the graph, you can see the decline to 2005. Distilling the numbers, it comes out to an average of a 20% decrease in membership per 10-year period.

By the years it breaks out to:

  • 1959, membership at its height was at 4,103,161
  • 1960 – 1970 there was a loss of 336,006 a decrease of 8.19%
  • 1970 – 1980 there was a loss of 511,685 a decrease of 13.597%
  • 1980 – 1990 there was a loss of 719,885 a decrease of 22.14%
  • 1990 – 2000 there was a loss of 690,474 a decrease of 27.274%
  • 2000 – 2010* there was a loss of 542,714 a decrease of 29.477% (*Calculated by doubling the loss from 2000 to 2005)

Updated numbers at bottom.

The average loss, per year, was 20% (20.2%)

Again the question “so what”, we already know this, these numbers are not secret. They are published in an open forum for the public to see.

The overall calculation led to an extrapolation, if the fraternity lost on average 560,152 members, per decade – from 2010 to 2020, our national number of members would be under 1 million members at 738,303. In ten more years 2020 to 2030 our national member base would be 178,151.

That number again is one hundred and seventy eight thousand one hundred and fifty one TOTAL Freemason’s in North America by 2030, which led me to speculate that the last American Freemason would probably be somewhere in about 2034 or so.

Ok, so this is a worst-case scenario, this is an assumption that we will continue to lose the same 560,000 members a year, due to attrition, brothers passing, or low community interest. The overall numbers tell me that the loss % per year is INCREASING; not decreasing, but maybe the trend is just that, a trend. It should be said that at present, 2005 numbers show our fraternity at numbers lower than the 1925 watermark, when the US population was less than half of what it is today. What appears to be happening is not just a “correction”, that it is not simply the Fraternity going back to the “way things were” at the turn of the 20th century, rather that it is something much worse at play and further outside the scope of our control.

Taken from another angle, we can say that over the same 50-year period, we did average out to a 20% loss per year. These numbers are far less frightening and show a slower descent over the next one hundred years. In 2030, where the first model takes us to extinction in the percentage model we sit at just over 800,000 members. It isn’t until 2130 that we get to fewer than 100,000. But again, that is at a steady 20% decrease no ups, no downs, steady. The trend in the last 50-year cycle has been one of a steady increase in percentage loss, 8.9%, 13.59%, 22.14%, 27.27%, and 29.47%. This model, though more positive, seems less likely.

At the other end of the spectrum, some locations so seem to indicate an upward trend in membership. In areas that lost 4000 members, they took in 2000, diminishing the overall drop, but even these anecdotal statistics only suggest a change in trend without much ability to forecast realistically where the descent will level off.

Again the question, so what?

With those of us left, we become the inheritors of Freemasonry here in America, and need to address the question of what we are going to do about it. I have read a Laudable Pursuit as I am sure many other masons have, I attend meetings, pay my dues, and heed the length of my cable tow, but is that enough?

Are dynamic meetings, meaningful Masonic education, Traditional Observance Lodges, Festive Boards, or low cost spaghetti or fish fry dinners the answer? Are even the boldest Grand Lodge programs such as the Massachusetts Is there Greatness in you? Marketing Campaign or the California Masonic Formation movement, enough? What generated interest in the past?

To answer this question we need to ask what Freemasonry has lost — what component of our fraternity did we lose in the transition of the 1950’s into the 1990’s that closed us off from the moral imagination of society? What changed?

  • Was it the success of the offshoot “clubs” whose focus on charity or drama plays, rather than esoteric transference, took prominence?
  • Did we, institutionally, become afraid of what our own metaphysical/spiritual fraternity represented?
  • Were we marginalized as an increasingly religious America took over, forcing out interfaith institution?
  • Did American Freemasonry fall out of progressive step with the evolving landscape of American women’s issues, and racial equality taking the forefront but still at odds in the fraternity dedicated to the moral high ground?

