Freemasonry is not a religion, but is it a cult?

A reader posed the question on a previous entry , asking if Masonry could be considered a cult. Here are definitions of "cult" fro...

ABC video 'exposes' Freemasonry

The Dan Brown PR machine rolls on with this recent video segment from Charles Gibson at ABC News: "Freemasons: A Secret Society — Is a ...

Video: Chattanooga Shriner dune buggy accident

A few weeks ago The Burning Taper wrote about the accident at a parade in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where a Shriner-driven dune buggy went ou...

You're invited to The Burning Taper's First Ever Virtual E-Masonic Reunion

In the comments section of a recent article, Bro. Ephraim suggested, "W.S., might I ask you start a post where posters can introduce th...

Freemasonry: Is it a religion?

If you've been following the Taper 's comments sections lately, you know we've had a troll called Jean bombarding us with pasted...

Eating the Eye of Horus: Lunar eclipse tonight

In the early morning hours of Tuesday, August 28, Set will eat the Eye of Horus, which will then be magically restored by Thoth, known to th...

A Wonderful World

Bunnies. Swans. Satchmo crooning. I bet you never expected to see this much warm fuzziness on The Burning Taper . Gather the kids around. Th...

Poo bum dicky wee wee

The CIA does it. The BBC does it. The Vatican does it. The U.S. Republican Party and the U.S. Democratic Party do it. Even Freemasons do it ...

Three girls missing from Nebraska Masonic Home

Four teenage girls ran away from the Masonic-Eastern Star Home for Children in Fremont, Nebraska last Sunday, the Fremont Tribune reported...

Masonic Traveler gives anti-Masons an earful

Bro. Greg Stewart at the Masonic Traveler blog and webmaster of FreemasonInformation.com has given an interview to an anti-Masonic website...

The Devil's fossil factory

Lewis Black is one of my favorite comedians. I first discovered him a few years ago on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart , where he does a sem...

Masonic quotation generator

At the top of the page I've added a spiffy Masonic quotation generator, a bit of code I originally used on my lodge's website severa...

Internet addiction? No, not me... I can walk away at any time

No, really. I'm not hooked. I can stop surfing anytime I want to. A report today by United Press International says that Internet addic...

Great things are afoot

While I sit here making fun of conspiracy-minded fundamentalist anti-Masons, other people are doing and writing about much grander things, b...

Video says Masons 'ride the goat' to 'conjure up the Babylonian gods of war'

Just when I thought I'd seen all the stupid anti-Masonic videos that whacked-out fundamentalist Christians could create and upload to Yo...

Politician gives stump speech on Masonic temple steps

A few days ago I wrote about the United Grand Lodge of England donating over $10,000 to the building fund of a church a thousand miles away...

Rev. Dr. Charles G. Finney: 'Masonic oaths pledge its members to some of the most unlawful and unchristian things'

Last week I wrote about early 20th-century preacher Charles Blanchard and his anti-Masonic lecture. Another influential preacher, Dr. Charl...

MI5 whistle-blower claims he is Christ

Some who join and/or study Freemasonry end up bitter and/or bored. But few of us become batty. Not so for David Shayler . He sounds battier ...

Behold a Dead Horse

I knew I should have kept my Masonic nose clean, gotten myself some of those higher degrees, and patiently abided my time until our Illumina...

Fahrenheit 55

I'm a strong advocate for freedom of choice, and for personal responsibility. If you don't like this blog, you just don't read i...

British Masons donate heart monitor to health center, give cash to church building fund

It seems our British brethren are a charitable lot, and that's a good thing. Six lodges in Corby , Northamptonshire, England, put their ...

Update on Shriner parade collision in Tennessee

A brother who was at the parade on Saturday in Chattanooga, Tennessee, but who was not a part of the Shriner dune buggy (not mini-car, as ea...

Scottish Rite race car finishes 9th in ARCA 150

As I wrote on July 29 , the Scottish Rite website proudly boasted (and still does) that Blake Feese would be driving SR-sponsored car #95 i...

Unmasonic Conduct: How is it handled in your jurisdiction?

Referring to a specific case where a brother stole £48,000 (about $99,000 US) from his grand lodge and Mark Masters lodge in Northumberland ...

What does the letter G mean?

A blog entry on MasonicMinute.com made me wonder what Burning Taper readers think about the letter G, often seen inside the square and com...

Shriner mini-car accident injures eight in Tennessee

Last month we reported that a satirical website sent spasms through the Masonic community when they "humorously" wrote that 12 sp...

Rev. Dr. Charles Blanchard's reasons why Christians should not be Freemasons

I came across an address railing against Freemasonry delivered by a fundamentalist preacher over 110 years ago. Dr. Blanchard wasn't ju...

Priest in sex abuse case blames first Jews, then Freemasons, for his woes

A beloved Italian Roman Catholic priest under investigation for pedophilia has apologized for saying that "a radical-chic Jewish lobby ...

The Invisibily Visible: New World Disorder

Here's just what the world needs: Yet another anti-Masonic video. This one, called The Invisibly Visible , is narrated by Washington, D....

Catholic Church claims Freemasonry responsible for rupture in diplomatic relations between Mexican gov't and Vatican

We tend to think of the Catholic vs. Freemason controversy as something from centuries past, and in America, worrying that Freemasons contro...