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There are only two entities that can quiet the Archbishop of Canterbury: God and the monarch (and not necessarily in that order). However, in March 2004, British Freemasons circumvented both Jehovah and Queen Elizabeth II not only to shut Archbishop Rowan Williams up, but also make him take his words back.

How and why would a group of men who wear aprons and practice ancient rituals do such a thing, you may ask? Because Dr. Williams claimed that Freemasonry was incompatible with Christianity. On top of this, he also admitted to keeping members of the Craft away from senior posts in his diocese.

Members of the fraternal organization around the world will deny any incompatibility with the Christian faith (or any other, for that matter), but the vast majority of men who deny these claims are also ignorant of how Masonry became what it is today.

Even Mayor Brad Cole, a seven-year member of the Craft, appears to be unaware of how this mysterious men's club found its way to America.

And if a public figure belongs to a group that wields enough power to make the head of the Church of England rescind a strongly held belief, then it is worth taking the time to lift the veil on its elusive past.

This task is much easier said than done, but it is also easy to overlook. Most low-ranking masons are unaware of the significance of the ceremonies they participate in. And the majority of outsiders know little of their public activities - much less their private ones. In their book "The Hiram Key," writers and fellow Craft members Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas even admit that Freemasonry for them was, "little more than a social club providing an opportunity to indulge in some amateur theatricals, followed by a meal and plenty of beer and wine."

However, Knight and Lomas also discovered that their fraternity held the key to a laundry list of esoteric secrets. Years of research and several books later, they have outlined what they believe to be the true history of more than just Freemasonry; they also believe they have discovered the secret past of the Christian faith.

And it is farther from orthodox belief than most anyone could ever imagine. In fact, the story they outline is so expansive and fantastic it makes "The DaVinci Code" look like a children's book. Among the many shocking beliefs they claim Freemasonry has passed down are the concepts that the Catholic Church began as a fringe Jewish cult that was started by the apostle Paul, that Jesus was the leader of a fringe group of militants, and that the stories of his miracles are actually allegorical representations of his recruitment techniques.

And as for the history of the Craft, Knight and Lomas claim it is partly descended from the Knights Templar, a group of monks who purportedly unearthed scrolls from the ruins of the Temple of Solomon that support its theories. These knights were, however, arrested and killed on Oct. 13, 1307. The few who managed to escape either made their way to Scotland or America, the latter being a particularly amazing feat since they would have arrived in the New World a century and a half before Christopher Columbus was even born.

Regardless of how much of this information is fact or fiction, it does raise legitimate questions as to how Freemasonry fits into American society.

In the Jan. 16-22 edition of the Carbondale Times, Mayor Cole said, in relation to the Masonry's activities, that it "is much more than just a lunch or breakfast group. We're not a coffee clutch or a sewing circle. There's much more to it."

And that's just the problem. If only he and his brothers at Shekinah Lodge knew how right he really was.

Wolfe is a senior studying English education.

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