What your missing.

Here it is, now you can stop wondering..



-edit-


Please scale the site of your pictures and repost.

[Edited on 4-6-2003 by William]

SO TELL US EXACTLY HOW TO JOIN

PLEASE

you cant join if your just curious.
but why do you want to join?
-just curious...

Or better yet you could just go to your local lodge.




WELCOME TO THE DARKSIDE!
Just a little humor..

because unlike many people i believe that people should look after each other, and from what i have read about the mason society, there seems to be a strong sense of comradship, and therfore i feel that they are a society of goodness

Hey man that lodge has really nice chairs

Lodge is so cool, when done right, the geometrical exactitude is awesome

I wanna be a Mason. Will the fact i have breasts be too much an issue?

I'd probably get kicked out and or killed if I (by some miracle) joined the masons. I wouldn't take the oath seriously, and would just tell my friends what I learned while inside...

/hands Skadi a brick and an imagination cap


Anyone can be a Mason, in make believe land!

I would be very interested to learn the racial breakdown of the lodge.... considering what I learned from my mother (my father apparently left the lodge on not so good terms about the time he married her, possibly due to her race?) it sounds as though the lodge might be a bit on the light side inside?

dr

Unfortunately the qualifications for membership in a Lodge say nothing about racial tolerance, and while Freemasonry is meant to be "universally spread across the earth's surface" its structure has roots in Anglo-Saxon culture (having adapted hundreds of myths from Egyptology and the building of King Solomon's Temple and in other orders, such things as the Crusades).

I suspect that the degree of racism in any Lodge is a reflection of the history of that Lodge and the prevailing racism in the surrounding community.

My Lodge includes people of quite a few different colours and has indigenous people as well as exotic European, middle Eastern and African imports.
At least each of the Abrahamic religions are well represented.

I'm sure you'd find Lodges that are racially intolerant. People never take an oath that they won't be that way.

In the Army, like damn near all the Masons I knew were black or mixed, so maybe in some lodges, they dont care.

I dont doubt other lodges might have color division or preference tho.

Well, granted this happened almost 40 years ago as well...

Dragonrider, I am shocked with American masonry, because not due to race but rather ritual, Freemasonry and Prince Hall masonry, do not get along.

At first it was race but again, that's the people, not Masonry, now though American Grand Lodges will not recognize Prince Hall Lodges under the main principle that Prince Hall masonry has a different initiation.

So Masons from the two jurisdictions can not just prove they are masons, and go into a lodge, they have to go through all the degrees.

Some states I think, though maybe not, have accepted Prince Hall Lodges, and I do believe GLoE has recognized Prince Hall Masonry. But they've recognized them for a long time.

Recognition is an "individual" thing. Every Grand Lodge gives their tyler a book of recognized lodges, if your lodge isn't in that book, then you no matter what doccumentation you present, can not be admited as a Mason.

Basically a lodge is not recognized when the lodge does not follow the "ancient landmarks" or follow the specific rules for joining, for instance the Grand Lodge of the Orient in France, which allows Athiests in, is not at all recognized by ANY masonic lodge.

This Dragonrider is why you will find few blacks in Masonry in the States, because most all go to Prince Hall Masonry out of choice.

Just so you know there are minorities in my lodge, and I know of Black masons in a few lodges up the river from here.

They just aren't as common as many Masons would like to see.

But a compromise in the States just isn't being found.

A little more explaination, because it can be confusing.

Is just because say the Grand Lodge of England recognizes your Grand Lodge, does not mean you can go to any lodge. If you go to a Grand Lodge that is recognized by the GLoE, but does not recognize your Grand Lodge then you can't be considered a mason in that jurisdiction.

But again, the reasons for not being recognized are not petty quarrels, they are usually serious breeches of what Masonry means, and thus almost NO Grand Lodge will recognize you, for instance, Grand Lodge of the Orient.

The exception for the Prince Hall Lodges, is rooted in history. Interesting read, should you like to look up on it.