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The Cleaner posted:I hope to someday join a Free Mason lodge. They seem like a great way to better myself and the world around me. However, a little about myself.. Not a problem Not realistically a problem as I can't see any lodge caring enough to enforce this idea and easily rationalized away as everyone is free regardless of status. But on technicalities this could prove an issue. This is the only sticking point, depending on jurisdiction, I'd certainly never vote down someone who identified as male Not a problem. Such a person would face no more intolerance in masonry than they'd otherwise face in the world. Aureus fucked around with this message at 01:58 on Dec 24, 2012 |
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Dec 24, 2012 01:38
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Yeah the whole snake thing was a talking point at my lodge a few years ago, am surprised to see it again honestly, I had thought it had already been shot down. I mainly remember the "I joined to see what the conspiracy was but stuck around for the fellowship" guy being all "Are they the real Masons?"
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Dec 29, 2012 08:15
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SafetyTrain posted:What kind of income disparity is there usually in your run-of-the-mill Lodge? My lodge has a few doctors, bankers, lawyers, plumbers, mechanics, electricians, PhD candidates, cable guys, store clerks, IT guys, retired/reserve military... The income range is say 20k to 1 million plus. Lodges represent the community they are in and the income will vary based on that. In larger cities that support multiple lodges you'll find some lodges that are profession specific like say a largely police lodge, or might have income stratification. Your typical lodge though is the only lodge in the city and ends up representing the demographics of the city.
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Jan 5, 2013 02:44
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Yeah I defintely don't remember anything verifying my sex when I went through the degrees.
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Apr 9, 2013 03:08
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Carbolic posted:If being a Mason is so great, wouldn't you want to share it? It just seems like the more Masonry is awesome, the worse the reasons are to keep it a boys' club only. I have a pretty simple question for you about your worldview... Must all organizations be open to both genders? Is it wrong for a fraternity to exist at all?
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Apr 9, 2013 05:01
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Paramemetic posted:Pretty abhorrent stuff, but alas, while I would vouch for any brother as my own, I cannot say that every brother Mason is a saint to a man. I can say that I wish they were, and consider them to be, but I cannot avow it's true. This is a problem I'm facing having just moved to The South. The culture shock is one thing... being from California. But looking at the Masonic heritage around here is making me contemplate joining a Prince Hall Lodge. Which would be troublesome itself since the Grand Lodge of Louisiana doesn't recognize Prince Hall Masonry...
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May 18, 2013 06:33
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Interesting... Specifically I find these two quotes very interesting. From the Womens Order of Freemason's website... quote:The United Grand Lodge of England have, in a statement of 10th March 1999, acknowledged the regularity and sincerity of women’s Freemasonry although they do not officially recognise it and their members cannot take part. Many of our own Lodges meet in premises owned by the men’s Order and informal relations are cordial and co-operative. And from the UGLE's website quote:Are there women Freemasons? Compare that to say, a quote from my home Grand Lodge's website... ( California ) quote:Why can’t women join Masonry? Seems to be a different attitude over in England than here in the USA regarding Women in masonry.
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May 19, 2013 11:58
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I really only know of OES, Job's Daughters and Rainbow Girls. Eastern Star is obviously Coed, the other two are youth organizations. I'm not aware of any women-only affiliated masonic bodies in the US. Daughters of the Nile appears to be women only... I had not heard of them before reading Stubblyhead's post. I don't really think a women's only organization that is limited in membership to being the relative of a Shriner counts though. Aureus fucked around with this message at 22:05 on May 30, 2013 |
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May 30, 2013 22:02
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KittyEmpress posted:In the local area a law is being pushed to make it so organizations cannot deny entry based on sex. Its pretty big so far, and as this is a progressive community it has been constantly getting pre-polling 70% or so. Strictly speaking that County/State would fall out of regulation with the rest of the grand lodges and become clandestine, assuming they cooperated with the law. quote:Edit: I ask mostly because I do see a future where sexism and gender based 'clubs' will not be allowed, if not soon then at some point, and I wonder if this is a thing that is discussed. As a Mason who would be quite ok with Masonry as a whole going Co-Ed, that sounds like a terrible law and a terrible future. Nor is it being discussed anywhere, as far as I can tell that kind of law would be unconstitutional would it not? As long as you're not a business you can pretty much discriminate however you want. Aureus fucked around with this message at 05:19 on Aug 28, 2013 |
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Aug 28, 2013 05:09
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quote:The Battle Creek Freemasons refused to comment on camera for the TV station, but insisted that the orgy was part of the secret society's rituals. They said the party was not sponsored by their group at all.Instead, they say, a party promoter paid $900 to rent the space for the night. Slight of hand bs article headline and quite the accidental? typo. Or are we really believing somebody insisted that the orgy *was* part of the ritual yet also was pointing out the party was not sponsored by the group at all?
