NoBeehive.com
MY NAME IS RILEY. I’M GOING TO ATTEMPT TO CONVINCE YOU TO NOT USE A BEEHIVE IN THE NEW UTAH STATE FLAG.
THE BEEHIVE IS A FREEMASON EMBLEM
https://www.freemason.com/the-beehive/
"The rites of Ohio Freemasonry are filled with imagery, characters, and symbols designed to translate the core teachings and values of our fraternity to brethren. While all harbor their unique significance, some enjoy a greater place of prominence in Masonic discussion, lecture, and philosophy. Take, for instance, the Beehive, a symbol that maintains a position in the Master Mason degree yet receives little attention in the whole of Masonic ritual. Despite its inconspicuous place in the craft, the Beehive is a rich, ancient symbol worthy of examination.
To appreciate its place within the third degree, let us examine this symbol’s historical and cultural significance so that we may better contextualize it within our ritual.
The Beehive is emblematic of the Masonic lodge and industriousness of Freemasons.
It is unclear precisely when the Beehive was integrated into Masonic ritual, but as W.M. Sollie divulged in The Masonic Observer, it was mentioned as early as 1724 in Ireland. The Early Masonic Catechisms reads, “A Bee has in all Ages and Nations been the Grand Hieroglyphic of Masonry, because it excels all other living Creatures in the Contrivance and Commodiousness of its Habitation or Comb.”
In the lecture of The Master Mason degree, it is taught that the Beehive is emblematic of Industry:
The Bee Hive is an emblem of industry, and recommends the practice of that virtue to all created beings, from the highest seraph in the heavens, to the lowest reptile of the dust. It teaches us, that as we come into the world rational and intelligent beings, so we should ever be industrious ones; never sitting down contented while our fellow-creatures around us are in want, especially when it is in our power to relieve them, without inconvenience to ourselves.
As Albert Mackey wrote in his Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, following the regulated labor of bees in the hive naturally deems it an appropriate emblem of systematized industry. When reflecting on our ancestors in the operative lodges, the old meaning of Industry described how the guilds’ work was completed without modern heavy machinery. In this antiquated system of Industry, individual stonemasons were assigned specific tasks based on their skill level, whether it was carrying a stone or building tools or sculpting a proper piece for the structure. Every man from the apprentice to the master was essential for completing the job just as every bee contributes to the success of the hive."
Free Masons are wonderful people. They don’t have a monopoly on the beehive symbol. But history is important. This is where our state got the symbol from.
THE FIRST 5 LDS PROPHETS
WERE FREEMASONS AND POLYGAMISTS
WERE FREEMASONS AND POLYGAMISTS
May 4, 1842 “Soon (49 days) after he became a Mason, Joseph introduced the temple endowment" "to nine men, all of whom were also Masons." "There are some similarities between Masonic ceremonies and the endowment, but there are also stark differences in their content and intent.” https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/masonry
Commonalities include expectations of secrecy, having the exact same or very similar signs, tokens, symbols, and vocabulary. This includes the square and the compass, the handshakes and other raising and lowering of the arms 3 times, the 5 Points of Fellowship. Also very similar is the clothing, particularly the apron. Some of these have been removed in modern times by the LDS Church.
In the 1840’s polygamy was a large secret within Nauvoo.
“Polygamy was not openly practiced in the Mormon Church until 1852 when Orson Pratt, an apostle, made a public speech defending it as a tenet of the church. From 1852 until 1890, Mormon church leaders preached and encouraged members, especially those in leadership positions, to marry additional wives." https://historytogo.utah.gov/history-polygamy/
Although impossible to prove (as it’s a discussion of intent of people long dead) I believe that the Endowment and Sealing ceremonies were invented to hide polygamy. Early church leaders had a clear problem when they started practicing polygamy -- it looked bad and would be very unpopular. (This is regardless of if it was actually commanded by God or not.) I believe these early LDS leaders, who were already familiar with the covenants of secrecy within the rituals of Freemasonry, decided to modify them to obtain covenants of secrecy to protect polygamy.
BRIGHAM YOUNG INTRODUCED THE BEEHIVE TO UTAH
[ANYTHING IN THIS BLUE COLOR IS A QUOTE FROM THIS ARTICLE]
https://rsc.byu.edu/salt-lake-city-place-which-god-prepared/beehive-deseret
by Susan Easton Black https://rsc.byu.edu/salt-lake-city-place-which-god-prepared/beehive-deseret
“Susan Black was a professor emeritus of Church history and doctrine at BYU when this was written. She joined the faculty in 1978 and is a former Eliza R. Snow Fellow, associate dean of General Education and Honors, and director of Church History in the Religious Studies Center. She was the recipient of the Karl G. Maeser Distinguished Faculty Lecturer Award in 2000, the highest award given to professors on the BYU campus. She has authored, edited, and compiled over ninety books and as many articles.”
