(Summary: Freemasonry is a ‘self-improvement club’, how to delude yourself while praying to the Freemasonic deity, and more drivel from Jimmy Akin of Catholic Answers)

Background

(Above video source: The video above is an excerpt from a longer YouTube video on the Catholic Answers Live channel, titled “Who are the 144,000 Sealed Servants in Revelation? Bible AMA w/Jimmy Akin” dated 11th October 2025, where at approximately 36 minutes into the video Jimmy Akin discusses the topic of Freemasonry. Click here for the original YouTube video)

A caller posed a question to Catholic Answers & Jimmy Akin on their live show, about Freemasonry in the context of the conciliar view of Islam (reference CCC 841).

Although the caller, Caesar, said that he agrees with the rationale of the conciliar Church in context with Islam, he asked the same question about Freemasonry, viz; Do Freemasons worship the same God as Catholics?

He further said that the Freemasonic god is called “The grand architect of the universe” linking it to the “uncaused cause” of the Judeo-Christian God. He logically then stated the obvious, that Catholics must “draw a line between Islam and Freemasonry” and therefore asked “how is it that we say that Islam worships the same god as us (when) they reject the Trinity. It’s not the same, but it’s the one Creator. But we say Freemasons don’t” to which Akins interjects and asked him “Which says that?” The caller goes on to explain that he was “under the impression that Freemasons are basically worshipping the devil” subsequent to which Akin provides his response which can be seen in the video. While Akin addresses a few general misconceptions that the caller had about Freemasonry, the troubling aspects are detailed below.

“American Freemasonry” a “self improvement club”?

This seems to be an astonishing justification by one of the premier apologists of Catholic Answers. To speak for American Freemasonry by claiming they believe it is a kind of a “self-improvement social club”, regardless of if this is true or not, is tantamount to Akin being the spokesperson for American Freemasons in this ‘nothing-to-see-here’ equivalent trivialization.

Moreover, this seems to ignore the clear and exclusive condemnation heaped by Pope Clement XII in his Papal Bull on Freemasonry titled “In Eminenti” (1738) in which the below is the most relevant aspects (emphasis mine)

Wherefore We command most strictly and in virtue of holy obedience…that none, under any pretext or for any reason….be enrolled among them, joined to them, be present with them….but they must stay completely clear of such Societies….under pain of excommunication….which is incurred by the very deed without any declaration being required…

The condemnation by Pope Clement XII was later reiterated by Pope Benedict XIV in 1751 followed by other Popes as well until the 20th century.

Adherence to the Conciliar religion and religious indifference?

Who is Akin kidding, one wonders? Pope Leo XIII already warned against the loss of “eternal salvation” of those who participate in masonic sects under such a “pretense of honesty” by adopting a contradiction to true religion and faith, writing in Humanum Genus in 1884 (paragraph § 31):

…let no man think that he may for any reason whatsoever join the masonic sect, if he values his Catholic name and his eternal salvation as he ought to value them. Let no one be deceived by a pretense of honesty. It may seem to some that Freemasons demand nothing that is openly contrary to religion and morality…

In doing so, Akin also dedicates himself to the conciliar religion; a religion in which religious indifference is something to be praised – after all, this does come from the Vatican “counter-Syllabus” of Gaudium et Spes, Dignitatis Humanae, and Nostra Aetate, as claimed by Pope Benedict XVI – implicitly referring to the revolt that took place at Vatican II against the Syllabus of errors issued in1864 by Pope Pius IX. The problem is that what has once been condemned by previous Popes, cannot suddenly be a-okay.

Pope Leo XIII reiterates the problem of religious indifference in the same document (Humanum Genus) as well in paragraph §16 where he states (emphasis mine):

…all who offer themselves (to Freemasonry) are received whatever may be their form of religion, they thereby teach the great error of this age – that a regard for religion should be held as an indifferent matter, and that all religions are alike. This manner of reasoning is calculated to bring about the ruin of all forms of religion, and especially of the Catholic religion, which, as it is the only one that is true, cannot, without great injustice, be regarded as merely equal to other religions.

Is the god of Freemasonry the same as the Biblical God?

This is the same logic by which Akin has to accommodate the God of Islam as earlier referred to in CCC 841:

The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; together with us they adore the one, merciful God,

Therefore just as it is for Freemasonry, it follows for Islam; The title of “Allah” given by Muslims to their god is not itself a bad title (by Akin’s own logic), because it is the Arabic word for their monotheistic god. Never mind the trivial details that the God of Christianity is a Trinity, and never mind that the second person of Christianity, Jesus, is believed to be the begotten Son of God – aspects which no Muslim will ever concede. But Akin and Catholic Answers will flatten themselves pancake-like, allowing the 1992 issued Catechism by Pope John Paul II to override several generations of Catholic condemnations and Catechisms – all in stark contrast to established Catholic teaching. As though it was now cool by Catholics to refer to God as Allah or The Grand Architect and that there was no real difference!

It is true that the great Saint Thomas Aquinas in his treatise Summa Theologiae did make a reference to the “architect’s mind” (See the Summa Theologiae, Q.44, Article 3, Reply to Obj. 1) – hardly an implication that God should be designated with the title of ‘Grand Architect and Overlord of the Universe’. However, a view that seems plausible is that the phrase “Grand Architect of the Universe” originated thanks to the protestant John Calvin himself who repeatedly calls the Christian God “the Architect of the Universe”. This term was supposedly borrowed by James Anderson, a Freemason, who was likely a Calvinist minister, and therefore probably borrowed the term from Calvin’s usage. There is also a mention of this ‘Grand Architect’ in Gnosticism, an ancient heresy condemned by the Church, where this title is ascribed to the Demiurge. Note that successive Church fathers battled Gnosticism including St. Irenaeus, St. Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and St. Hippolytus of Rome.

With such a title that is rooted firmly in infamy, it is indeed concerning, to say the least, that a reputed & intellectual giant for Catholic Answers, no less, has provided such a poorly thought through response to a question which should have, at the very least, been responded in keeping with the recommendation by Pope Leo XIII in paragraph § 31 of Humanum Genus:

We wish it to be your rule first of all to tear away the mask from Freemasonry, and to let it be seen as it really is (emphasis mine)

Conclusion

I pray that he made an honest mistake—instead of intentionally misleading the listeners—and is humble enough to publicly correct it. I would hate to see Catholics fall (quite literally) into the hands of the enemy because of what he said on that radio show.

Even if Akin does correct his views, there is no getting away from the ground reality. Which is: If something is good for Islam, it should be good for Freemasonry. And Akin only has Dignitatis Humanae to thank for this and thus has to defend the undefendable. Why? Because he cannot divorce himself from Vatican II. And therein lies the travesty of Catholic Answers. If they have to play by the rules imposed by the present occupants of Rome, they have to thus jettison the teachings of their predecessors, especially those prior to Vatican II, that are directly incompatible with the most cherished goals of Religious Liberty and Ecumenism directed by the Modernist master-masons within the walls of the Vatican itself.

Ave Maria