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Sep 2, 2013 17:40
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Keetron posted:Well, my first night as a Tyler did not went well. We raised a Brother and after all was over and we were about to close the lodge, I was get nauseous, felt warm, started sweating and became dizzy. Shortly after, my vision started to get dim. Even though the lights were already dimmed, apparently I was white as a sheet and a brother came over, send me to a seat (all were already standing) and took my place. You locked your knees? Sounds more like you should take a trip to the doctor... unless I'm missing a joke?
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Sep 25, 2013 10:03
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Sub Rosa posted:The reason in fact I have consulted my brethren on the question is that I don't feel my obligation requires me to at all. I'm obligated not to make a woman a mason, but nothing about making a mason a woman. For what its worth, I'd say/vote/speak in lodge to the effect that you should be allowed to stay and wouldn't need to present as anything but who you are.
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Jan 22, 2014 05:38
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WAFFLEHOUND posted:Am I the only person getting irrationally angry at this whole MASONS BELIEVE IN ONE TRUE GOD thing that a fair number of states and the Masonic Information Centre seem hellbent on pushing everywhere in the world? I keep seeing it pop up on the freemasonry Facebook group (which is admittedly terrible, it's run by a self-interested Randroid who struggles to keep his ideology out of it) and it just seems like a really lovely thing to do to Brothers of other faiths. I mean, I don't think I've set foot in a blue lodge in 2-3 years so maybe I'm not the best judge here, but I find this subtle "Anyone is welcome, but jesusjesusjesusjesus" thing that American lodges have going on is perhaps slightly disrespectful. Yeah it annoys the poo poo out of me as well and is a large part of why I've put off affiliating with a Lodge in Louisiana for the year that I've lived here. There are also so many, so far as I can tell, bullshit one off/small lodge groups around that I don't know what to make of it. There's the normal Blue Lodge "Whites!", there's the larger Prince Hall group, then there are a slew of small one off lodges or 5, 6 lodge affiliations that pretend to be Masonry but have all kinds of other poo poo. One of my employees out here was surprised by my Scottish Rite Hospital fleece and when we talked about Masonry he insisted quite fervently that you had to believe in Jesus to join a Lodge. Asked him which lodge he was in and then I dropped the subject. Then I looked it up later and... yeah. Lodge was as clandestine as it gets, super christian and all the rest. He had no idea that it wasn't part of the larger Masonic system. I just let it rest. The UGLE's website faq only states: "All Freemasons are expected to have a religious belief, but Freemasonry does not seek to replace a Mason’s religion or provide a substitute for it. It deals in a man’s relationship with his fellow man not in a man’s relationship with his God." Which you've probably already pulled up. Their "Becoming a Mason" leaflet only says "We don't discriminate based on Religion" and never brings up the topic again, though its pretty light on content in general. You get very little in the way of religious tones from anything on their website. Which makes sense really, England is far less into the whole Christian thing than we are here in the States. Getting more than that would probably take sending them an email. Aureus fucked around with this message at 19:00 on Feb 6, 2014 |
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Feb 6, 2014 18:54
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PrinceRandom posted:But could the biblical Satan be recognized as an "Architect of the Universe"? That is what you ultimately have to pledge to right? Thats a stand in term for "Your God." Actual literal worship of Satan would be... an interesting one? There'd have to be some kind of twist to it else you are accepting the Christian theology but choosing to worship the "bad guy" which I guess would bring rise to moral questions?
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Feb 7, 2014 02:31
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patentmagus posted:Nah, not that interesting because people who believe in satan pretty much have to believe in God because of the whole thrown out of heaven thing. I find it interesting more because I'm thinking along the lines of Wafflehound's joke. If someone's Satanism is a worship of Lucifer because of subscribing to a belief that Lucifer is like say... Zeus and will devour/replace his Father ( God ) and bring about a better age blah blah *invented religious dogma* blah blah I wouldn't see an issue with it? If it was "Hail Satan, Death, Kill Destroy" I would see a moral issue? Its a weird one to me to consider.
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Feb 7, 2014 02:54
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7thBatallion posted:So... Well Blue with Gold fringe does tend to be a common theme amongst our aprons...
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Feb 7, 2014 03:32
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Loomer posted:The raising was quite an experience. I do wish I hadn't known what little I did (thanks to bloody Alan Moore. Years of carefully avoiding reading about masonic rites while studying the esoteric and occult - no mean thing to do! - ruined by a bloody graphic novel, From Hell!) but I don't think being aware of that small element greatly impacted the moral lesson. Congratulations Brother.
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Jun 19, 2014 16:13
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codered11343 posted:About a year or so ago I was watching TV and a commercial for Freemasons in the Maryland area came up that talked about the brotherhood and what a Freemason is and invited people to go on to there website and signup to come to a open house to meet Freemasons. It confused me since it didn't seem like something that the Freemasons need to do, but then I stopped to think, maybe this is how they are hoping to bring new "young blood" into the order. It happens. Its terrible. And it should stop.