It was in the periods of transition from the 19th to the 20th century that many esoteric or occult works were created that seem to evoke the spirit of the coming age of Masonry. Did their promise grow silent on the lips of those who took the reins of leadership?

Just a small (yet significant) marker I can point to that symbolically illustrates the transition was the name change of the monthly Scottish Rite Magazine formerly known as the New Age Magazine in 1989.

Its true that in the mid century a degree of quackery took hold of the metaphysical giving birth to an explosion of Self Help and “Occult” practices. Did Masonry’s hasty retreat from all things esoteric help steer the fraternity towards the rocks of fraternal obscurity? Did we become afraid of our own esoteric shadow marginalizing our own traditions effectively doing this to ourselves?

The one thing that so many outsiders look to Freemasonry to provide is a degree of esoteric wisdom and education, yet we can barely articulate to the answer to the simple question of “what does Freemasonry represent”? Our tradition is betwixt pointing one way with progressive learning, equality of faiths, and metaphorical death and members pointing another with social fraternalism, overt patriotism, and faux civic engagement – is it a social club or a path to self enlightenment?

As the numbers continue to descend, some possible scenarios to consider is the separation of the Shrine from the craft lodge system. With the success that the Shrine has enjoyed in this last century, why would they keep the requirement of the Blue Lodge membership, if the blue lodge can barely support itself let alone its drive for localized charity. Especially now in the face of diminished revenue and potential loss of its charitable hospitals. In its present configuration, can it afford to not take in now blue lodge members?

Another scenario is the separation of the Scottish Rite to become its own degree imparting body. What is to keep them from offering the degrees as more Craft lodges start to close? Maybe it makes more sense to pool the resources and go with the bigger temples that the Scottish Rite inhabits. The easy answer is, of course not, but as the feeder blue lodge membership continues to plummet, at what point will desperation take hold and other options become more enticing? Are the American Rites prepared to cease operations if memberships diminish to an unsustainable level?

So what? So what can we do about this?

The most effectual answer I can come up with, individually, to the “SO WHAT” question is nothing.

Masonic advertising on a billboard.

We can, at this point in time do nothing to turn this trend around. No matter how many open houses, public lectures, marketing campaigns, sports sponsorships, television commercials, radio spots, billboards, or finite programs promoted by individual lodges or Grand Lodges will stem the hemorrhage. Even if the blue lodge started giving away memberships, it’s doubtful that we could find enough people who even remembered who the Freemasons are, and even fewer who would want to become one. The damage is already done, and we are now in a free fall that threatens to erase the remains of North American Freemasonry. This means the closure and roll back of individual state Grand Lodges. This will mean the selling of more Masonic properties and assets, and the selling or divesting publicly of our privately funded billion dollar institutions.

This means the end of Freemasonry as we know it today.

But all is not lost and that there are things that we , individually, can do now to start to effect change. The greatest challenge will come in our re-shaping the perception of what the fraternity represents and that its history, both real and imagined, becomes a part of who we are. And by understanding that, we can embrace it and celebrate that diversity and begin to explore those ideas that we left off from a century ago. As a body we can pause and consider out institution and how it relates to its broader impact on civil society. Is OUR venerable institution living up to the promises that our very Rites espouse? Do we treat ALL people equally, no matter of Race, Gender, Religion, or Preference? Are we striving to make social progress?

In the next 30 years the landscape of what we call Regular Freemasonry will be radically different than what we see today. The sooner we come to see that NOW, to talk about it, and confront it head on – the sooner we can start planning on what we want to do about it. Burying our heads in the sand is not the answer and if we continue to insist on doing nothing about it WE will only further hasten OUR demise.

Our generation, RIGHT NOW, is the unwilling inheritor of the future of Freemasonry – what we do NOW dictates how our sons will come to know this ancient institution. If we ignore the problem, there won’t be any institution left.

And, of you who say “So What”, I ask that you look at the numbers for yourself and then draw your own conclusions,

Once you’ve seen them you’ll see that they speak for themselves.

