To be completely honest I have never looked up any information on the freemasons. What I do know is that there is a lot of controversy, and appearantly a lot of our founding fathers were masons. When I was working today a coworker that is quite alot older than I am approached me and said that his group is looking to recruit some new members. This sounded like a very odd statement and I got wierded out a bit and asked what the group was and he said that he was a mason and his lodge is looking for new blood and asked me to join. I said I needed to think about it and he said he will talk to me again in a few days. Immediately I jumped on here to begin researching what is out there about them. Looking for advice from non involved third parties. Do I join or run for the hills?

I am not a Mason but I know many on line and in RL. If this is true it's a departure from all I've read/been told. 2b1ask1. Recruitment is not a tool that has been used in the past. Have things changed?

I guess I wasn't asked to "join" as much as asked to come down to the lodge. He said they were looking for some new members. I am not looking to ATS as my only information source, I am trying to find all kinds of information.

Thats interesting, i was in hospital for a few months years ago, and during my stay i often conversed with a quite, very nice elderly gentleman.

Never said much about himself but at the end of my stay he pulled me to one side and said, "If you are ever asked to become a Mason, do it."

He said he'd been one for a long time and he never regretted it. He had never in the months i spoke to him, mentioned it before that. Not once.

So after that, i was under the impression you could be asked.

Oh well.

CX.

I want to say I am not making a joke, or taking it lightly. I really don't think he was kidding with me, either way I am intrigued now.

In all my experience as a mason, I have NEVER know even a single person who was asked, coerced, suggested to, or even hinted to, that they should join.

I find this really strange.

You have to be invited by a member in good standing with acceptability from higher degree members. I have several members in my family that were masons.

Freemasons are not supposed to recruit or advertise. Some apparently do so anyway.

[edit on 1-9-2009 by Skyfloating]

If a candidate were recruited, it would disqualify him from ever becoming a Mason, since in the very first question he is ever asked when he enters the lodge, he must swear that he is "unbiased by the ... solicitation of friends..."

If he were unable to swear this under oath, he could not become a Mason.

I was talked to about the masons by four different men who have been very influential in my life and I have a great deal of respect for all four of them. Two of them were relatives and I knew the other two for more than a year and had business/friend relationships with each before they ever mentioned the masons. They all told me the same thing. None of them can ask me to join but if I was ever interested then all I had to do was ask and they would be happy to talk to me about it.
All of these conversations occured when I was younger but I really never felt I had time back then. I actually would like to look into it if I can get my present job situation (mostly travel)calmed down and actually get some time to be social. It does take time and they expect a certain level of commitment from the members.

The common theme in all of this was that they all knew me very well and that they all made it clear that the individual couldn't be requested or asked to join the masons but had to request it himself.

Well thanks for the replies and I have read enough now to think that its a good organization. I am going to go down to the lodge and talk to someone in the next couple days.

I have many friends who are members of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and Free and Accepted Masons. Many of them joke with me all the time about when am I going to finally get around to joining. It could be construed as a solicitation in a literal sense, but they know as well as I do, that I know I am not coerced or pressured, and that if and when I make the choice it will be of my own volition and free will, unassuaged by bias. Still, after 10-20 years I still get jokingly harassed by them all the time.

One day I might join up, however my affiliation with other Orders keeps me busier than I would like. I earnestly couldn't give Masonry the devotion of time and effort that it deserves.

Masonry is a good path for many. Although one must consider their motivation for wishing to join.

An initiated Mason is entitled to all the rights and privileges of Freemasonry, but he is also fully obligated to conform to the teachings of the fraternity (the principle tenets are Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth), and obligated to many various Masonic duties. These duties are not onerous. In fact, the performance of Masonic duties is the most rewarding facet of Masonic membership.

To begin with, the new Mason is obligated to live by a strict moral code, the requirements of which will not be unfamiliar to any good man accustomed to living according to the teachings of his religion and according to the laws of the land. The new Mason also assumes unique new obligations to his fellow members and their families, and to all mankind.

Freemasonry expects its members to be good men and true; true to their church, their nation, their family, their friends.

Masonry encourages each member to be active in the affairs of his community and state and nation, but always as an individual citizen and never attempting to represent Freemasonry in these matters. Masonry will not lend its name or permit its members to use its name in any political, commercial, or religious activity, but urges each member to be individually active in these areas, so long as their activities are morally correct.

If that sounds like something good to you, then it may be that Masonry is right for you. Speaking to a Mason about joining will begin the process of sponsorship, review and eventual acceptance and initiation into the Fraternity. If a bunch of men wearing aprons and waving scepters in symbolic fashion while giving prolonged orations in their initiations sounds scary or satanic to you, then it may not be your cup of tea.

I believe that the GL of Missouri changed their Code to allow active recruitment a few years ago.

Further, I have heard several of our recent Grand Masters in NC speak on the subject, and there was a bit of wink and nod toward recruiting that was not recruiting.

I do believe that active recruiting is a violation of the ancient landmarks. However, a bit more openness is good for the fraternity. I have heard the old tales of asking three times for a petition, and find that to be a bit extreme. Open installations and open houses (along with fundraisers/BBQ sales) are very good to allow those who may be interested to drop by, see the membership (Hey, I didn't know that you and he were Masons...), and ask questions are good to place potential men in position to ask. A good friend of mine, whom I knew would make a great Brother, came to my first Installation as WM of my Lodge. He asked for a petition shortly thereafter. He was not recruited, but I did help him reach the point that he could make the choice. I coached him, and this winter, I should attend his Installation.