Maybe you can answer this, was Mustapha Kemal Ataturk a member of the Grand Orient de France in the country of Macedonia?
I am sorry but I don`t know for sure. It is said that he was a Br:. in a F:.M:. R:.L:. that belonged to the GOdF from Thessaloniki, present day Greece. Did not do any specific research on this subject so I cannot tell. But if I remember correctly, Irène Mainguy wrote something on this subject (
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irène_Mainguy) who is the Head of the Library of the Grand Orient de France (which is quite an extensive library). She is the author of numerous books on Freemasonry History and Ritual. I am sure she is known to a lot of Br:. here.
The issue is organised Freemasonry intruding into politics. I would be interested in a citation as to where this has occurred in the US.
The anti-Masonic party was not Freemasonry as an organisation involved in politics. To the contrary, Freemasonry was the victim.
Note, many of us have taken obligations and instruction regarding the use of the name of Deity. Please be sensitive to that.
I regret if I offended anyone. As stated by the others, I do not have the same Obligations. Leaving F:.M:. aside, if you are all mostly Christian, neither do you (Mark 10:17-31). Jesus did not leave out four commandments because he simply forgot about them...
Still, I was using my last statement as a figure of speech which is commonly used in anglo-saxon countries, not with the intention to take G-d's name in vain. If it offends, I will abstain from using it.
We are thought to be tolerant to others, regarding their beliefs. I am talking about beliefs now, not about clericalism. I do admit that the GOdF was always a bit anticlerical. But as we all know, faith and religion are two different things. And as we all know, at least in Continental Europe, the Catholic Church has always had it's fingers in the political honey pot. So the anticlericalism of the GOdF is understandable.
I am sure most of you have heard about the R:.L:. Liberté Chérie. It was one of the very few R:.L:. of which the lights were ignited inside a concentration camp in Nazi Germany. It was founded by seven brothers from the Grand Orient of Belgium. As a side note, I have a personal project on which I work (to my shame not so much in the last months) through which I would wish to gather enough info to write a book on F:.M:. inside concentration camps.... Liberté Chérie was not the only one, but the most well known.
Well, in this R:.L:., while our Br:. were having their meetings, guess who was keeping watch so that SS guards don`t catch them? Catholic priests which were also inmates due to their beliefs (or because of their appurtenance to the anti-German resistance). The favor was returned by our Br:. They were also keeping watch while the priests held their Mass .... For me this is a beautiful story of mutual respect and tolerance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberté_chérie