The “beehive and deseret are symbols of industry. Kevin L. Barney states that Brigham Young chose the beehive symbol and the word deseret because he “liked the imagery of cooperative labor and industry brought to mind by honeybees and their hives.” S. S. Ivins agrees with Barney, claiming that Brigham chose “the honey bee as their symbol of industry.” W. Jeffrey Marsh adds that deseret is “a Book of Mormon term for honeybee, signifying unity, industry, and cooperation.”
A few Latter-day Saint historians suggest that because the beehive is prominent in the Third Degree of Freemasonry, Freemasonry introduced Brigham to the symbol.
Susan Black later attempts to say this wasn’t important because Mormons used the beehive symbol in 1841, and Freemasons didn’t have a lodge in Nauvoo until at least a year later. What she fails to recognize is that many LDS leaders were Freemasons years earlier. For example, Hyrum Smith became a Freemason in 1827 (14yrs before 1841.) It’s impossible for her to prove disassociation.
It was Peter Haws (also a freemason), one of seven principals of the association, who kept the beehive symbol in circulation among Latter-day Saints long after the Nauvoo Agricultural and Manufacturing Association had become defunct. While camped at Garden Grove in Iowa Territory, Peter embossed on the front side of a brass token dated 1846 an ornate beehive with the slogan “Do Your Duty.” On the obverse side, he embossed clasped hands with the motto “Union Is Strength.” His token was circulated in Garden Grove and throughout Pottawattamie County and used as a barter or exchange among Latter-day Saints.”
Haws’s 1846 brass token with beehive (variety 1). (Rust, Mormon and Utah Coin and Currency, 34.)
MODERN MORMONS ASSOCIATE THE BEEHIVE AS A SYMBOL OF THE BOOK OF MORMON
“When looking for symbols of the Book of Mormon in Salt Lake City, there is nothing so evident as the beehive and an obscure word buried in the book of Ether: “And they did also carry with them deseret, which, by interpretation, is a honey bee; and thus they did carry with them swarms of bees” (Ether 2:3). The honeybee, depicted on heroic-sized beehives, is seen atop such prominent buildings as the Beehive House and Joseph Smith Memorial Building in downtown Salt Lake City.
To Latter-day Saint residents of Salt Lake City, the beehive is more than a symbol of the city as a home of hard workers or of industry. The beehive symbol was Brigham Young’s way to remind residents of the Jaredite civilization in America.
[The beehive] is a visual reminder that an ancient people originating from the Tower of Babel roamed this land. ... From top to bottom, the city of the Great Salt Lake is an expression of Book of Mormon influence. It brings to mind sacred scriptural passages: “There shall be none greater than the nation which I will raise up unto me of thy seed, upon all the face of the earth” and “whatsoever nation shall possess [the land] shall serve God, or they shall be swept off when the fulness of his wrath shall come upon them” (Ether 1:43; 2:9). [ISN'T THIS CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM??]
For those who look for truth, the symbol of the beehive is a reminder that the influence of the Book of Mormon still holds sway in the city.
The Church has not severed the word deseret from the beehive symbol. The Church-owned Deseret Industries, a leader in humanitarian outreach efforts, uses the beehive as its logo. Deseret Mutual Benefit Association, a Latter-day Saint insurance and investment company, currently uses the beehive symbol. The Church-backed Deseret Book, a publisher and chain of Latter-day Saint bookstores, also once used a beehive logo.”
The Beehive House, located in Salt Lake City, Utah, served as President Brigham Young’s primary residence from 1855 until his death in 1877. It was designed to accommodate some of his 56 polygamous wives and his 57 children.
Each of these groups are wonderful people! I believe any well informed adult should be able to become a freemason, LDS or polygamous. There is nothing wrong with these groups. I believe it is wrong to pick an emblem associated with them for a government flag intended to represent all Utahns.
9 of the finalist flag designs have beehives.
There are 11 other fantastic options.
Please pick any of those.
There are 11 other fantastic options.
Please pick any of those.
But if you insist... this will be a fantastic pride flag.
