International Organisation of Good Templars

The IOGT Internatinal (formerly known as the International Organisation of Good Templars and International Order of Good Templars and the Independent Order of Good Templars) is an international non-governmental organisation working in the field of temperance. It is based in Sweden, a country which had very strict alcohol policies and laws in the past.

History

The IOGT originated as one of a number of fraternal organisations for temperance or total abstinence founded in the 19th century and with a structure modelled on Freemasonry, using similar ritual and regalia. Unlike many, however, it admitted men and women equally, and also made no distinction by race.

In 1850, in Utica, New York, Daniel Cody founded one such organisation, the Knights of Jericho. In 1851, a lodge of it in Oriskany Falls (then known as Castor Hollow), a village near Utica, was visited by 13 members of another Utica group. Under the leadership of Wesley Bailey, it was decided that these two lodges form the Order of Good Templars. The motto of the renamed organization was "Friendship, Hope and Charity".

Over the next year, 14 additional lodges were established. By the summer of 1852, a convention was called in Utica to establish a Grand Lodge. During this, a dispute broke out between Wesley Bailey and Leverett Coon, who had established a lodge, Excelsior, in Syracuse. Coon left the meeting and his lodge supported his actions by seceding as the Independent Order of Good Templars, with the motto altered to "Faith, Hope and Charity". They shortly merged back, the resulting group continuing under the name Independent Order of Good Templars.

The Order first grew rapidly in the United States and in Canada. In 1868, Joseph Malins returned to his native England and established a Birmingham lodge, from which IOGT spread to Europe and the rest of the world. Within three years the Order spread to Ireland, Wales, Australia, Malta, New Zealand, France, Portugal, South Africa, Bermuda, Belgium and East India. By 1876, it had established itself in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Madras, British Honduras, British Guyana, Jamaica, Malacca, China, Japan, Sierra Leone, St. Helena, Argentina, Trinidad, Grenada and the Bahamas. This was followed by lodges in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, Germany and Jerusalem.

In 1875, after the American Civil War, the American senior body voted to allow separate lodges and Grand Lodges for white and black members, to accommodate the practice of segregation in southern US states. In 1876, Malins and other British members failed in achieving an amendment to stop this, and left to establish a separate international body. In 1887 this and the American body were reconciled into a single IOGT.

From 1900 and onwards, further groups were set up in the Netherlands, Burma, Nigeria and Panama. [ [http://www.iogt.us/iogt.php?p=35 History of IOT] , Derek Rutherford, National Council, USA]

The IOGT no longer operates on a freemasonry-styled structure. In Europe, it has a youth division, ACTIVE.

Member organizations

As listed on [http://www.iogt.org/index.asp?id=139&thread=139&box=139 the website of IOGT International] .
*Belgium - IOGT Belgium
*Bosnia-Herzegovina - LINK
*Bulgaria - Free Youth Bulgaria
*Burundi - IOGT Burundi
*Croatia - Klub Lijecenih Alkoholikar Opcine, Klub Mladih Juvente
*Czech Republic - IOGT Czech Republic
*Denmark - IOGT Denmark
*Estonia - Juvente Estonia, IOGT Estonia, Estonian Temperance Union
*Faroe Islands - IOGT Faroe Islands
*Finland - IOGT Finland, FSNU-MHF, Raittiuden Ystävät ry., Sinuli Finland
*Gambia - IOGT Gambia
*Germany - IOGT Germany, Juvente Germany, FORUT Germany
*Ghana - IOGT Ghana
*Guinea-Bissau - IOGT Guinea-Bissau
*Iceland - IOGT Iceland, IOGT Junior in Island, Icelandic Temperance Youth
*India - ADIC India, Amardeep, Madras Social Service Guild, Brain Society, Temperance Association of Orissa
*Italy - GGPF Italy
*Kenya - IOGT Kenya
*Latvia - JAF Latvia, IOGT Latvia
*Lithuania - Lithuanian Temperance Society, Lithuanian Temperance Youth Federation
*Netherlands - ANDO
*Norway - IOGT Norway, Juvente Norway, IOGT Junior Organisation, DNT, FORUT Norway
*Poland - IOGT ADIC Poland
*Portugal - Sociedade Anti-Alcoólica Portuguesa
*Russia - The NAN Foundation, Youth Antidrug Federation
*Senegal - IOGT Senegal, ASPAT
*Sierra Leone - IOGT Sierra Leone
*Slovakia - IOGT – Healthy Lifestyle Society, NOM
*South Africa - IOTT South
*Sri Lanka - ADIC Sri Lanka, Temperance Youth Organisation of Sri Lanka, Temperance Youth Club of Sri Lanka, All Ceylon Young Men's Muslim Association Conference, Non-Violent Direct Action Group, Sri Lanka Temperance Association, Lanka Jatilka Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement
*Sweden - IOGT-NTO, Ungdomens Nykterhetsförbund, JUNIS, Nykterhetsrörelens Scoutförbund
*Switzerland - IOGT Switzerland, Juvente Switzerland, KiM Switzerland
*Tanzania - SOBER Tanzania
*Thailand - IOGT Thailand
*Turks & Caicos Islands - Success Lodge No.1 I.O.G.T.
*Uganda - SOBER Uganda
*Ukraine - Youth Temperance Movement "Better", Ukrainian Society for Temperance & Health
*United Kingdom - IOGT England and Wales, IOGT Scotland, National Youth Council of IOGT England
*USA - IOGT-USA
*Vietnam - IOGT Vietnam

*Others - PCDP-Cambodia, Together against Drugs, Sri Lanka Interactive Media Group, International Academy of Sobriety, EGTYF Macedonia, Atmosphere F, NADA India Foundation

References

*"Fraternal Organizations", Alvin J Schmidt, Greenwood Press, 1980.

Further reading

* David M. Fahey, "How the Good Templars Began: Fraternal Temperance in New York State", Social History of Alcohol Review, Nos. 38-39 (1999)
* David M. Fahey, "Temperance & Racism: John Bull, Johnny Reb, and the Good Templars" (University Press of Kentucky, 1996).

External links

* [http://www.iogt.org/ Official IOGT website]