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Not to nitpick, but Joseph Smith was not jailed and lynched for boffing teenaged girls.
He was jailed because as Mayor, Justice of the Peace, Presidential candidate, and General of his own private militia, he ordered an attack on the newspaper that was exposing him for boffing teenaged girls.
The official line from the LDS Church is that he was jailed on “false charges.” They forget to mention that the charges were something like Treason against the US Constitution, and there is nothing “false” about it.
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His jailors gave him a pistol to defend himself from the mob. Seeing that his cellmates were being hit in the crossfire, he jumped from the jail window shouting “oh Lord my God, is there no help for the widow’s son?” Some people believe this was because he saw Jesus come to take him to celestial glory, while others think this was a desparate plea for help to his Masonic brothers in the mob.
ETA: I am not an expert in history or in masonry. If I’ve misrepresented any actual facts, please do your own research.
So, I took some time to review the narrative of the Mormon rituals you linked, and it appears that a lot of what is revealed is very similar to Masonic Ritual. The exchanges described in giving and receiving passwords and handshakes in particular are certainly in keeping with my experiences in Masonry.
And, to address the rest of your question (which I have failed to do so far…)
I was previously unaware that Joe Smith was a Mason, or that the LDS Church was founded by men that were also Masons. I am going to ask around the Lodge about it, though, because I think it’s pretty interesting. You also ask: “does that mean anything to Masons”; I can’t say. While on one hand Masons are proud of the many contributions our Bretheren have made to society, we are also duty bound to avoid discussions of religion in the Lodge, as it might disrupt the harmony of said Lodge. I’m attending a Lodge of Instruction tomorrow night, and a special anniversary meeting of my Lodge on Thursday night (my Lodge is celebrating it’s 250th anniversary on 3/25), so I’ll ask around a little bit and if I come up with anything I think you may find interesting I’ll post it.
I thought of another question that I don’t think has been answered. What is a typical lodge meeting like? (again barring secret stuff that I don’t care about anyway). Is it mostly, show up, take role, read the minutes, shoot the shit, go home? Or does other stuff go on?
My Lodge is pretty big, and growing, so one of the main events of the meetings is the actual Degree work. The other elements of Lodge meetings are dinner, (Lodge) business meeting, and fellowship following the formal meeting (cheese & crackers, beer & wine).
So, a typical night at my Lodge will go something like this (not sure about other Lodges, but I’ll presume they’re all pretty much the same)…
6:00 PM: Lodge opens; Worshipful Master opens the Lodge on the Degree appropriate to the evening’s agenda, the Chaplain says a prayer, everyone recites the Pledge of Allegiance (hand on heart, facint the American Flag, just like Elementary School), then the work of the Lodge begins (Degrees conferred upon candidates, etc.)
7:00 PM: Lodge breaks for refreshment (dinner). You go downstairs, get in line, and pay $15 for your meal (the meals are excellent - better than most resteraunts). There’s a table where you can get soda or punch, and all the tables have bread & butter and salad. We sit 8 to a table at large round banquet tables. There’s another table set with cheese & crackers and some sort of salty party mix. Everyone mills around and shoots the shit for 10 minutes or so, then the Worshipful Master calls everyones attention and offers a brief prayer (or the Chaplain will - either way), then the Rainbow Girls bring out meals pre-plated - last week we had stuffed chicken with gravy, green beans and a baked potato (there was a bowl of sour cream on each table). Everyone chows down, the girls clear the plates and serve dessert - last week we had apple crisp with ice cream. Then they clear the tables again and a couple of the Lodge Officers put a small wicker basket one each table and everyone coughs up a couple bucks for the girls. I’m not sure if the girls divvy up the tips for themselves or if they use the money for one of their own charitable causes (probably the latter). Then we all mill around and bullshit for a couple minutes and the Worshipful Master calls our attention once again and makes a few general announcements about upcoming events and etc. Then, promptly at 7:00 PM, we all go back upstairs to continue the business of the Lodge.
8:00 PM: Lodge business continues with additional Degree work, if necessary, then the business meeting, we vote on new member applications, and the Lodge’s list of sick and distressed Brothers is attended to (like, Brother Smith broke his hip and is recovering at home - he would love visitors so if anyone would like to go see him let Worshipful Master know and he’ll provide Br. Smith’s address), etc. Also, discretionary charitable giving is proposed and/or voted on. Last week alone, we approved $11,000 in charitable giving to a handful of causes. This part of the meetign usually takes a couple hours, but can go longer depending on the agenda. The Third Degree Ceremony is pretty long, so last week we were in Lodge untill 11:00 PM, but I think 9:30 PM is average for the rest of the nights.
9:30 PM: Fellowship hour. Actually, they call it ‘Correlation’ (sp?) at the Lodge, but I can’t find a definition for the word I think they’re using that aligns with beer & wine). Anyways. We all go back downstairs, drink beer, eat cheese & crackers and shoot the shit for a couple hours. The only thing you have to pay for is the dinner - you don’t pay for beer and wine during the fellowship time. Or longer. A couple of the guys at my Lodge are wealthy enough thet they don’t have to work anymore, and young enough to be able to actually enjoy it, so they are there closing the place every month. I’ve got to work in the morning, though, so by 3 or 4 beers at 11 PM on a Tuesday I’m ready to call it a night.
What’s the difference between a Job’s Daughter and a Rainbow Girl? Is it an age thing? They’re both Masonic offshoots, right?
Do you guys have DeMolay? If so, do they ever serve tables? I don’t mean to try to find sexism where none exists, but it seems a little weird that the young girls are serving a bunch of guys (especially if the boys never do it).
