Freemasonry Threaded Through Mormonism

“Master Mason Brigham Young was regularly confronted by Mormon Masons during the migration regarding Masonry. They brought up numerous questions about the similarity between the Mormon Endowment ceremony and the Freemason ritual. Many Mormons believed that Freemasonry had evolved as a result of the Latter-day Saint Endowment ceremony. Brigham Young responded as best he was able that the Endowment ceremony and Freemasonry were definitely different and unique from one another. As soon as the immigrants arrived and settled in Salt Lake, all Latter-day Saint men were instantly put to work constructing their own homes and building necessary city buildings. Men’s time was consumed by long hours of demanding work. This was a plan to keep everyone totally occupied and especially to keep the men’s minds off the questions of Endowment similarities with Freemasonry. In the mean time, Brigham Young wrote to the Grand Lodge of England and requested that the Latter-day Saints be allowed to form their own Masonic Lodge and to be allowed to structure lodge proceedings in line with Latter-day Saints ideas. This request was flatly rejected. Brigham Young then proceeded to keep all men busy so that their minds were absorbed in the immediate community necessities so they would remain oblivious to thoughts of Freemasonry. No Masonic lodges had been established in the Utah Territory when the Latter-day Saints initially arrived in 1847 nor would there be any Masonry for another ten years.”