posted on Sep, 15 2009 @ 12:05 AM
The legalist reason:
They turned in their Charter to the Grand Lodge of England....that sorta nails it as being clandestined....all Regular lodges pretty much recognise
that lodge as being the origin of the rest.
The practical reason, Because PH masonry has no govrning body it has tradions often quirky to each individual lodge it has evolved in ways very
different often to regular lodges.....and even from differing PH lodges.....it hasn't pushed ONE standard as a result some pH lodges have odd
traditions....but they hold to them very much so with pride...they're not likely to let those go, and regular masonry are not going to change regular
masonry to please them.
The Racial reason. While 70% of regular mason's I know would like to somehow bring PH masons into the fold that isn't what most PH masons WANT. Many
PH masons are rather racist.....now given the history that African Americans have had to deal with, I really don't know that I can fully judge them
for that......but most of the racism is on the PH side still.
The Civil War Reason: In southern states even if the great majority of masons would like to bury screwed up rules that came about because of the civil
war, and an ugly part of masonic history, all it takes is a few masonic lodges in the stix to keep the entire Grand lodge of that state from
evolving......N.C is a vision of the future though......it will happen in the other states whether they want it or not just a matter of time. and
generation change.
The final reason.
You are NOT a regular mason unless you follow to the T, to every adverb and pronoun the ritual of your grand lodge, each grand lodge ultimately goes
back to the Grand Lodge of England. This is simply not going to ever change. I predict you will see more black members simply join regular freemasonry
in time, as PH is truthfully having less meaning now that black members can join regular lodges in most states.....however PH masons will never give
up their seperate traditions, and Regular masonry will never accept those "new" traditions, or conceed to change it's carefully guarded and
structured degrees that it has kept for hundreds of years.
So while Grand Lodges may "recognise" PH lodges inorder to try and bring some sort of future union....Until PH lodges are willing to submit to
regular grand lodges, and have someone inspect their ritual to make sure it is not wondering ......they will never really be considered "regular".