Temple Terrace, Florida, police have arrested a man for allegedly setting fire to a bible on a Masonic altar at a local lodge building there. The man, Redman Stewart, had apparently entered the lodge building through a broken window and was still present when the police arrived. According to police, the motive for the break-in and fire is unclear.
While there have been prior recent incidents involving arson at lodge halls, what struck me about this case was not so much the act of burning the bible (which suggests to me that, if the allegations are true, there might simply be some kind of paranoid mental illness involved here) but rather the headline of the story: Man accused of burning Bible in place of worship. Interestingly, despite our efforts to the contrary, there seems to be a persistent notion that Freemasonry is a religion.
Read the full story here.
The Masonic Lodge building in Saskatoon, Canada, suffered extensive damage from fire yesterday and may be a complete loss. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