Update – May 21, 2017

  • Period of 2010 – 2015 15.45%.
  • Period of 2005 – 2015 26.02% (calculated).
  • Doubling the loss from 2010-2015 (424,400) to calculate potential loss = 31% change.
  • New estimate at 2020, 949,093 members.

Rick Ross’s Free Mason = Fraternal Shark Jump?

The new song from Rick Ross featuring Jay-Z off the Teflon Don Album.

I’ll let the song and lyrics speak for themselves.

Free Mason.

I get that Free masonry is deep in the pocket of material culture, and that it has a variety of meanings all around, but rapper Rick Ross has adapted Freemasonry’s other spelling, Free Mason, to make it his own in the new song Free Mason on his Teflon Don album.

The onetime correctional officer from Florida turned rapper seems at home using the fraternity in his lyrics, but based on what I’ve seen so far, he’s not using it as a member of the fraternity, but rather using the idea of it to illustrate his point in the song.

From the lyrics:

like gifts of gold
I embark on life,
My path is all math
I understand the codes
these hackers can’t crack

Free Mason, Freelance,
Free Agents, We faster

Personally, I have mixed thoughts on the song.  No one likes their sacred cows trampled, but in context, the song isn’t a terrible message.  It has flow, and I think the heart was behind it in the right way.  What sticks more is the use of the term Free Mason without understanding the work, knowledge, or philosophy that goes into it.

On the reverse side of that coin, have the Masons made that wisdom known in recent years so using their name in a song like this would of commanded more respect?

You be the judge, how do you feel good/bad indifferent?  Is this a good representation of the ancient and honorable fraternity that you belong to?  Or is this a good reference point to mark as when Masonry jumped the shark in its institutional memory in society?

Bundled off with Freemasons-Athiests & Masons to Summit in Brussels

From the EU Observer:

Brussels is to hold an EU summit with atheists and Freemasons in the autumn, inviting them to a political dialogue parallel to the annual summit the bloc holds with Europe’s religious leaders.

It seems that in the push to make religious and non religious policy balance, following a meeting of Catholic, Jewish, Hindu, Sikh and Muftis, the European Union is holding a mirror image summit for Atheists and Humanists. Included in the second meeting is the “non-religious” but spiritual group of Freemasons.

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David Pollock of the European Humanist Federation says of ther inclusion:

“I find it rather odd,Some of the Grand Lodges are secularist organisations, and strongly for separation of church and state, but they also retain all sorts of gobbledygook and myths such as the Great Architect of the Universe.”

Now, having lost their battle to omit a religious clause in the EU Constitutional and Lisbon Treaty, Pollock concedes that their organization has “lost that battle” saying “with the atheist summit, at least we’re being treated equally, although I’d rather if we were there along with the churches. Instead we’re being bundled off with the Freemasons.”

According to the EU Commission‘s spokeswoman Katharina von Schnurbein, Brussels views the Freemasons as a “community of conscience interconnected throughout Europe,” and “a form of humanist organisation.”

Its this last part that raises an interesting consideration as to the interactivity of Freemasonry and the participation (and shaping) of Civil Society by just such participation.

My guess is that American Freemasonry would rather say it has no position than to profess that its system of moral philosophy is not religious specific and characteristically more Humanistic (by definition), and therefore truly dedicated to the balance of all faiths as equal in standing, putting human rights above dogma.

It leads to an interesting question, does American Freemasonry find itself in greater leaning with the practice of the church (ecumenically speaking), or with the idea of a Humanist deism, putting the plight of mankind over and above his point of view in deity.

Is that possible in this day in age, or has the fabric of Masonry in North America changed?

Belgium has 3 major Grand Lodges including: Grand Lodge of Belgium, Regular Grand Lodge of Belgium, and the Women’s Grand Lodge of Belgium with mutual recogniton between them.

The EUObserver article makes for a good read, and if I were in Brussels, I think this would be a dynamic event to attend.

If anyone wants to send an American Mason….

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