[freemasonry today] and the chinon parchment

Stumbled upon this page, Issue 43, 2007/8, of Freemasonry Today, the Freemasons' own publication.

Interesting that on the same page appears an article on the possibility of the Ancient Knights Templar being "absolved from their crimes".

What's interesting is that a modern Freemason publication should concern itself with a group whose connection with it is denied.

Of course the inclusion of the article is not conclusive, inasmuch as Jimmy Carter appeared in Playboy, Al Jazeera covers sport and Masons include pagans. On the other hand, the article, in using inverted commas, is taking a point of view sympathetic to the Ancient Templars.

This is interesting because the Modern Templars deny they are the old order, which was thought to have been disbanded although they do adhere to the original spirit of it. Further, they say that all Templars are Freemasons but not all Masons are Templars and that they are a modern philanthropic organization.

OK. So the evidence for absolution of the Ancient Templars' crimes is the Chinon Parchment. I'm not going to selectively quote from it - you can read it yourself - but what it essentially refers to is spitting on the cross and homosexual practice as a ritual of entry to the order.

Members confessing that this was indeed so were thereby absolved of guilt by the Pope. Forgive me if I'm wrong but the more I read of their own publications, the more connected they seem to be.

The next step, therefore, is to examine the ritual practices. :)