Any Secret Societies that don't require you to pledge on the Bible?

Though i by no means consider myself christian (I have issues with christiantiy, not with it's god or savior), i would have no issue taking the oaths on the Bible. Religious context aside it is still quite possible the best spiritual manual and guide for living not written by the Dalai Lhama, and he still has to sell more copies if he wants the #1 seat

I'm curious though, maybe the masons here could answer this one. If a man writes his own spiritual manual, which would make it far more sacred to him, could he take his oaths on that book?

Originally posted by Secret Master
I'm curious though, maybe the masons here could answer this one. If a man writes his own spiritual manual, which would make it far more sacred to him, could he take his oaths on that book?

I think this would be highly dependent on the lodge. Witches often do this same sort of thing with their "book of spells" and since it functions much like their holy text, it works for them. It has never come up in my lodge, but it would probably highly depend for me on how your concept of Deity relates to whatever manual you wrote. My main concern would be about the new thought movement which is pushing the "you are God" line, which if that's what your doing, would not in my opinion be consistent with freemasonry.

As long as you at least acknowledge that your concept of Deity is in character separate and that your writing is not the writing of the Deity, I wouldn't object. It would be highly lodge dependent though.

To be a Mason, you CAN NOT be a woman, an old man in his dotage, a young man in his nonage, an atheist, a madman, libertine or fool.

A Libertine is defined as;
one devoid of any restraints, especially one who ignores or even spurns religious norms, accepted morals, and forms of behaviour sanctioned by the larger society

If you do not believe that you must answer to a higher power for your actions (physical and mental), what "power" does your pledge hold over you. To a Mason, the reality of you swearing to your God that you will or will not do certain things gives it credibility. If you only believe in yourself, your swearing has no validity.
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