http://www.religionnewsblog.com Religion news about religious cults, sects, world religions, and related issues Mon, 13 Feb 2012 09:54:48 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/24844/eu-to-hold-atheist-and-freemason-summit http://www.religionnewsblog.com/24844/eu-to-hold-atheist-and-freemason-summit#comments Fri, 23 Jul 2010 12:57:37 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=24844 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.

While the EU is a secular body, the three European presidents, of the commission, parliament and EU Council, alongside two commissioners, on Monday met with 24 bishops, chief rabbis, and muftis as well as leaders from the Hindu and Sikh communities. The annual dialogue, which has taken place since 2005, is for the first time this year made legally obligatory under Article 17 of the Lisbon Treaty.

Under pressure from Belgium, which constitutionally protects and financially supports humanist organisations as well as churches, the EU has been forced to hold a mirror-image summit, but of atheists, scheduled for 15 October.

However, in a move that perplexed and annoyed humanist groups, the EU atheist summit will also welcome under the rubric of ‘non-religious groups', the Freemasons, the secretive fraternal organisation, according to commission spokeswoman Katharina von Schnurbein.

"I find it rather odd," David Pollock, president of the European Humanist Federation, told EUobserver. "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."]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/24844/eu-to-hold-atheist-and-freemason-summit/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23643/lost-symbol http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23643/lost-symbol#comments Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:10:27 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=23643 While the fictional story lines about conspiracy and the Catholic Church in "The Da Vinci Code" caused an uproar among some Catholics and drew censure from the Vatican, a senior representative of the Freemasons in Australia called "The Lost Symbol" the work of a "terrific novelist."

"We are very pleased, there is nothing in this book that will offend my organization. It does give us the opportunity to open it up a bit," said Greg Levenston, Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory for the Freemasons.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23643/lost-symbol/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23628/masons-brace-for-new-dan-brown-novel http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23628/masons-brace-for-new-dan-brown-novel#comments Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:03:17 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=23628 With Dan Brown's newest novel, The Lost Symbol, hitting bookstores Sept. 15 -- much of it rumored to revolve around Masonic myths -- the Masons are in pre-emptive damage-control mode, Religion News Service reports.

Small wonder, since The Da Vinci Code -- which Brown claimed to be historically accurate -- was full of errors.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23628/masons-brace-for-new-dan-brown-novel/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/21615/freemason http://www.religionnewsblog.com/21615/freemason#comments Tue, 10 Jun 2008 09:34:04 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=21615 Stodgy lodges, traditional initiations and secret handshakes would seem to be the antithesis of punk rock.

But a diverse group of Hub rockers are embracing centuries-old fraternal ideals to become the new face of the Freemasons in Boston.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/21615/freemason/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/19729/freemasons-3 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/19729/freemasons-3#comments Wed, 24 Oct 2007 13:03:41 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/19729/freemasons-3 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/19729/freemasons-3/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/19647/freemasons-2 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/19647/freemasons-2#comments Mon, 15 Oct 2007 03:31:26 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/19647/freemasons-2 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/19647/freemasons-2/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/16362/masons-struggle-with-racial-separation http://www.religionnewsblog.com/16362/masons-struggle-with-racial-separation#comments Tue, 24 Oct 2006 09:57:47 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/16362/masons-struggle-with-racial-separation http://www.religionnewsblog.com/16362/masons-struggle-with-racial-separation/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/16157/freemasons-spilling-secrets http://www.religionnewsblog.com/16157/freemasons-spilling-secrets#comments Wed, 04 Oct 2006 13:01:12 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/16157/freemasons-spilling-secrets http://www.religionnewsblog.com/16157/freemasons-spilling-secrets/feed 1 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/16029/freemasons http://www.religionnewsblog.com/16029/freemasons#comments Mon, 25 Sep 2006 12:43:18 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/16029/freemasons http://www.religionnewsblog.com/16029/freemasons/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/9634/american-freemasons-end-their-stonewalling-and-put-faith-in-pr http://www.religionnewsblog.com/9634/american-freemasons-end-their-stonewalling-and-put-faith-in-pr#comments Tue, 07 Dec 2004 20:42:52 +0000 Religion News Blog http:/?p=9634 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/9634/american-freemasons-end-their-stonewalling-and-put-faith-in-pr/feed 0