Blondie: "
Can't get more accurate info than Barbara did.
Barbara Anderson called/wrote to the Freemason office in Pennsylvania and they checked their records and said their membership shows no evidence that Charles Taze Russell or his father were members."
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Pardon me, Blondie, but I think Barbara is very inaccurate in her "research". Her wording is very slanted. Perhaps you did not see the last post on that thread. Here it is for you again.
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Andersoninfo: "NO, CHARLES TAZE RUSSELL WAS NOT A PENNSYLVANIA FREEMASON!"
Tricky bit of wording here, people. The operative word is PENNSYLVANIA! And while Russell may not have been a PENNSYLVANIA Freemason, he could very well have been a mason in another jurisdiction! Here's proof! (I hate sly wording.)
Grand Lodges and Grand Orients are independent and sovereign bodies that govern Masonry in a given country, state, or geographical area (termed a jurisdiction). [12] There is no single overarching governing body that presides over worldwide Freemasonry; connections between different jurisdictions depend solely on mutual recognition. [13]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemasonry
If you dig you will find that some Lodges are considered "Clandestine".