Editing Freemasonry (section)

===Political opposition===
{{See also|Anti-Masonry}}

In 1799, English Freemasonry almost came to a halt due to Parliamentary proclamation. In the wake of the [[French Revolution]], the [[Unlawful Societies Act]] banned any meetings of groups that required their members to take an [[oath]] or obligation.<ref name="USA1799">[http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/prescott15.html Andrew Prescott, "The Unlawful Societies Act"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170602081120/http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/prescott15.html |date=2 June 2017 }}, First published in M. D. J. Scanlan, ed., ''The Social Impact of Freemasonry on the Modern Western World'', The Canonbury Papers I (London: Canonbury Masonic Research Centre, 2002), pp. 116–34, ''Pietre-Stones'' website, retrieved 9 January 2014</ref>

The Grand Masters of both the Moderns and the Antients Grand Lodges called on Prime Minister [[William Pitt the Younger|William Pitt]] (who was not a Freemason) and explained to him that Freemasonry was a supporter of the law and lawfully constituted authority and was much involved in charitable work. As a result, Freemasonry was specifically exempted from the terms of the Act, provided that each private lodge's Secretary placed with the local "Clerk of the Peace" a list of the members of his lodge once a year. This continued until 1967, when the obligation of the provision was rescinded by [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]].<ref name="USA1799" />

Freemasonry in the United States faced political pressure following the 1826 kidnapping of [[William Morgan (anti-Mason)|William Morgan]] by Freemasons and his subsequent disappearance. Reports of the "Morgan Affair", together with opposition to [[Jacksonian democracy]] (Andrew Jackson was a prominent Mason), helped fuel an Anti-Masonic movement. The short-lived [[Anti-Masonic Party]] was formed, which fielded candidates for the presidential elections of 1828 and 1832.<ref>[http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/texts/morgan_affair.html "The Morgan Affair"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140325121052/http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/texts/morgan_affair.html |date=25 March 2014 }}, Reprinted from ''The Short Talk Bulletin'' – Vol. XI, March 1933 No. 3, ''Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon'', retrieved 4 January 2014</ref>

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-W1028-507, Erlangen, Freimaurer bei Zeremonie.jpg|thumb|alt=Erlangen Lodge revival, meeting in 1948|Lodge in Erlangen, Germany. First meeting after World War II with guests from US, France and Czechoslovakia, 1948.]]
In Italy, Freemasonry has become linked to a scandal concerning the [[Propaganda Due]] lodge (a.k.a. P2). This lodge was chartered by the [[Grande Oriente d'Italia]] in 1877, as a lodge for visiting Masons unable to attend their own lodges. Under [[Licio Gelli]]'s leadership, in the late 1970s, P2 became involved in the financial scandals that nearly bankrupted the [[Vatican Bank]]. However, by this time the lodge was operating independently and irregularly, as the Grand Orient had revoked its charter and expelled Gelli in 1976.<ref>{{cite web | first = Edward L. | last = King | url = http://www.masonicinfo.com/p2_lodge.htm | title = P2 Lodge | year = 2007 | access-date = 31 October 2006 | archive-date = 3 February 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210203135205/http://www.masonicinfo.com/p2_lodge.htm | url-status = dead }}</ref>

[[Conspiracy theorists]] have long associated Freemasonry with the [[New World Order (conspiracy theory)|New World Order]] and the [[Illuminati]], and state that Freemasonry as an organisation is either bent on world domination or already secretly in control of world politics. Historically, Freemasonry has attracted criticism and suppression from both the politically far right (e.g., [[Nazi Germany]])<ref>{{Cite book | first = James | last = Wilkenson | author2 = H. Stuart Hughes | title = Contemporary Europe: A History | location = Englewood Cliffs, NJ | publisher = Prentice Hall | year = 1995 | page = [https://archive.org/details/contemporaryeuro00wilk/page/237 237] | isbn = 978-0-13-291840-4 | oclc = 31009810 | url = https://archive.org/details/contemporaryeuro00wilk/page/237 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | first = Otto | last = Zierer | title = Concise History of Great Nations: History of Germany | location = New York | publisher = Leon Amiel Publisher | year = 1976 | page = [https://archive.org/details/germany0000zier/page/104 104] | isbn = 978-0-8148-0673-9 | oclc = 3250405 | url = https://archive.org/details/germany0000zier/page/104 }}</ref> and the far left (e.g., the former [[Communist state]]s in Eastern Europe).<ref>Michael Johnstone, ''The Freemasons'', Arcturus, 2005, pp 73–75</ref>

