Founders
The following is from "The Trestleboard Tidbits" published by The Masonic Service Association.
"Dr. James Anderson, a Scotch Presbyterian minister and Dr.
John Theophilus Desaguliers, an Episcopal clergyman, were two of the
foremost Masons who quided and directed the development of the newly
organized Grand Lodge of 1717. Desaguliers was the third Grand
Master, serving in 1719. It is conceded that one or both of them
changed the entire course of Masonic history by removing Christian
belief as a requirement of membership, changing it to a belief in God
only, thus establishing universality as a fundamental landmark of the
Order."