Resignations from Freemasonry are expected by members who have genuine reason to fear, that their career prospects may be damaged because of prejudice against Masons. There is a general perception that Masons are more reticent about declaring their membership and activities than seems necessary and that some sinister purpose lies behind this reticence.

Freemasons claim to be an honourable association with nothing sinister to hide. A public relations campaign to alert the public to the serious threat to personal liberty is being planned. It will last a number of years and cost a significant amount of money. To succeed, it must satisfy the general public that Freemasonry is open, not a secret, society.

Freemasons are at liberty to disclose their membership. The only restriction is that they must not do so for the purpose of personal advantage.

Claims that there are a lot of Freemasons in public life and in a variety of professions, who were obstructing the truth have raised concerns about the rights and liberties of the individual.

Proposals to establish a register of the names of those in certain walks of life who are Masons have been described as oppressive and arbitrary and are being opposed by Freemasonry.

President Of The Board Of General Purposes, United Grand Lodge of England, 11th March 1998.

There is not anything sinister about freemasonry, properly observed. Freemasonry itself does not encourage malpractice. Most or all of the evidence alleging masonic corruption is largely circumstantial, in the sense that it involves assuming that steps taken by individuals who were freemasons, in respect of others who were also freemasons, were taken because both individuals were freemasons rather than because the individuals knew each other or for some other reason. One of the main reasons for freemasonry's poor public image is a perception that it is a secret society. There is a great deal of unjustified paranoia about freemasonry.

The solution is not bans or proscriptions or any form of intolerance. A lot of honest people derive innocent social pleasure from membership of freemasonry and there is no reason to deprive them of such pleasure. The solution is disclosure. The solution lies in the hands of freemasonry itself. By openness and disclosure, all suspicion would be removed.

Freemasonry no longer claims that it "is not a secret society, but a society with secrets." This phrase has been used in the past by Freemasons and commentators to summarise an important difference between Freemasonry and secret societies. In recent years it has been recognised as too facile, and it is not in current use by Masonic spokesmen.

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