I do have a few questions about freemasonry as i am very curious on this subject, trying to put them in order for them to make sense to myself in a logical/follow on way has been quite confusing as i have read many different articles and sites on the web.

So i thought i would start from scratch, hence the title, Why Was Freemasonry Started.

All we really do know is that the stories we teach are based on some of the above and helps to make good men better by getting them to look within themselves for improvement.

The fact is that no one around today really knows the exact verifiable answer and as Alan highlights many theories have come about over the last couple of centuries.

Having said that the majority of serious Masonic historians (over the last century or so) tend to lean toward the theory that Freemasonry came about as a kind of reaction to the drastic reduction in the Stone Masons trade. It looks as if in response to the need to keep their benevolent funds running, the operative Lodges started to accept the "Gentry" in order to keep funds from running out. Gradually over the course of the 17th Century these Lodges accepted more non-Operative Masons and their nature (except for the benevolence) began to change toward the speculative that we have today.

Also, maybe it was started to steer focus away from Enochian Magic secret societies or Luciferian Groups or the Rosicrucians?

Atheists were still hunted in the 17th century, etc........

A place for secular teaching was needed?

"We don't necessarily discriminate. We simply exclude certain types of people."
-Colonel Gerald Wellman, ROTC instructor