Is President Biden A Freemason?
Controversy where none should exist
I read with interest this article by Brother Chris Hodapp:
Prince Hall Grand Master of South Carolina Makes Joe Biden Freemason ‘At Sight’
In a nutshell it seems that the Grand Master of the MWPHGL of South Carolina attended an event along with President Biden on his last full day in office, and while the two men were together, made the President a Mason At Sight.
According to Brother Hodapp’s reporting, this has led to some heated controversy online.1
There shouldn’t be any.
Every Grand Lodge is sovereign. Every Grand Lodge selects a Grand Master to exercise its powers within its Jurisdiction.
Had I found myself in a position to do so while I held the office of Grand Master I would not have sought to make President Biden a Freemason At Sight. Doing so would not, in my view, be an appropriate exercise of that power. I believe that it should be reserved for those very few men who truly want to become Masons, in their heart, but who for whatever reason can not go through the Degree process.
But my opinion about that carries no weight whatsoever.
Because every Grand Lodge is sovereign. If the MWPHGL of South Carolina, through its Grand Master, sees things differently than I did when I was Grand Master, that is its prerogative, and its power to exercise.
Even had I wanted to do something like that however, and the opportunity presented itself, I still could not have done it.
Because while the Grand Master in my Jurisdiction does hold the right to make Masons At Sight, that power comes with guardrails set in place by the Craft as a whole. There are requirements that must be met before a Grand Master of Washington can make a Mason At Sight, and in this instance those requirements were not met.
But again, that carries no weight whatsoever.
Because Grand Lodges are sovereign. Every Grand Lodge seems to have interpreted this ancient power of Grand Masters in its own way. And those interpretations run to the extremes. In some Grand Lodges this power is an absolute prerogative of the Grand Master. In others it is not allowed at all. In mine there is some prerequisite involved. The WMPHGL of South Carolina has an absolute right to regulate, or not, this power as it sees fit.
It has been noted that due to the fact that the MWPHGL of South Carolina and the MWGL of South Carolina do not recognize each other, no other (so called) mainstream Grand Lodge can or does recognize the MWPHGL of South Carolina.
This is true. But to my mind, irrelevant.
There is no question that the MWPHGL of South Carolina is a legitimate Grand Lodge. It has been operating as such since 18722 and is a member of the Conference of Grand Masters Prince Hall Masons.3
The bottom line is this:
If President Biden was to show up at my Lodge, I could not admit him to a Stated Meeting. Because despite the MWPHGL of South Carolina’s action, he does not meet the requirements to be admitted into a Washington Lodge.
But that does not mean that the MWPHGL of South Carolina’s action was in any way inappropriate or unmasonic.
There should not be controversy over their decision within our Masonic ranks.
And whether we personally believe President Biden to be a good President or a bad President, whether we are on Team Blue or Team Red hasn’t got a darn thing to do with it. Freemasonry transcends partisanship. It transcends politics. Heck, it even transcends national borders. Politics and partisanship are profane. Freemasonry is sacred.
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https://freemasonsfordummies.blogspot.com/2025/01/prince-hall-grand-master-of-south.html
https://mwphglsc.com/
https://www.conferenceofgrandmasterspha.org/
With "powers nigh absolute," Grand Masters must wield it with Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude and most of all Justice. When power is used to promote politics, it creates disharmony within the lodge. Prudence dictates that it should be avoided at all costs.
It will suck if he was a Freemason. He sucked as a president. He should have known better. 🤦♂️