Joseph Smith, founder of the LDS Church “became a first-degree Mason on the night of the installation, and the next night rose to the sublime degree,” as documented by historian Fawn McKay Brodie in her book, No Man Knows My History (page 280.)
Though the Mormonism-Masonry connection was flatly denied when I was a Mormon, LDS scholars now not only acknowledge the connection but have written quite extensively on it in recent years. LDS author Reed Durham noted, “I believe there are few significant developments in the Church, that occurred after March 15, 1842, which did not have some Masonic interdependence. . .There is absolutely no question in my mind that the Mormon ceremony which came to be known as the Endowment. . .had an immediate inspiration from Masonry.” (As quoted by Richard Abanes in One Nation Under Gods, p. 38.)
For more information, see The Mormon Mirage 3rd Edition: A Former Member Looks at the Mormon Church Today(Zondervan, 2009). Also available as an audiobook and as an expanded-text E-book for Nook, Kindle and other reading devices.
