Square and compasses smashed during removal from 'offended' church

The square and compasses lies in pieces, smashed to the ground while being removed from the Masonic temple building in Elgin, Illinois, now owned by a church group.

Officials of the fundamentalist Christian Family Life Church threatened the Elgin City Council with a lawsuit if they weren't allowed to remove Masonic emblems from the historic building, the Chicago Tribune reported.

The square and compasses enclosing the letter G, along with the original cornerstone which contained Masonic symbols and wording, was considered "offensive" by church officials. Read the "statement of faith" of church founders and "prophetic apostolic overseers" Robert and Stacy Whitt.

The broken terra cotta S&C along with the now-removed cornerstone which reads "Laid By the Masonic Fraternity June 9 A.D. 1923=A.L. 5923" will be housed in the Elgin Area Historical Museum.

Speaking of the removal, Betty Coture, a member of the Elgin Heritage Commission, said, "I didn't really think they would do it. It is too bad that a church that came here and wants to do good things destroys our beautiful building."

A small time capsule in a copper box was found under the cornerstone. It has been given to Elgin Lodge No. 117, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.

Previous stories on the Taper regarding this subject can be found here and here.

Image: The Masonic emblems on the building before their removal and near-destruction.

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Church wants square and compasses removed from historical landmark

Christians are a strange bunch.

Oh, sorry. I mean, some Christians are a strange bunch. I promised I wouldn't "paint with a broad brush" an entire religion of what, two billion people.

In Elgin, Illinois, near Chicago, overseers (their word, not mine) of Family Life Church are appealing a ruling by the city's heritage commission that they can cover, but not remove, a compasses and square emblem on the outside wall near the top of the building and a cornerstone from the Masonic temple they bought to use as their worship center.

The building, "erected to God" in 1923, is protected as a historical landmark.

Church officials told the city that the symbols "conflict with their religious beliefs."

Meanwhile, last Saturday, in Fort Morgan, Colorado, near Denver, officers of the Grand Lodge of Colorado performed a cornerstone-laying ceremony for the Christ Congregational Church.

During the ceremony, the symbols of Masonry were explained.

"The Holy Bible is the inestimable gift of God to man," Karl Hinkle, Junior Grand Deacon of the Grand Lodge of Colorado said. "By the square, we square our actions, while the compasses teach us to circumscribe and keep our desires and passions within due bounds."

Exactly what are the religious beliefs of the evangelicals in Illinois, that the three great lights of Freemasonry "conflict" with?

You can read Family Life Church's "faith statement" here. It's a long list of their beliefs. I don't see anything expressly forbidding Masonic symbols, but since they quote the book of Ephesians twice in their list, they're probably fans of the anti-Masonic Ephesians 5:11 website.

As I quoted in the recent article "Christian Kool-Aid," "belief is the death of intelligence."

I wouldn't say that the overseers are totally brain-dead yet, but the coroner is on stand-by.

Image: The Masonic square and compasses emblem atop the Family Life Church in Elgin, Illinois

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