FUNDAMENTALISM AND FREEMASONRY
By Gary F. Leazer, Ph.D.
Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Georgia, F. & A. M.
Reviewed by Bro. Jason F. Hicks
As I have read numerous masonic books since joining I have read about the southern Baptist investigation into the fraternity. This was a time of critical attacks that undermined the fraternity by our general stance to not respond to criticism. This book is a look at the investigation of masonry from the inside by the man who ran the Baptist witness department of the southern Baptist home missions board. He ultimately lost his job due to his conclusions and ended up becoming a mason and was grand master of Georgia in 2017. His book is an in depth review of the conservative movement within the Southern Baptist Convention and the subsequent report.
The rise of the conservatives has been different sources and the influence of televangelists, which had to justify their existence. There have been many books written over their false justifications for their movements. Leazer links it back to the Princeton Theological Seminary and then their subsequent takeover of the Southern Baptist Conference. The report that Leazer is tasked to write comes up with the conclusion that “(1) “Many tenets and teachings of Freemasonry are not compatible with Christianity and Southern Baptist doctrine,” and (2) “we recommend. . . membership in a Masonic Order be a matter of personal conscience.” This was important because it did not force Baptist masons to choose between their religion and the fraternity.
This book shed light on an important challenge for the fraternity, which we were able to weather.
