Shriners International, formally known as the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (AAONMS), is an American Masonic society established in 1870 and headquartered in Tampa, Florida.[1]
Shriners International describes itself as a fraternity based on fun, fellowship, and the Masonic principles of brotherly love, relief, and truth.[2] There are about 200 temples across North America, South America, Europe and Southeast Asia. The organization founded the Shriners Hospitals for Children.[3]
The organization was previously known as "Shriners North America." The name was changed in 2010 across North America, Central America, South America, Europe, and Southeast Asia.[3]
In 1870, there were several thousand Freemasons in Manhattan, many of whom lunched at the Knickerbocker Cottage at a special table on the second floor. There, the idea of a new fraternity for Masons, stressing fun and fellowship, was discussed. Together, Walter M. Fleming and William J. Florence established a separate fellowship to fulfill those ideals.
William J. Florence
While on tour in Marseille, Florence, an actor, was invited to a party given by an Arab diplomat. The entertainment was a musical comedy. At its conclusion, the guests became members of a secret society. Florence took notes and drawings at his initial viewing and on two other occasions, once in Algiers and once in Cairo. When he returned to New York in 1870, he showed his material to Fleming.[5]
Walter Millard Fleming
Fleming created the ritual, emblem and costumes. Florence and Fleming were initiated August 13, 1870, and they initiated 11 men on June 16, 1871.[6]
The group adopted a Middle Eastern theme and soon established Temple, although the term Temple has now been replaced by Shrine Auditorium or Shrine Center. The first Temple established was Mecca Temple, established at the New York City Masonic Hall on September 26, 1872. Fleming was the first potentate.[7]
In 1875, there were 43 Shriners in the organization. To encourage membership, the Imperial Grand Council of the Ancient Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine for North America was created at the June 6, 1876 meeting of Mecca Temple. Fleming was elected the first imperial potentate. By 1878, there were 425 members in 13 temples in eight states, and by 1888, there were 7,210 members in 48 temples in the United States and Canada. By the Imperial Session held in Washington, D.C. in 1900, there were 55,000 members and 82 Temples.[8]
Black Shrine
Historically, the Shrine was open to only white men. In 1893, a black counterpart to the Shriners movement was initiated by John G. Jones and other Prince Hall masons, initially called The Ancient Egyptian Arabic Order Nobles Mystic Shrine of North and South America and Its Jurisdictions.[9] Early in the group's history, there was legal conflict between the white and black orders, with a white order from Texas filing suit against a local black order for infringement of white Shriners regalia and traditions. The white order was initially successful in quashing the black temple until the ruling was overturned in appeals in 1929, protecting the right of black Shriners to continue practicing and fundraising nationwide.[10] The Worldwide Fraternal Shrine Family counts 35,000 members in 227 shrines, with its own women's auxiliary organizations. Their primary recipients of charitable donations are the NAACP, the National Urban League, the UNCF, and various hospitals and universities.[9]
Syria mosque
In 1911, the Syria Mosque was completed in Pittsburgh and was inaugurated in 1916. This 3,700-seat performance venue, originally for Shriners, later became significant as the "birthplace of network television."[11] An example of Exotic Revival architecture, it was never used as a mosque but featured religious Arabic iconography and inscriptions,[12] partly based on the Alhambra.[13] Architect Gulzar Haider was "fascinated" by its design, but criticized the "insensitive and callous misuse of another religion’s artistic vocabulary and symbolic grammar," claiming it was part of the "'oriental obsession' of the otherwise 'puritanical' Europeans and Americans."[13] Musicians having performed at the Syria Mosque included Bruce Springsteen, Louis Armstrong, Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, Jimmy Buffett, and The Beach Boys. Political event hosts included Reagan, Nixon, Truman, and Kennedy. Despite efforts to conserve the building as a historic landmark, the Syria Mosque was torn down in 1991.[14]
The Ladies Oriental Shrine of North America was founded in 1903 in Wheeling, West Virginia,[15] and the Daughters of the Nile was founded in 1913 in Seattle, Washington.[16] Both are for women only and they support the Shriners Hospitals and promote sociability. Membership in either organization is open to any woman 18 years of age and older who is related to a Shriner or Master Mason by birth or marriage. The latter organization has local branches called "Temples," and there were ten of these in 1922. Among the famous members of the Daughters of the Nile was First LadyFlorence Harding, wife of Warren G. Harding.[17]
Growth
By 1938 there were about 340,000 members in the United States. That year, Life published photographs of the Shriners' rites. It described the Shriners as being the first in prestige, wealth and show among secret societies, and that Shriners organizations typically include a town's most prominent citizens.[18]
Organizational rebranding
In 2002, following the September 11 attacks, the "faux-Middle Eastern practices and trappings" led Shriners to be "mistaken for a Muslim organization, leading to harassment and vandalism."[19] This included threatening phone calls and harassment of Rhode Island Shriners (formerly known as Palestine Temple Shriners) driving a Shriners van to drive sick children to Shriner hospitals.[19]
