Freemasons: Evil secret society or misunderstood nice guys...

Absolam wrote: »

If you suspect a member to be complicit in corruption you must act according to your conscience and turn them in to the authorities.

Indeed, I've seen members of the order get thrown out after they were found guilty in court of committing crimes.

And as Absolam said the charity work is the more interesting thing which we do, imagine asking someone on your local football them what they do, they're gonna tell you about the matches they play and not going to the pub for a pint afterwards. It's the same in Freemasonary a lot of people enjoy the dinner and the banter after the meeting which to be honest can sometimes be tedious enough in my experience.

Absolam wrote: »

I don't think for a second anyone 'needs' to belong to a club to do charity work, it just makes it easier, more fun, and often better organised.

Agreed. If you wanted to repair the fence of a park, it may take many weekends. If a couple of you come together, it may be done on a Saturday, and then everyone goes for a meal/beer/etc.

Masons can't approach you to join, you have to approach them. Contact Grand Lodge on Molesworth Street, and they will put you in touch with a Lodge in your local area.

Ok, there are a lot of presuppositions made in general about Freemasonry. This isn't surprising, given the attutitude of the Catholic Church towards the organization, as a result of which a lot of misinformation and fear-based rumours and hearsay have been spread. The RC church are very much against it, and have been for several hundred years, ever since the Grand Lodge of England was formed in 1779 and Freemasonry 'came out of the closet' as it were. Several papal bulls were passed throughout the 18th and 19th centuries condemning Freemasonry in various ways. Interestingly, the position of the church has been not that Freemasonry was a competing religion, but rather that the goal of Freemasonry was the destruction of all religions (which isn't actually true - more on this later). Interestingly enough, the Baal's Bridge Square, a masonic relic that was found under the foundations of Baal's Bridge (Balls Bridge) is dated 1507 and is reputed to be one of the oldest Masonic items in the world.

It's important to understand that Freemasonry isn't a secret organisation. Their meeting places are listed and published, their rules and constitutions are readily available, even names of members and officers can be obtained. The fact is, Freemasonry is an organization with secrets, and those secrets are primarily the means of recognition amongst members, the purpose of which are to make it difficult for someone to pretend to be one.

Freemasonry is not a religion. In fact, the topic of religion is forbidden for discussion in both Masonic meetings and Masonic social events. All members are allowed and encouraged to maintain their respective Faiths, to the extent that when an oath is taken in Lodge, a Catholic may use a bible, a Jew may use the Torah, a Hindu may use the Rya Sathya Vedam, etc. The point of this is tolerance and acceptance; the belief that a man may worship the creator in his or her own way is a principle of tantamount importance.

So what is Freemasonry? Outwardly, it is a system of morality, expressed in symbols and veiled in allegory. Stories are used to present moral lessons, as in the bible. It is based on the principles of charity, mutual respect, equality, honesty, faith, and brotherly love.

They do a lot of charity work, and their focus is local, i.e. Irish Freemasons focus their charitable work and donations within Ireland. Helping to relieve poverty and distress amongst Brethren and their families is one of the 'foundation stones' on which Irish Freemasonry is built. Yes, they do look out for their own. If a Freemason dies, his children will get their 3rd-level education paid for. His widow will get money. But they also look after those who are less fortunate; for example last year they raised €660,000 - this was evenly divided between Samaritans Ireland, The Belfast Childrens Hospice, and The Laura Lynn Foundation, a fund for terminally ill children.

I hope this helps to explain something of what Freemasonry is about. With regard to the negative aspects, I suppose it is a sad fact that all organizations are open to abuse and the influence and actions of those who perhaps don't have the best of intentions at heart. However, we see this in all organizations; The Catholic Church being a prime example. It doesn't mean the Church is bad, in fact there are some really wonderful and truly giving, selfless people who are devoted to the Church, who would never do anything bad to anyone. It's just human nature, we're always going to have dark and light in everything we do.

I guess that ultimately the path we're on is one of acceptance and tolerance. These are really very powerful forces in the world, and they are coming in to their own now. Of course there are limits to what can be tolerated in a healthy society, some actions and behaviours are clearly destructive and harm the greater good and these cannot be tolerated, or at least not completely or unconditionally. Freemasonry has been about tolerance and acceptance for several hundred years, it doesn't matter your religion or race, all men who believe in a Supreme Being of some kind, and who have a good (or at least not a bad) reputation within their community are free to join, and no one would ever be turned away from membership because of race, religion, political affiliation, or even sexual orientation.

Here are some intersting links on Freemasonry:

• Grand Lodge of Ireland
• Wikipedia article on Freemasonry
• What it means to be a Mason - Google Video

If you hear or read negative things about Freemasonry, just try to verify them. In nearly all cases, you won't be able to - they are based on 2nd or 3rd-hand accounts by those who are opposed to Freemasonry. Anything verifiable usually involve individuals who are perhaps Freemasons but are acting outside of the jurisdiction or even knowledge of the organization.

Anyone interested in joining can contact the Grand Lodge of Ireland to find a lodge nearby. There is one in every major city and there are lots of lodges found throughout both the North and the rest of Ireland.

To be eligible to become a Freemason, you must:

1. Be a man;
2. Be of good moral character and reputation in your community;
3. Possess a belief in a supreme being.

That's it my friend!

