Questions and Answers about Masonry

[Albion]

I don't really have a problem with you guys but you obviously don't like people like me.

I like you just fine. We just are a fraternity for monotheists. Other organizations exist for people of other political, social, or spiritual profiles, that's all.

 

[variant]

I like you just fine. We just are a fraternity for monotheists. Other organizations exist for people of other political, social, or spiritual profiles, that's all.

Yes you're quite open and tolerant to everyone except me thanks.

What I was wondering was why the god thing was the kicker... That other guy said I couldn't be trusted.

 

[CabVet]

I like you just fine. We just are a fraternity for monotheists. Other organizations exist for people of other political, social, or spiritual profiles, that's all.

Are Muslims welcome?

 

[variant]

And I wouldn't say that Masons "have a problem" with unbelievers. Masons don't spend any time criticizing or distancing themselves from unbelievers, and I've never heard any Mason saying that atheists or agnostics, etc. can't be trusted because of their belief system or shouldn't be considered for membership on this account.

I believe that was exactly the thing that was just said to me right here.

Is this correct or am I just puttering around the Internet?

For No Atheist May Be Made a FreemasonÂ[bless and do not curse]

The intellect of the Atheist would find matter everywhere; but no Causing and Providing Mind: his moral sense would find no Equitable Will, no Beauty of Moral Excellence, no Conscience enacting justice into the unchanging law of right, no spiritual Order or spiritual Providence, but only material Fate and Chance. His affections would find only finite things to love; and to them the dead who were loved and who died yesterday, are like the rainbow that yesterday evening lived a moment and then passed away. His soul, flying through the vast Inane, and feeling the darkness with its wings, seeking the Soul of all, which at once is Reason, Conscience, and the Heart of all that is, would find no God, but a universe all disorder; no Infinite, no Reason, no Conscience, no Heart, no Soul of things; nothing to reverence, to esteem, to love, to worship, to trust in; but only an Ugly Force, alien and foreign to us, that strikes down those we love, and makes us mere worms on the hot sand of the world. No voice would speak from the Earth to comfort him.

Honestly, I don't know where one would come up with such ideas.

 

[Albion]

Yes you're quite open and tolerant to everyone except me thanks.

Well, I can't imagine any reason for you to think I'm not as open and tolerant of you as everyone else. Did I say something that you though indicated any intolerance of you?

What I was wondering was why the god thing was the kicker... That other guy said I couldn't be trusted.

That other guy spoke for himself and is hostile towards Masonry, which you can easily deduce from reading his other posts. I cannot control who posts here although I did say in the OP that Masons would answer your questions and I'm doing that.

 

[CabVet]

Can Muslims join the Masons?

 

[variant]

Well, I can't imagine any reason for you to think I'm not as open and tolerant of you as everyone else. Did I say something that you though indicated any intolerance of you?

I don't know, I'm not really getting a clear answer for why it's not OK to be an atheist and join the Freemasons. What the specific problem is ect.

Honestly I don't think I would ever join an association that would dismiss people for not thinking as I do, what's the motivation?

That other guy spoke for himself and is hostile towards Masonry, which you can easily deduce from reading his other posts. I cannot control who posts here although I did say in the OP that Masons would answer your questions and I'm doing that.

Ok, fair enough.

 

[Albion]

Can Muslims join the Masons?

Yes. There are lodges in the Near East. In the USA, a very few Muslims have joined various Masonic organizations, although the imagery and symbolism found in Masonic orders is overwhelmingly Christian.

 

[Albion]

Is this correct or am I just puttering around the Internet?

For No Atheist May Be Made a FreemasonÂ[bless and do not curse]

This publication is not anything official, I hope you understand. Masons are encouraged to develop their own value systems, and they sometimes publish them. I have read some really weird theories about history, philosophy, and religion from Masons, but it's all just their own personal opinions put on paper. I don't resent that but, at the same time, they don't speak for other Masons or for the Masonic organizations.

 

[CabVet]

Masons are encouraged to develop their own value systems

As long as their value systems include a belief in a god, right?

 

[Albion]

As long as their value systems include a belief in a god, right?

Obviously.

OTOH, there's a lot more to character-building than merely affirming a supreme being.

 

[CabVet]

Obviously.

OTOH, there's a lot more to character-building than merely affirming a supreme being.

So, what else is there? I mean, what other things automatically disqualify someone other than not believing in god?

 

[Albion]

So, what else is there? I mean, what other things automatically disqualify someone other than not believing in god?

Well, there's an age requirement (depends on jurisdiction, usually 18), it's a fraternity for men, and that's about it.

 

[CabVet]

Well, there's an age requirement (depends on jurisdiction, usually 18), it's a fraternity for men, and that's about it.

So, explain it to me again, how exactly is the character of an atheist inferior to that of a theist?

 

[circuitrider]

So, what else is there? I mean, what other things automatically disqualify someone other than not believing in god?

In the jurisdictions I know of being a felon would disqualify you.

In my jurisdiction you meet with an examining committee that is expected to give a recommendation before the lodge votes. If the committee gave an unfavorable you would not get elected for membership since a committee that gave an unfavorable report would vote against your membership and it only take one negative vote usually to prevent you from joining.

Membership requirements are pretty strict because we only want men of good moral character to join the lodge.

 

[CabVet]

Membership requirements are pretty strict because we only want men of good moral character to join the lodge.

And why exactly is not believing in god considered bad moral character?

 

[Albion]

In the jurisdictions I know of being a felon would disqualify you.

Right. I forgot that.

In my jurisdiction you meet with an examining committee that is expected to give a recommendation before the lodge votes. If the committee gave an unfavorable you would not get elected for membership since a committee that gave an unfavorable report would vote against your membership and it only take one negative vote usually to prevent you from joining.

True. I didn't mention this because the question asked about something that would "automatically" disqualify.

 

[circuitrider]

And why exactly is not believing in god considered bad moral character?

Those are actually two separate requirements CabVet. I do certainly know moral people who are atheists.

But, belief in something higher than ourselves is integral to a Masonry.

 

[Albion]

And why exactly is not believing in god considered bad moral character?

The "good moral character" in that statement was not a synonym for theism.

 

[circuitrider]

Right. I forgot that.



True. I didn't mention this because the question asked about something that would "automatically" disqualify.

Right, he was asking about automatic disqualifications.