By 2011, Shriners removed much of the Middle Eastern theming, both locally[19] and within the broader organization.[4] This was in continued response to "the events of Sept. 11, 2001 and subsequent military conflicts."[4] Changes included renaming the organization from "Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine" to "Shriners International;" renaming the "Arabic Patrol" to "The Patrol" and removing the word Syria from Syria Shriners vanity plates. Despite these changes, the Illustrious Potentate of Pittsburgh's Syria Shrine chapter stated that "pretty much all non-atheists are welcome, including Muslims."[4]
Membership
Historically, a Mason had to complete either the Scottish Rite or York Rite systems to be eligible for membership in the Shrine.[20]
In 1991, brick-mason Michael G. Vaughan filed a lawsuit against the Oleika Shrine Temple in Lexington, Kentucky, for hazing practices to which he said he was subjected in his efforts to become a Shriner. In court, Vaughan told jurors that in June 1989, he was blindfolded and received a jolt of electricity that was applied to his bare buttocks as part of the Shriners' initiation rites. He said he was forced to walk on an electric mat that was meant to simulate the hot sands of the Sahara, and that he was knocked unconscious and received other injuries during his initiation.
Vaughan said the initiation left him humiliated and embarrassed, and caused him to suffer anxiety, nightmares, and a sleep disorder.[21] After two hours of deliberation, the jury rejected the claim.[22]
The Shrine's charitable arm is the Shriners Hospitals for Children, a network of 22 healthcare facilities in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
In June 1920, the Imperial Council Session voted to establish a Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children to treat orthopedic injuries and conditions, diseases, burns, spinal cord injuries, and birth defects, such as cleft lip and palate, in children.[23][24] The first hospital opened in 1922 in Shreveport, Louisiana. By the end of the decade 13 more hospitals were operational.[24]
Any child under the age of 18 can be admitted to the hospital if a doctor determines the child can be treated.[24][25] There is no requirement for religion, race or relationship to a Shriner.
Until June 2012, all care at Shriners Hospitals was provided without charge to patients and their families. At that time, because the size of their endowment had decreased due to losses in the stock market, Shriners Hospitals started billing patients' insurance companies, but continued to offer free care to children without insurance. Shriners hospitals waive all costs insurance does not cover. Shriners Hospitals for Children is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.[23]
The Shriners originally hosted a golf tournament in association with singer/actor Justin Timberlake, called the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, a PGA Tour golf tournament played in Las Vegas, Nevada.[27] The relationship between Timberlake and the Shriners ended in 2012, when the Shriners reported that Timberlake was interested in being involved with the organization only when television cameras were present.[28] In July 2012, the PGA Tour and Shriners Hospitals for Children announced a five-year title sponsorship extension, carrying the commitment to the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open through 2017.[29] The name was changed to The Shriners Hospitals for Children Open and is played in Las Vegas, Nevada.[30]
Many Shrine Centers also hold a yearly Shrine Circus as a fundraiser.
Once a year, the fraternity meets for the Imperial Session in a North American city.
In 2008, an investigative committee established by the joint boards of the Shriners of North America fraternal organization and the Shriners Hospitals for Children found that Ralph Semb, chairman of the Shriners Hospitals Board of Trustees, had unilaterally tried to fire fund-raising executive Edgar McGonigal. McGonigal had declined to hire a direct-mail company indirectly linked to Gene Bracewell, the imperial treasurer of the fraternal organization. McGonigal said he did not hire the company because of its ties to a financial company that had performed poorly in previous dealings. The committee found that Semb and Bracewell had violated the organizations' conflict of interest policy and their ethics code and recommended that Semb and Bracewell be reprimanded. The report included accusations of financial improprieties within the organization, including not reporting benefits Shriners leaders received as income and knowingly filing incorrect tax forms for the hospitals. Other Shriners came forward with additional complaints, including the mixing of charitable and noncharitable assets and the disappearance of money raised for the hospitals.[35]
Shriners International has drawn criticism from animal welfare organizations for allowing member clubs to host circuses featuring animals. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has staged protests during circus performances for more than a decade, expressing concern over the poor treatment animals receive in the care of the companies that the Shriners lease from, such as Carson & Barnes.[36][37] The Pittsburgh Shrine Circus stopped using animals in 2019, and the Moolah Shrine Circus in Missouri stopped using elephants in 2023.[38][39]
^Preuss, Arthur A Dictionary of Secret and other Societies St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co. 1924; republished Detroit: Gale Reference Company 1966; p. 106.
