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What are Masons? Masons are good men from all walks of life who profess a belief in God, and come together to do good works in their community, to fellowship with like minded people.

Can I be a Mason? If you are a man over the age of 21 and come well recommended by Masons who can vouch for your character and you have a belief in God as the supreme being.

How do I become a Mason? There is a saying among Masons 2B1ASK1(2-B-1-ASK-1); you will never be recruited to be a Mason, it is something that has to be in your heart and when the time is right for you, you will have to ask a Mason for a petition. I will say that I wish I had known that when I was 21.

What do Masons do? Masons raise money for charities, for sick or injured members of the community, for educational programs for students. What a lot of people do not know is that all the Shriners Hospitals are affiliated to Masonry, because to be a Shriner, you had to be made a Mason first.

Is Masonry a religion? ABSOLUTELY NOT! Masonry is not a religion, does not claim to be a religion, and does not take the place of religion. Masonry DOES NOT offer a plan for salvation, we want you to stay active in your church read the bible of your particular faith. You do not have to be a Christian to be a Mason, you may be Jewish, or Muslim. You simply have to believe in God. Masonic lodge meetings are not held at times that would conflict with your church however if a Church function did arise on a lodge night we would prefer you attend your church. Most of our principles are derived from stories in the bible.

Is Masonry a secret society? No, we are a society with some secrets, and those secrets are more tradition than anything else. During the time of the old testament that Masonry was formed there were no things such as a resume, or union dues cards. In order for a Mason to travel and work in foreign lands, there had to be a way to determine that a person had the skill that they claimed. If a man were to show up and claim to be a master builder and you simply took him at his word, you may very well end up tearing your structure down and having to rebuild it. If a man gave you a password and a grip you knew he was who he claimed to be. There were so many workers on the temples and other large structures of that time that it was difficult to keep up with them all, so in order to collect their wages they would need to give that word and grip, and lastly when they met to discuss their work in guilds or more commonly known as union meetings people had to ensure that none but Masons entered these meetings and again they had to provide a password and grip. There is a different pass and grip for each level of Masonry, which are Entered Apprentices, Fellow Crafts, and Master Masons, just as you would see in unions. As for the rest, if you have attended a church business meeting then you already know what our meetings mostly consist of.

I would invite my brothers to add to the list above or correct me in areas where I may have made an error or something is unclear as for the rest of you please ask away.

My case was a little different, While I had no family history in the Masons that I knew of I did have several friends and co-workers who were members.

I also noticed something different about them and would ask questions that only sometimes they could answer for me.

After some research of my own I became very interested in the history of the Masons and how much they were invovled in the birth of our nation.

I also saw how much they were involved in helping out the community and each other and decided I wanted to be invovled.

Now like KSP494 I am very happy that I did and also wish I would have been a bit younger but you are never to old to get invovled with good people.

Is there a real connection between Masons and the Knights Templar? Could you give some history on that? I know the Masons existed first, but did they have anything to do with each other before the Templars started getting killed off?

KSP must be relaxing in front of a punching bag somewhere :P

ExcalCPT says ...

I don't know any Masons in my area but have a very deep family involvment in the Masonic order (Father was Mason, as was both Grandfathers as well as several uncles cousins were Demolay and mother and grandmothers were Eastern Star) How can I get in contact with someone local to request to join or do I need to have a family member contact from their area?

you can look it up online or get in contact with the grand Lodge of your state, and ask where the closest lodge is to where you live.  If you send my a private Message, and let me know I can help you out.

Masonry is a beautiful thing and I highly recommend that you look into it!!!

What is the difference between the York rite and Scottish rite masons?

WesternLawman says ...

What is the difference between the York rite and Scottish rite masons?

The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, commonly known as simply the Scottish Rite, is one of several Rites of  Freemasonry. A Rite is a series of progressive degrees that are conferred by various Masonic organizations or bodies, each of which operates under the control of its own central authority. In the Scottish Rite the central authority is called a Supreme Council.

The thirty-three degrees of the Scottish Rite are conferred by several controlling bodies. The first of these is the Craft Lodge which confers the Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft, and Master Mason degrees. Craft lodges operate under the authority of Grand Lodges, not the Scottish Rite.

