What is the "shrine" of the Shriners?

Question

I know that Shriners is a branch of the Luciferian Freemason cult which is entrenched in Islamic symbolism, and that the red tassled hat they wear and keep under a glass bowl is in honor of the Muslims who slaughtered Christians in the town of Fez, Morocco, and dipped the hats in the Christians' blood as it poured down the streets. But I don't understand what the actual SHINE is. A shrine is a place where you worship something. Is it the fez under glass? Anyone know?

Answer 1

While I'm a Christian who has little in common with Freemasonry and the Shrine, I have problems with such harshness. I think that most of what the outside thinks about the origins of their symbols comes from antipathy rather than understanding. Instead, I'm inclined to believe their own reports about their origins and symbols, even if I disagree with what these things represent.



As you can read in the Shriner Primer, the first reference below, the Shrine claims to have started because the regular Masons were too stuffy and business-like and these boys wanted to have some fun. So following a NY party thrown by an Arabian diplomat, Walter M. Fleming, M.D. and actor Billy Florence (both Masons) came up with the idea of a fraternity that would allow like-minded Masons their fun and hijinks. Aside from the reception, there was a general interest in things Middle Eastern back in the later 1800s and their organization reflects that.



Their official name, The Imperial Council of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, is actually highfalutin hogwash. "Council" is the most accurate term in the list. They aren't imperial (most are everyday Joes), ancient (begun in 1870 and first officially meeting in 1872), Arabic (except by copying certain externals), or noble (at least regarding actual royalty). I'm not even sure about the "order"; the group is organized and governed by its own rules but their conventions have a disorderly reputation of almost epic proportions.



Finally, the "Mystic Shrine" has no geographic counterpart. It is mystic in that it only exists within the minds of Shriners. I suppose that the phrase was chosen because it sounded good, because it hearkened to the secrecy of standard Masonic rituals, and because it hints of a quasi religious status.



As for the fez, this Moroccan headgear was popularized as part of the period's general enthusiasm for the Middle East I noted above. This attitude shows itself in much of that time's literature, including Mark Twain's classic, Innocents Abroad (see below).



As I also stated, I have little use for Masonry and the Shrine, but my reasons are related to my faith in Christ and the espoused beliefs of these organizations, not by myths originated by outsiders. You can see some of what I mean in the final reference I provide.

Answer 2

You obviously have absolutely no idea of the difference between fact and fiction. Pinheads who believe the nonsense you just spouted are the reason for the ignorance of the world.



Don't start defending yourself by saying what you are ranting about is fact because plain and simple it isn't. It was fueled by the Taxil Hoax (google it) and gives conspiracy nuts something to talk about in their delusional world.



I am a Christian and a 32nd degree Freemason. My God comes before anything to me and all Freemasons. Freemasonry does not dictate which God you must worship but they do encourage you to be active in your religion. If I thought for one minute that there was anything in Freemasonry that was against my religious beliefs, I would quit in a heartbeat.



You don't have to believe me. We will all meet our maker someday and I at least can do it knowing I did not bear false witness against my neighbor.

Answer 3

"Shriners believe in God and that He created man to serve His purposes, among which is service to others in His name.



We believe that care for the less fortunate, especially children who suffer from burns and crippling diseases, is our institutional calling."

- from their webpage



also







"The fez is a truncated cone-shaped felt cap, generally red, with a long black tassel. Formerly the national headdress of the Turks, the fez is also worn by men in Egypt and North Africa. Adopted by the masonic service club, the Shriners, in the western world the fez has long been a symbol of partying conventioneers and worn by anyone attempting to imitate the playboy image of Egyptian King Farouk I (1920-1965). It was not uncommon for English Victorian gentlemen of the late nineteenth century to relax at home while wearing loose smoking jackets and fez-like headdresses, an affectation often portrayed in Punch magazine illustrations of the period.

Anti-masonic claims—perhaps originating with Jack T. Chick—that the red fez commemorates the slaughter of Christians in the city of Fès are without any historical foundation. In one of his comic-strip religious tract against Freemasonry, Jack T. Chick records a story that the original fez was red because it was dyed in the blood of murdered Christians. There is no evidence of truth in this story.2

Originally of Greek origin, the fez was worn throughout the Ottoman empire in the nineteenth century by royal decree of Sultan Mahmud Khan II (1808-39). Widely worn as military headdress, among Muslims of South Asia, the fez was a symbol of Islamic identity.

In popular western culture the fez continues to represent relaxation, if not debauchery. Although the members of Moose International wore a fez from their founding in 1888 until 1992, and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks have used a purple fez with a white tassle since their founding in 1868, it is the fez-attired Shriner conventioneers of the 1920s who have entered popular history as the archetype of heavy partyers. A few examples demonstrate the prevelance of the image.

From Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in Sons of the Desert (1933) to The Simpsons, the image of the fez-wearing conventioneer has been used as visual shorthand and for comedic affect. "







They sound OK to me. Perhaps you should lighten up on the medication..

Answer 4

Perhaps their "shrines" are the 22 children's hospitals that they fund where children are treated for free.

http://www.shrinershq.org/

Answer 5

"The trouble with most people ain't so much ignorance, as knowin' so many things that ain't so." -Josh Billings-



This question exemplifies that statement.

Answer 6

You "know "nothing if you believe those lies you have listed.