Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My friend was a Demolay and when he converted to Christianity the first thing he did was to request to leave it.

He said some rituals clashed with his faith. When his father converted he also left the group.

The wife of an ex-mason mentioned zoophilia as part of the rituals once. Ew!

Demolay is a youth group. His father would not have been in the group. This post is not only a troll, but a really bad at lying troll.

Duh! My friend was a Demolay his dad was a Mason. Better now? (I was 18 when this happened)

I went to college with his sister and both converted from having no religion to being Christian. Later mom converted than, later the dad.

The boy quit the Demolay thing and the dad got pretty upset. Once dad converted he understood the son's POV and agreed that some practices clashed with their new belief. We tried asking why but he never explained. I didn't feel it was my place to ask again.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband is a Mason and also went through Demolay as a youth. http://www.demolay.org/ While I think some of the rituals are kept secret and they take that aspect very serious, as do many organizations, it is hardly "cult-like". My FIL, and his father were also Masons. My FIL was a Grand Inspector as his Lodge.

Have you looked into the history of the Masons and how they were involved in the early years of this country, most signers of the Constitutions were Masons, many symbols in DC have masonic influence. I'm not even sure that your husband can be recruited to be a real mason without having some connection to us, like a relative or some other degree of knowledge about the group, but I'm not certain.

But to answer your question, it is not a "WTF", and they do lots of good charity work (The Shriners, for instance), and are not a cult. There history goes back centuries and is very well documented.

OP here - My friend's brothers and her BILs are all Masons and have not come from a long line of Masons. Her oldest brother encouraged the rest to join. My friend thinks it's odd - very ritualistic in her opinion.

I don't want my husband to have any part of it.

So is Skull & Bones of Yale. Would you have a problem if he joined that group?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My friend was a Demolay and when he converted to Christianity the first thing he did was to request to leave it.

He said some rituals clashed with his faith. When his father converted he also left the group.

The wife of an ex-mason mentioned zoophilia as part of the rituals once. Ew!

Demolay is a youth group. His father would not have been in the group. This post is not only a troll, but a really bad at lying troll.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, really? You've never been in a sorority or anything like that?

The rituals and secrets aren't anything weird, its meant to form a strong bond between the members and foster certain qualities in individuals. I can't tell you specifically what were in my sorority rituals but it involves speaking about friendship, the bonds that tie us together, the vows we take to be good sisters to each other and the organization.

It sounds like you butt into everyone's business and are really just upset by the fact that this doesn't include you and no one can tell you what it is about. Let it go.

nope
a GDI in college, as I don't believe in Group Think

Oh, for goodness sake, OP. The NAVY SEALS have secrets that they cannot tell anyone. Does that make them elite and cult like? Most fraternities do as well. This is not something that is reserved and special to the Masons. So they do not share their ceremonies and rituals, who cares? Why is everything public knowledge? I can give you the name of several Native American Indian tribes that have similar beliefs, they have secret rituals & ceremonies. Would you press them for info or respect their tribes and leave them alone. Again, we are talking about a group that is HUNDREDS of years old, not something being run by Jim Jones.

Get a grip. And who cares if women can join. Does everything have to be equal opportunity? Put away your Dan Brown books and let your husband make his own decisions. You crucified the Masonic organization before you even wrote your opening post. You didn't ask for open opinions, you gave your opinion, and then continued to list why the masons did not suit you. If you aren't going to be open minded then why bother asking at all.

Yes, dear. Those would involve our national security. Hardly the same thing as a bunch of adults walking around in robes, singing to each other.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, really? You've never been in a sorority or anything like that?

The rituals and secrets aren't anything weird, its meant to form a strong bond between the members and foster certain qualities in individuals. I can't tell you specifically what were in my sorority rituals but it involves speaking about friendship, the bonds that tie us together, the vows we take to be good sisters to each other and the organization.

It sounds like you butt into everyone's business and are really just upset by the fact that this doesn't include you and no one can tell you what it is about. Let it go.

nope
a GDI in college, as I don't believe in Group Think

Oh, for goodness sake, OP. The NAVY SEALS have secrets that they cannot tell anyone. Does that make them elite and cult like? Most fraternities do as well. This is not something that is reserved and special to the Masons. So they do not share their ceremonies and rituals, who cares? Why is everything public knowledge? I can give you the name of several Native American Indian tribes that have similar beliefs, they have secret rituals & ceremonies. Would you press them for info or respect their tribes and leave them alone. Again, we are talking about a group that is HUNDREDS of years old, not something being run by Jim Jones.

