Friday, September 18, 2009

Can we trust Dan Brown on the Freemasons?

The Lost Symbol, the new novel by Dan Brown, is about the pursuit of "ancient mysteries" hidden in Washington DC by the Freemasons. So does the book give an accurate portrayal of the fraternal group?

There were predictions that The Lost Symbol would antagonise the Freemasons in the same way that the Catholic Church was stung by The Da Vinci Code.

But far from attacking the Masons, his new work depicts them as benign and misunderstood.

The protagonist Robert Langdon, an expert in symbols, is trying to crack a series of cryptic clues related to Masonic secrets hidden in some of Washington's most famous buildings. At the start of the novel, he attempts to explode what he says are myths surrounding Freemasonry.

So how much of Dan Brown's portrayal of the Masons is accurate? We pick five points made in the novel and ask two experts to respond.

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