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Jul 21, 2014 07:29
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codered11343 posted:"Is there greatness in you?" gently caress off Ben Franklin! That is perhaps the most disgusting honest attempt at an advertisement for Freemasonry that I could imagine. Just... what the gently caress.
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Jul 21, 2014 07:49
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runupon cracker posted:Has anyone attended/been part of an official visit from one Lodge to another? I'm trying to come up with a relevant program as the visiting Lodge, but I'm having trouble thinking of something interesting and different. I don't want it to be the same ol' "Masonic Education." Yeah. The only things I remember for anything being different really was a short talk welcoming us with a bit of the history of their lodge and quasi forced seating to ensure the tables at dinner were mixed between the lodges.
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Jul 31, 2014 18:07
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Noctis Horrendae posted:Excellent, time to waste a ridiculous amount of money on it and use it as a conversation piece. Solid, actual historically proven connections? None.
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Nov 3, 2014 19:07
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For the non California Masons I figure I'll throw up this link for an event most people who read this thread will probably be interested in. http://www.freemason.org/newsEvents/article.htm?id=10723 quote:On March 21, the Institute for Masonic Studies will join UCLA’s history department to present our Fourth International Conference: Secrets Revealed! Freemasonry and the Conspiracy Theories It Evokes. And they're going to be doing a webcast, so thats nice.
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Jan 17, 2015 21:02
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Cool Corn covered it pretty well. Over here in California some lodges depending on their membership will use multiple volumes of sacred law, the ones that make sense based on the members beliefs. The volume used during a degree will be the one of choice of the person receiving the degree.
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Mar 27, 2015 20:28
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ZombieLenin posted:Really? Born free? Do you really think that's a meaningful way to categorize people in 2015, and even if it is meaningful do you think it's ethical? Seems to me a person cannot control their socio-economic status at birth. Meaningless within a western nation as we don't have any laws respecting slavery anywhere so regardless of your situation of birth we'd not recognize it as anything but being born free quote:Also, profess a belief in God seems odd since many famous American founding fathers, and Masons, were closet atheists or close--see dieism. Deism is not Atheism at all, nor even close to it. Also there is the Gran Orient de France for a large Masonic body that accepts Atheists ( and women now ). Its a potential point of contention but not one that's going to change in America any time soon. You can profess a belief in 'some kind of spiritual universe life force' as your God and be just fine. Or a Pagan belief system or.. whatever basically.
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May 2, 2015 03:58
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We had the California Grand Lodge trying to walk away with our property and our money. Some evidence existed that they were planning to sell our 95 year old building and build a new lodge building for 1/4 or less of what they'd get selling our property. What they'd do with that money... maybe good things? Who knows, but it was a blatant attempt to grab cash. They even walked off with our charter to hold it ransom. Our response was to reach out to Arizona and see if they'd give us a charter. That looked rather likely and so California Grand Lodge finally backed down, we got our charter back in our possession and kept our property and our money. The money mainly existing to self-insure our building. Loomer, I tell this story because it sounds like your Lodge could attempt a similar action and get in touch with a Neighboring state's Grand Lodge and see if you can get a charter from them instead.
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May 10, 2015 20:52
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Well figured someone said something controversial when I saw a slew of new posts but wasn't expecting this. Anyway... I disagree with you Solvent. I see nothing in our landmarks that has any bearing in gay men and I see no reason to imagine motivations in the men that wrote them that would then lead to excluding gay men. I would be very disappointed if you were to drop a black cube on a man because he was gay and would counsel you to reconsider your motivations.
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May 18, 2015 02:14
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Zeno-25 posted:Well I definitely got a lot more info (at least what I could understand) from your guys' discussion. Honestly it's sort of discouraging. As a gay, irreligious man it seems like my chances of being rejected as a prospective Mason are substantially higher. Is that more of a regional issue (i.e., the South)? Certainly in the South I'd expect it to be a more serious issue, the gay thing. Being irreligious isn't neccesarily issue if you retain an honest belief in a higher power. quote:If an aspiring Mason is blackballed from a lodge, then is that individual forever barred from applying to that lodge again? Or even other lodges? Most jurisdictions only have a time limit, and a question on a form asking if you've ever been rejected by a lodge before.
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May 18, 2015 03:46
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Lovable Luciferian posted:Really? I figured if he didn't make a thing out of it then the brothers likely wouldn't. My experience with the south is probably biased by it being in mostly Louisiana, but there I'd expect if the brothers 'sniffed' gay they'd be very likely to black ball. Atlanta for instance no problem. Shreveport? Yeah.
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May 18, 2015 03:49
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Lovable Luciferian posted:I'm not gay but, I'm about ready to hang up the trowel. Welp, time to write a letter to the CA Grand Lodge advocating rescinding recognition from any Grand Lodge with bullshit like that.
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Nov 2, 2015 06:28
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