What God Freemason worship?

Freemasonry requires a belief in a Supreme Being, but it holds no theology, espouses no specific set of religious doctrines, and does not operate as a church or define a doctrine of God 3. Instead, members of various faiths petition Deity in the lodge under the title of the Great Architect of the Universe, leaving individual theological definitions to each Mason's private conscience 23. In private devotions, a member may address God, Jehovah, Allah, Buddha, Brahma, or the Great First Cause, finding his own deity represented beneath the collective title used within the lodge 12.

In the Craft, the designation of God as the Great Architect historically challenged medieval doctrines that viewed labor as a curse; early Masons held work to be honorable and taught that God Himself is a worker 3. In the Fellowcraft degree, symbolism connects Deity with geometry as the science governing the structure and proportion of the universe 1.

To maintain universality among men of different persuasions, explicit Christian references were removed from English Craft rituals following the 1813 Union, establishing a non-sectarian basis where any recognized Volume of the Sacred Law may lie upon the altar according to the faith of the lodge's members 235.

Scholars within the fraternity hold differing views on how Deity is expressed in ritual liturgy. Arthur Edward Waite criticized the phrasing of prayers in the Craft and Royal Arch as displaying a crude, literal anthropomorphism drawn from eighteenth-century transcripts of Old Testament theology 4. Conversely, Carl Claudy emphasized that the fraternity’s non-sectarian approach allows men of all creeds to unite around a shared reverence for the Divine while keeping their particular religious opinions to themselves 12.