With regard to the High Court writ, it appears that this matter is concerned with a complaint against procedural practices in dealing with internal complaints and/or disputes, and is possibly connected with disciplinary action against members who it is reputed secretly taped lodge meetings (as I understand it). The fact is we don't know exactly what it is about, however, to quote the article, the High Court action "relates to serious disagreements and disciplinary actions" within a particular lodge. However, these issues are not in fact part of the secrets of Freemasonry. Understandably the order would want to take some kind of internal disciplinary action against members who covertly record what are intended to be private meetings, as would any organization which conducts such meetings intended to be private, if only out of respect for the privacy of its members. However, none of these issues concern masonic secrets, which would primarily be related to and concerned with signs of recognition, not the internal legislative and disciplinary practices of the order, which in fact would be fairly standard and very similar to those of any member-based organization.

I would say that what happened there is someone got the clever idea to record a lodge meeting, for whatever reason; word got out or they published it somewhere, and the lodge took some kind of disciplinary action, perhaps suspension or expulsion from the order; the members concerned were not happy with the outcome and, perhaps being unable to obtain a satisfactory appeal to a higher authority, decided to take the issue to the courts. Probably not the best way to regain admission to the lodge. Of course, I am speculating here.

It's a fraternity - a men's brotherhood. It's like the way women have women's business groups and don't let men join, and girl's have sororities that they don't let men join ... we don't get upset about that.

Well, women aren't eligible to join because it's a male organization. Why is that mad? Women have childbirth, breastfeeding, periods, and women's intuition. These are all things that men will never fully understand or participate in. Then there are, as PaintDoctor mentioned, lots of women-only organizations in which male membership is not permitted. I believe that most women who are married to men involved in Freemasonry actually believe it is a good thing, because it allows men to bond, to develop mutual support and fraternal love in an environment of trust and respect, something that can be difficult for men in modern times. Interestingly enough, there are indeed female Masonic groups in the U.S. and other countries. I believe though that the main reason women give out about not being able to join is simply because they aren't allowed . I mean, if women were permitted, would you want to join?

By the way Emme, you forgot to mention the blood drinking and human sacrifices! The main reason why people speculate this kind of nonsense is due to all the rumours and hearsay spread by the Catholic Church against first the Templars and then the Freemasons. They have in the past accused them of devil worship, sodomy, cross-dressing, conspiracy to murder, and lots more worse than stilletos and nun outfits, I can assure you. But of course none of these accusations are or were ever based on any actual facts.

Bigdeadlydave wrote: »

I just have to say that this topic is really interesting. Over the past few days Ive been asking people I know if they know masons/their opinion on masons.

No one had anything remotely positive to say, only "What are Freemasons?" coming close. In fact a few people got very angry when I asked, and demanded why I wanted to know more about "a protestant group akin to the Orange Order" One good friend told me that the majority of masons were Orangemen and thus decisions they made on admittance couldn't help but be sectarian.
There sure is a lot of confusing misinformation, although if he is right about the Orange/mason relationship he does have a good point.
Also can anyone recommend a good book on the subject of Freemasons?

there are plenty of books bout freemasonary,most have been wrote by freemasons themselves, but the best place to find the real story is by looking on the net at secret societies,remember you just dont join freemasonary,you have to be asked,and you will only be asked if you can give somthing that can benefit the society,freemasonary is a [my words ]a plague in modern society,its in every place,as far as the republic goes it in goverment/police/and big buisness,for instance i have many mason friends and family,a few years ago when i was going for a interview for a job,one of my mason friend wrote me a reference,by using ;key words ; yes i got the job, even though others were better qualified,even religion is not free from it,it is known that since the war years even a catholic pope was a member of freemasonary.

PaintDoctor wrote: »

I think it's fair to say you can pretty much discount everything in Getz posts as lies and claptrap. I've never read so much bullsh*t in my life.

fact,there are about a thousand lodges warranted under the irish constitution, with the majority of the meeting once a month, the grand lodge in ireland is second oldest grandlodge in the world[1725] its at 17,molesworth st dublin,[lodge st magdalene],ireland is the only constitution which places a altar in the middle of the lodge room, during the first degree when the candidate is restored to the light, his attention is directed to the brethern standing around the altar ,THE MASONIC OATH,[the blindfolded candidate kneels at the altar, places both hands on the volume of sacred law,the square and compass,and repeats after the worshipful mason]most solemny and sincerely promise and swear,that i will hail ever conceal,and never reveal any secrets,arts,parts,points of the master masons degree,to any person or persons whomsoever.i will acknowlege and obey all due signs and sommons,further i will not cheat or wrong ,nor defraud a mastermasons lodge,nor a brother of this degree,under no less penality than my body severed in two,my bowels taken from thence burned to ashes,the ashes scattered before the four winds of heaven. there is a lot more than that in the oath,i just censored the bit about not bonking the grandmasters daughters and wife

a bit more on the masonic oath,further that i will keep a worthy brother master masons SECRETS INVIOLABLE ,when communicated to and received by me as such,further that i will not aid nor be present at the initiation,passing or raising of woman,an old man in his dotage,a young man in his nonage a atheist or a madman.What is relevant is that those within this ;gentlemans club; this society with secrets[which incidently will never be uncovered by the rank and file saps,whithin the blue lodges first three degrees]either do believe in the nonesence intended to fill their heads ,or at least go along with it,and the corruption that inevitable enuse,whatever way you look at it,there is something very unpleasent and pernicious about it,a secretive society with members occupying social strata at the highest level,oath- bound to offer each other ;mutual aid; documented to be involved in all kinds of corruption,and basically accountable to nobody,is not something conductive to an open and harmonious society,hate to say it ,but i am on the catholic churches side on this one