Freemasonry is viewed with distrust even in some modern democracies.<ref name=Hodapp86>Hodapp, Christopher. ''Freemasons for Dummies''. Indianapolis: Wiley, 2005. p. 86.</ref> In the UK, Masons working in the justice system, such as judges and police officers, were required to disclose their membership from 1999 to 2009.<ref name=GuardianMP>Bright, Martin (12 June 2005). "[https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/jun/12/uk.freedomofinformation1 MPs told to declare links to Masons]", ''[[The Guardian]]''</ref> While a parliamentary inquiry found that there had been no evidence of wrongdoing, the government believed that Masons' potential loyalties to support fellow Masons should be transparent to the public.<ref name=Hodapp86 /><ref name=GuardianMP /><ref>Cusick, James (27 December 1996). [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/police-want-judges-and-mps-to-reveal-masonic-links-too-1316095.html Police want judges and MPs to reveal Masonic links too] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200216045753/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/police-want-judges-and-mps-to-reveal-masonic-links-too-1316095.html |date=16 February 2020 }}, ''[[The Independent]]''</ref> The policy of requiring a declaration of masonic membership by applicants for judicial office (judges and magistrates) was ended in 2009 by [[Secretary of State for Justice|Justice Secretary]] [[Jack Straw]] (who had initiated the requirement in the 1990s). Straw stated that the rule was considered disproportionate since no impropriety or malpractice had been shown as a result of judges being Freemasons.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/2009/nov/05/jack-straw-judges-masons |title=Jack Straw scraps rule saying judges must declare if they are masons |work=guardian.co.uk |date=5 November 2009 |author=Sparrow, Andrew |access-date=7 November 2009}}</ref>

Freemasonry is both successful and controversial in France. As of the early 21st century, membership is rising, but reporting of it in popular media is often negative.<ref name=Hodapp86 />

In some countries, anti-Masonry is often related to [[antisemitism]] and anti-[[Zionism]]. For example, in 1980, the Iraqi [[Law of Iraq|legal]] and [[Iraqi Penal Code|penal code]] was changed by [[Saddam Hussein]]'s ruling [[Ba'ath Party (Iraq)|Ba'ath Party]], making it a felony to "promote or acclaim Zionist principles, including Freemasonry, or who associate [themselves] with Zionist organisations".<ref name="freemasonryinSHIraq">{{Cite news | url = http://washingtontimes.com/world/20040701-120129-6565r.htm | title = Saddam to be formally charged | first = David R | last = Sands | work = [[The Washington Times]] | date = 1 July 2004 | access-date = 18 June 2006 | archive-date = 19 March 2006 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060319192239/http://washingtontimes.com/world/20040701-120129-6565r.htm | url-status = live }}</ref> Professor Andrew Prescott of the [[University of Sheffield]] writes: "Since at least the time of ''[[The Protocols of the Elders of Zion]]'', antisemitism has gone hand in hand with anti-masonry, so it is not surprising that allegations that [[11 September 2001 attacks|11 September]] was a Zionist plot have been accompanied by suggestions that the attacks were inspired by a masonic world order".<ref>Prescott, pp. 13–14, 30, 33.</ref>

====The Holocaust====
{{Main|Holocaust victims#Freemasons}}
{{See also|Liberté chérie|Suppression of Freemasonry}}
[[File:Forgetmenotflower.JPG|thumb|upright|alt=[[Forget-me-not]]|[[Myosotis|Forget-me-not]]]]

