A belief that is implicit in Freemasonry is in what Freemasons called the 'Volume of the Sacred Law'. In the majority of English speaking Lodges this is the 'Authorized' or 'King James' version of the Bible. The 'Basic Principles for Grand Lodge Recognition' makes clear:
"All initiates shall take their Obligation on or in full view of the open Volume of the Sacred Law, by which is meant the revelation from above which is binding on the conscience of the particular individual being initiated "
Hence, the Sacred Volume is the Koran to a Muslim, the Vedas to a Hindu, and so on.
Let us note in passing that the Grand Lodges of the British Isles have seen fit to describe all these books as a 'revelation from above'. God is a self-revealing God, and this involves the record of this revelation in the form of a book, whether it be what the Archangel Gabriel dictated to Mohammed, what the bronze figure showed Ezekiel, or what the Lord Buddha discovered under the sacred Bo tree.
Freemasonry does not decide between these: it is the candidate who fixes what book is binding on his conscience. There is no inconsistency here: the Christian obligates himself with his hand on the Bible, and that is binding upon him; the Muslim does so using the Koran (leaving aside the issue as to whether it should be a copy in Arabic which has not been touched by an infidel, held closed in his right hand and wrapped in a silken cloth). The question is not whether Freemasons accept these books as of equal value - they obviously do not, or all would take their obligation upon a library - but whether it is binding on the conscience of the particular individual.
[Freemason Unashamed by Christopher Haffner, former District Grand Master for Hong Kong]
Norm Leeper, PM, HA
Southern California Research Lodge
