Penalties of the Obligations 

The Penalties of the Obligations are of ancient origin and are symbolic only.

For a time the Penalties of the Obligations were simply stated as that of being censured, suspended or expelled.  In recent history the Penalties of the Obligations were returned to their original state but are announced to the candidate as being symbolic only.  This announcement is give before the candidate take the oath and obligation.

The worst penalty that can ever be inflicted upon a Mason, at least in modern times, is that of being censured, suspended or expelled.  No Mason will ever have the penalties of the degrees inflicted upon him as they are stated, at least not in any civilized country.  The symbolic penalties are not anything to be concerned about.  The religious fanatics need to get over their problem with the symbolic penalties as religions have killed a lot more people than Freemasonry.  Religious beliefs are a much more serious threat than anything in Freemasonry.

The Anti-Masons make a big deal out of the so-called Penalties of the Obligations but most of them are rather ignorant so who cares what they think.  Complaining about Freemasonry gives them something to do so while they are complaining about us they are at least not causing other problems for society.