The preserved records of the ''[[Reich Security Main Office|Reichssicherheitshauptamt]]'' (the Reich Security Main Office) show the persecution of Freemasons during [[the Holocaust]].<ref>{{cite web | url = http://mill-valley.freemasonry.biz/persecution.htm | title = World War II Documents showing the persecution of Freemasonry | publisher = Mill Valley Lodge #356 | access-date = 21 May 2006 | url-status=dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121210071945/http://mill-valley.freemasonry.biz/persecution.htm | archive-date = 10 December 2012 | df = dmy-all }}</ref> RSHA Amt VII (Written Records), overseen by Professor [[Franz Six]], was responsible for "ideological" tasks, by which was meant the creation of antisemitic and anti-Masonic propaganda. While the number of victims is not accurately known, historians estimate that between 80,000 and 200,000 Freemasons were killed under the [[Nacht und Nebel|Nazi regime]].<ref name="holocaust">''Freemasons for Dummies'', by Christopher Hodapp, Wiley Publishing Inc., Indianapolis, 2005, p. 85, sec. "Hitler and the Nazi"</ref> Masonic concentration camp inmates were classified as political prisoners and wore an inverted [[Nazi concentration camp badge|red triangle]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | encyclopedia = The Encyclopedia of the Holocaust | page = [https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofho0000unse_l4l4/page/ vol. 2, p. 531] | last = Katz | year = 1990 | editor = Israel Gutman | article = Jews and Freemasons in Europe | isbn = 978-0-02-897166-7 | oclc = 20594356 | url = https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofho0000unse_l4l4/page/ }}</ref> Hitler believed Freemasons had succumbed to Jews conspiring against Germany.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007186|title=Freemasonry|access-date=20 October 2016|archive-date=21 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161021010933/https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007186|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/anti-masonry/hitler.html|title=Hitler and Freemasonry|first=Trevor W.|last=McKeown|access-date=20 October 2016|archive-date=15 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161015135555/http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/anti-masonry/hitler.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[Myosotis|forget-me-not]] flower was first used by the Grand Lodge ''Zur Sonne'' in 1926, as a Masonic emblem at the annual convention in [[Bremen]], Germany. In 1938, a forget-me-not badge, made by the same factory as the Masonic badge, was chosen for the Nazi Party's ''[[Winterhilfswerk]]'', the annual charity drive of the [[National Socialist People's Welfare]] (the welfare branch of the Nazi party). This coincidence enabled Freemasons to wear the forget-me-not badge as a secret sign of membership.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.internetloge.de/arst/forgetd.htm | title = Das Vergißmeinnicht-Abzeichen und die Freimaurerei, Die wahre Geschichte | language = de | publisher = Internetloge.de | access-date = 8 July 2006 | archive-date = 2 May 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190502130221/http://www.internetloge.de/arst/forgetd.htm | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/bernheim3.html | first = Alain | last = Bernheim | title = The Blue Forget-Me-Not: Another Side Of The Story | work = Pietre-Stones Review of Freemasonry | date = 10 September 2004 | access-date = 8 July 2006 | archive-date = 30 January 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190130081218/http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/bernheim3.html | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book| title = Die Freimaurer-Logen Deutschlands und deren Grosslogen 1737–1972 | first = Karl Heinz | last = Francke |author2=Ernst-Günther Geppert | location = Bayreuth | publisher = Quatuor Coronati | year = 1974 | language = de | edition = Second rev.}}Also in: {{Cite book| title = Die Freimaurer-Logen Deutschlands und deren Grosslogen 1737–1985 : Matrikel und Stammbuch; Nachschlagewerk über 248 Jahre Geschichte der Freimaurerei in Deutschland | first = Karl Heinz | last = Francke |author2=Ernst-Günther Geppert | location = Bayreuth | publisher = Quatuor Coronati | year = 1988 | language = de | isbn = 978-3-925749-05-6 | oclc = 75446479 }}</ref>

After [[World War II]], the forget-me-not flower was used again as a Masonic emblem in 1948 at the first Annual Convention of the [[United Grand Lodges of Germany]] in 1948. The badge is now sometimes worn in the coat lapel by Freemasons around the world to remember all who suffered in the name of Freemasonry, especially those during the Nazi era.<ref name=Galen_forget-me-not>{{cite news|title=The Story Behind Forget Me Not Emblem!|url=http://www.masonicnetwork.org/blog/2009/the-story-behind-forget-me-not-emblem/|newspaper=Masonic Network|date=11 December 2009|access-date=19 May 2013|archive-date=6 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306011314/http://www.masonicnetwork.org/blog/2009/the-story-behind-forget-me-not-emblem/|url-status=dead}}</ref>