The Scottish Rite is one of the appendant bodies of Freemasonry that a Master Mason may join for further exposure to the principles of Freemasonry. In the United States, the Scottish Rite is officially recognized by Grand Lodges as an extension of the degrees of Freemasonry. The Scottish Rite builds upon the ethical teachings and philosophy offered in the craft lodge, or Blue Lodge, through dramatic presentation of the individual degrees.

The York Rite is actually a grouping of separate Rites joined in order, namely the Capitular Rite, or Royal Arch Masons (General Grand Chapter - Royal Arch Masons International), the Cryptic Rite, or Cryptic Masons (General Grand Council - Cryptic Masons International) and the Chivalric Orders, or Knights Templar (Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the United States of America).

As such, it constitutes one of the two main branches of Masonic Appendant Bodies in, which a Master Mason may join to further his knowledge of Freemasonry. Its name is derived from the city of York, where, according to a Masonic legend, the first meetings of Masons in England took place, although only the lectures of the York Rite College make reference to that legend.

The divisions within the York Rite and the requirements for membership differ from jurisdictionn to jurisdiction, but the essentials are the same. In all the workings, the one requirement is that all applicants be in possession of the degree of Master Mason.

Hope that helps!

KSP494 says ...

Sorry I left posts in other threads that I would be in Washington DC from 5/6-5/8 conferring the MM degree on two FC. I am back now. It appears as though you lready got your answer on the Knights Templar. The Knights Templar were Masons given special trust and responsibilities.

I hope what I gave was accurate. Did some research and presented what I thought was factual.

WesternLawman says ...

What is the difference between the York rite and Scottish rite masons?

What I have seen, this difference is more in interpretation and ceremony. I would compare it to the difference between Missionary and General Baptist; Catholic and Episcoplalian. They both have basically the same belief but interpret the history books in a slightly different way.

KSP494 says ...

I guess it just depends on the source Charlie.

Most of this information comes from booklets/pamplets published by the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction, Washinton, DC.

KSP494 says ...

What Charlie refers to as "Craft" lodges we refer to as Blue Lodges.

"Craft" lodge is a term frequently used in the UK and Canada that means the same as Blue Lodge.

ExcalCPT says ...

I don't know any Masons in my area but have a very deep family involvment in the Masonic order (Father was Mason, as was both Grandfathers as well as several uncles cousins were Demolay and mother and grandmothers were Eastern Star) How can I get in contact with someone local to request to join or do I need to have a family member contact from their area?

There is surely at least one Masonic lodge in your community. You can go there on a regular meeting night which should be posted outside the lodge. What I would recommend though is if you have a family member still involved in the lodge then it would be best to ask them. My grandfather kept a petition over the visor in his car for 6 years waiting for me to ask for one.

Why are Mason so distrusted by certain religious groups? Is it just a lack of understanding? There's a few people out there who claim to have 'escaped' masonry, and decided to 'divulge all of their secrets' to let people know whats 'really' going on. I heard some of this stuff and its pretty F'd up. To the point where I think the dude's have lost their minds or are outright making crap up to put a bad light on Masons. Is it the perpetuation of myths and outright lies? You probably know the folks I'm talking about, lol.

As for "escaping" masonry, that is rediculous. It is not a cult and you are free to leave anytime you wish and the ONLY reprecussion you will face is that you will no longer be able to attend our meetings. It is not any different then joining or leaving the Lions Club, Rotary, etc...

As for devulging information, yes it has happened at times and it hasn't hurt us in anyway, we have no deep dark hidden secrets like the conspiracy theorists would like you to belive and as I wrote in my FAQ's the secrets we do keep are based on tradition and have been explained.

KSP494 says ...

As for "escaping" masonry, that is rediculous. It is not a cult and you are free to leave anytime you wish and the ONLY reprecussion you will face is that you will no longer be able to attend our meetings. It is not any different then joining or leaving the Lions Club, Rotary, etc...

I kind of figured that. There's so many myths and BS out there online that its dizzying. You think you're getting valid info, then suddenly they're trying to sell you a book or three. I especially love the ones that try to sell you info written by a guy that was murdered by the Masons for breaking their oath of secrecy. Very convenient for conspiracy theorists. Thanks again.