-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- April 1 2000 BRITAIN Law lord mocks the Masonic handshake BY FRANCES GIBB, LEGAL EDITOR THE most senior British judge, who is also a Freemason, has attacked the "extraordinary nonsense" of the Masonic handshake, saying that he cannot take "the ritual and secrecy" of the craft "at all seriously". In an interview in the spring issue of Freemasonry Today, Lord Millett, who as a law lord is one of the most senior judges in Britain, says that the handshake is not used out of the lodge and if anyone tried to use it with him he probably would not recognise it out of context. The cult of secrecy which the craft fostered until recently as a reaction to Nazi persecution has been counterproductive, he says. Lord Millett also favours an open register. "Personally I would much prefer that every person who becomes a Mason joins a lodge, goes on a lodge membership list and that is automatically forwarded to Grand Lodge and anyone who wants to find out can look it up." Lord Millett, 66, who is highly regarded within his field of commercial law, is also a Royal Arch Grand Officer. His views will carry weight within the ranks of Freemasonry, although he makes clear that he is not speaking for the Grand Lodge. He says that Freemasons should openly admit to membership, and says that "there is no reason why the aprons and the regalia" should not be pictured. Although Lord Millett - who says his membership brings "fellowship, a night out with the boys" - wants greater openness, he still argues that some aspects of the craft must remain veiled in mystery. Parts of the initiation ceremony, he claims, are "very moving". If made public, the initiate Freemason would know what was coming. "The whole beauty of the ceremony is that he does not know what is in store for him. He takes an awful lot of that on trust." When he was invited to join, aged 36, one of his barrister colleagues said that he "hoped I had put on a good pair of underpants!" Lord Millett recalled "being led around in the dark, blindfold, and there was me in this ridiculous garb and knowing that I was in full public gaze of a whole lot of my associates and professional colleagues . . . I realised no one was laughing and I felt they had all been through it too . . . I don't think that should be spoiled." Lord Millett uses his interview to praise the moral principles behind the Freemasons as "a 19th-century English message deserving of wider dissemination". However, the law lord enters a legal caveat in his appeal for Masonic glasnost. He fears that the Government's plans for a public register of all Freemasons in the criminal justice system could prompt litigants to demand that judges stand down from cases. Under the Government's plans, judges will all be asked whether they are Freemasons for the purposes of the register. They do not have to answer but a refusal to do so will also be registered. A spokesman for the Lord Chancellor's Department said that the form of the register, and the arrangements for public access, were still "under consideration". Lord Millett said that a litigant who came before him with an appeal was taking a case to the European Court of Human Rights after discovering that he was a Mason, the solicitor to his opponent was a Mason and the deputy judge who tried the case was a Mason. "I knew the deputy judge was Freemason because we are in the same lodge. But the idea I would dismiss an appeal [against] him because he was a fellow member of my lodge is ridiculous." <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soap-boxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
