Israel-Hamas war, attack on the values of the Republic when a teacher is assassinated, controversy around the words of Guillaume Meurice. These topics fit the theme of the round table in which you are participating. They are dear to masons.
Daniel Keller. Yes, it is interesting to revisit these fundamental freedoms which are at the heart of the Republic. Freedom of expression, enshrined in the Declaration of Human Rights, was intended to protect citizens against dogmatism. It was built at a time when people thought about freeing themselves from the weight of religions. Unfortunately, the opposite happened. We are in a dramatic period which risks becoming tragic. A time when, as René Girard said, “the Crusades and the Battle of Poitiers are closer to us than the industrial revolution”.
So freedom of expression should not be absolute?
Freedom of expression is absolute but in compliance with the laws of the Republic. She has limits. It does not allow discrimination. It prohibits incitement to hatred and racial insults. But the law must not become a kind of censorship that prohibits expression. When it is gagged, we fall into a totalitarian regime. The guardian of the proper use of freedom of expression is justice.
Freedom of expression, freedom of conscience. Two notions that come into conflict at the moment, right?
Yes, because freedom of conscience was thought of in a society that we imagined to be peaceful. The prediction “the 21st century will be religious or it will not be” turns out to be correct. Current events in the Middle East perhaps mark the return of deadly and violent religious wars.
What role can masons play in this context at the time of 250 years of your obedience and when we have the impression that the words of the “brothers” carry less weight?
Yes, Freemasonry is less heard. It experienced its golden age in progressive periods, it is at a crossroads. Uncomfortable in the world that is emerging. It’s not the one she dreamed of, not the one she sought to build. I want to say that, if we look back over these 250 years, history proves Freemasonry wrong.
Does that mean you are desperate and the masons are putting away their tools?
It’s despairing but no, it doesn’t despair me because I think that in every mason there lies a fighter, not just a meditative being. Masons can be consciences of the Republic, their work should not be stored in museums. Let us not make the same mistakes as those who, between the two wars, failed to warn of the rising dangers. Let’s take out our tools, learn to love France and the West again.
The news is also the rallies against anti-Semitism. How do you deal with this situation when conspiracy theorists have often called it a great Judeo-Masonic conspiracy?
I do not think that the notion of a Masonic or Judeo-Masonic conspiracy persists. I was Grand Master after the law on equal marriage and, there, there was a peak of anti-Masonism. The anti-Semitism we experience today is of another order. It is linked to Islamic fundamentalism. It requires us to be vigilant. Because, as the saying goes, after Saturday, there is Sunday. Christians may be next on the list.
(1) Day about Freemasonry, this Saturday, November 18, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., at the Espace Franquin in Angoulême. Two conferences. 10 a.m.: “Freemasonry: tradition and modernity”, by Daniel Keller. 1:30 p.m.: “Draw and laugh at everything” by Mykaïa (caricaturist). A round table: 4:15 p.m. “freedom of expression, freedom of conscience”. Open to everyone.
#Angoulême #History #proves #Freemasonry #wrong