Get a grip. And who cares if women can join. Does everything have to be equal opportunity? Put away your Dan Brown books and let your husband make his own decisions. You crucified the Masonic organization before you even wrote your opening post. You didn't ask for open opinions, you gave your opinion, and then continued to list why the masons did not suit you. If you aren't going to be open minded then why bother asking at all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Masons do not recruit. But some members do ask friends to join. Once your DH has petitioned them for membership they will send a group to your home to interview you and your family before they will accept your DH. I see no harm in it, they do a lot of good for their community. No different then the Elks, Moose or Eagles. Or Knights of Columbus for that matter. But you should be supportive of him if he chooses to join. The Masons have the "Order of the Eastern Star" for women if you are interested.

OP here

He was ASKED to join. What's the difference? He's being recruited by colleagues/friends.

If he decides to go through the process, then I imagine I'll be an instrumental part of the family interview, which won't be pretty. Thanks for the info.

Anonymous wrote:Masons do not recruit. But some members do ask friends to join. Once your DH has petitioned them for membership they will send a group to your home to interview you and your family before they will accept your DH. I see no harm in it, they do a lot of good for their community. No different then the Elks, Moose or Eagles. Or Knights of Columbus for that matter. But you should be supportive of him if he chooses to join. The Masons have the "Order of the Eastern Star" for women if you are interested.

Anonymous wrote:Why? Whatever happened to transparency?

And your last line did it for me - IF the Catholic Church, for which I have no respect, doesn't approve, then something's up.

Anonymous wrote:16:25 again, got sidetracked as I wrote this.

One is typically not recruited to join the Freemasons, rather the motto is: "To be one, ask one." It's a (relatively) minor semantic point to be fair.

Jews have always been welcomed as Freemasons and (AFAIK) other countries' Grand Lodges do not have racial separation policies. Indeed, in the world of the conspiracy-minded a Jewish Freemason would be like a 23rd level Fighter-Wizard, what with being part of TWO groups that are allegedly plotting to take over the world. (In fact, it was the Protocols of the Elders of Zion where the "Freemasons are taking over the world" meme really took off.)

OP's DH can make some good professional -- and personal -- contacts through the Freemasons. OP can meet some of the wives, and can join the Eastern Star which is one of Freemasonry's many appendant bodies (i.e. groups to which a Master Mason and/or family may join but only after becoming a Master Mason.) Others include the Shriners, York Rite, and Scottish Rite (this is where 33rd degree Masons happen) -- kids can join the Demolay, Job's Daughters, or Rainbow Girls.

(FWIW, you can only make it up to 32nd degree on your own -- you must be nominated to 33rd degree for either your service to Freemasonry or the wider community.)

The actual minutes of the meetings are secret, as are the ceremonies. I will share no details of those on this forum.

Final caveat: joining the Freemasons is an act that will automatically excommunicate you from the Roman Catholic Church. The objections lie completely on the Church's side.

Anonymous wrote:My friend was a Demolay and when he converted to Christianity the first thing he did was to request to leave it.

He said some rituals clashed with his faith. When his father converted he also left the group.

The wife of an ex-mason mentioned zoophilia as part of the rituals once. Ew!

Anonymous wrote:My friend was a Demolay and when he converted to Christianity the first thing he did was to request to leave it.

He said some rituals clashed with his faith. When his father converted he also left the group.

The wife of an ex-mason mentioned zoophilia as part of the rituals once. Ew!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, really? You've never been in a sorority or anything like that?

The rituals and secrets aren't anything weird, its meant to form a strong bond between the members and foster certain qualities in individuals. I can't tell you specifically what were in my sorority rituals but it involves speaking about friendship, the bonds that tie us together, the vows we take to be good sisters to each other and the organization.

It sounds like you butt into everyone's business and are really just upset by the fact that this doesn't include you and no one can tell you what it is about. Let it go.

nope
a GDI in college, as I don't believe in Group Think