Letter of the month: November 2005

Subject: Claudy Books "Introduction to Freemasonry"
From: "Peter R. Thorsen Jr." <prt7u@cw.itc.Virginia.EDU>
To: masonry-ask@mit.edu
Date: Tue, 22 Nov 2005 10:01:12 -0500
Message-Id: <1132671672.8174.16.camel@cw.itc.Virginia.EDU>

Rt. Worshipful,

I have been a visitor to your webpage many times here since I decided to join the brotherhood of Freemasons.

I saw on your site that the "Introduction to Freemasonry" books by Carl H. Claudy were being published again and when I tried to follow the link to them today it did not work. Do you know if this is an intermittent problem that the might go away or has something happened to the site and they are no longer offering those books or any others.

I appreciate your time regarding this matter,

Bro. Peter R. Thorsen Jr.
King Solomon's 194, Crozet Va.

Date: Fri, 25 Nov 2005 13:25:26 -0500
From: A Page About Freemasonry <masonry-ask@MIT.EDU>
To: "Peter R. Thorsen Jr." <prt7u@cw.itc.Virginia.EDU>
Subject: Re: Claudy Books "Introduction to Freemasonry"

dear Bro. Peter,

Thanks for writing. I'm sorry you've had trouble reaching Temple Publishers, and even sorrier to say that I can't help you today.

Here's why: I'm travelling for the week, visiting my family, and the cafe where I'm working today insists on routing all of its WiFi traffic through one of those annoying nanny filters, one that has apparently decided to rate Temple Publishers as a "forbidden website" because of its "cult/occult" contents. (Fortunately they don't seem to have done the same about mine -- yet!!!)

I have complained to the management of the cafe, to the Panera Cafe head office, to the operators of Panera's WiFi system, and to Sonic Wall -- the nanny filter service in question. I hope this will have the long-term effects of (1) changing the Temple Publishers rating at Sonic Wall and (2) convincing Panera to choose another nanny filter that lets adults read without censorship or perhaps even (3) drop the use of nanny filters entirely.

Masonry has always taught the importance of the individual's freedom of conscience, and the development of self-restraint appropriate to that freedom. Nanny filters deny that freedom and replace self-restraint with involuntary restraint by others. Man cannot learn freedom from inside a cage.

I hope to be able to reach the Temple Publishers site in the next couple of weeks, and to ascertain whether the link at my website is still correct. Thank you for contacting me, and I look forward to being able to resolve your question.

fraternal best wishes,

-- Bro. Gary

Since returning home, I've been able to try to reach "The Temple Publishers" at http://thetemplebooks.com/. The website seems to be up and running. They do still offer Carl H. Claudy's Introduction to Freemasonry and a variety of other books.