"In the past hundred years, with the rapid development of technology and the rise of scientific rationalism, many ritual brotherhoods have disappeared from Western society. Yet Freemasonry, with all its myth and ritual, still flourishes.... We are bound to ask what features of this particular group have enabled it to survive and to maintain its attraction. To answer this question we must consider the nature of the secrets Freemasonry claims to possess; but first, we must determine to what extent Freemasonry remains secret, bearing in mind that its mass appeal may depend largely on secrecy itself."

- "Freemasonry," Mervin Jones (152)