Yes, JDI and Rainbow Girls are both Masonic Youth Organizations. I don’t actually know what the difference is. I think Job’s Daughters might have more religious themes, and Rainbow Girls more secular. Our Lodge doesn’t have a Job’s Daughters Chapter, though. Just the Rainbow Girls.
I haven’t seen a DeMolay Chapter at our Lodge, but I will ask. I think I’ll also ask about Your #1 question. I’ll get back to you on both.
The men of the Lodge serve the food, as well, and clear the dishes (on the nights the Rainbow Girls are short-handed or if it’s really busy for some reason). As I mentioned upthread, I presume the girls serve and clear as a way to raise money for their charitable causes. You’ve raised a really good question that I’ve idly speculated about myself. I’m going to ask and get the straight dope on this, too. It honestly doesn’t appear that anything untoward is going on here, though.
According to Wikipedia, the revived KKK, from about 1915 to 1945, was consciously modeled after fraternal organizations by its founder, who himself belonged to several. The idea was to attract potential members by bearing some resemblance to fraternal organizations that they were already members of.
Why does the meme that Freemasonry is equivalent to Baal worship persist? If you google “Freemasonry Baal Worship” you come up with some…interesting results.
I only skimmed it, but it appears that the issue these guys have with Freemasonry is that Masons equivocate all religions, while pretending to be Christians. Or something. Can you make any logic of this cite and these accusations in general?
If it is a Christian-based fraternity like you say it is (and you’re a Catholic to boot), why all this other nonsense? Smear campaign by fear-mongers?
Masonry is not a “Christian-based fraternity”. If you got that impression from what I was saying, I think perhaps I’m not expressing myself well. There are many themes and stories from the Old Testament, and the themes are meant to be compatible with all religions. The Brothers of my Lodge are probably mostly Christian, but my town has a lot of Jewish folks and there are many, many Jewish members as well. I don’t think we have any Wiccans or Muslims, but those faiths are represented among Masons as well. But again, we don’t talk about religion in Lodge. We pray, our rituals have religious overtones and significance, much of it has its roots in Old Testament stories, but the Masons are not a religious organization. I guess it’s sort of hard to explain.
We’re not a Christian fraternity. We require belief in a [monotheistic] god, but Muslims and Jews are easily accepted, and there has been some local argument about Wiccans and Hindus. The main argument I’ve heard about Wiccans is that’s very hard to tell a serious Wiccan from someone who doesn’t have any real faith and is merely trying to be different. Hindus, we simply didn’t know enough about as group to talk about.
The rumors about what Masons “really believe” stem from us keeping our rituals closed to the public, and our oaths not to reveal certain things. To a certain type of mind anything that is kept secret is only kept secret because it’s evil; to another type of mind making grand claims is great way to get attention.
The website you posted seems to take issue with anything vaguely ecumenical, and Masonry is not vague in its openness to people of faith. There is certainly something Universalist in Masonry’s approach to matters of faith, we believe that a Catholic, a Jew, a Lutheran, and a Muslim can each make themselves better men, and together they can make the world a better place.
Undoubtedly that was much of the motivation for the K of C’s founder.
But today, the Knights of Columbus are very parish-centric, and work closely with the church they support as well as with the community. I’m not a Mason. I am a Knight, a Past Grand Knight, Former District Deputy, and Past Faithful Navigator.
When I was Grand Knight, we did a number of “co-fraternal” events with our local Masonic lodge. “Mason-Knight Night.” In talking to my opposite number, the Worshipful Master, it seemed that much of the day-to-day headaches we had in keeping our organizations running and steered correctly was similar, but while we had very similar desires and initiatives in youth programs, family activities, community support, and council/lodge fraternal support, the K of C also took a very active role in parish support and programs, and there didn’t seem to be a parallel on the lodge’s side for that.
I am sure you are right. The KoC seems very oriented to the local bishop and priest. At a street festival over the summer, I saw a stand by the KoC so I stopped to say hey to the two (very old) knights. I mentioned I am a Mason and one of them said he was not allowed to talk to me.
The Wikipedia may be incorrect or outdated, but it appears that membership is by invitation only. Moreover, it appears that the target demographic is independent professionals, or people high enough in their companies that they do not need to ask a superior for time off work, or justify it to anyone but themselves. In 1905, when the organization was founded, the scheme was for local clubs to “rotate” their meetings among the members’ offices; I think in those days you had to be pretty high up in a corporate type job for you to have an office.
Indeed; once or twice I’ve seen the Knights participating in some ceremony; I think it was guarding the shrine or other holy object, rather than the person of the bishop. IIRC it was the funeral of a well-remembered nun, with the local cardinal officiating.
If he didn’t have a grin on his face as he said it, then he’s very much mistaken; as I mentioned above, as the chief executive officer of my Knights council, not only did I talk to Masons, I organized joint group activities with them.
I like to think there’s a bit of humor in the old rivalry between the organizations; when our parish dedicated the new activities center several years ago, I was part of the K of C honor guard for the ceremony. The ceremony included the placing of the ceremonial cornerstone for the building, and we were delayed while waiting for the tradesman who was going to set and mortar the stone. At one point Fr. Ley said, “We can’t start until the mason arrives,” and I said, with mock outrage, “Father, what do you need with a mason? You have the K of C right here!”
Yeah, hilarious, eh?
Anyway, if the elderly Knight you saw was serious, that’s quite a shame.
I was a member of Rotary for a short time (I couldn’t deal with all the cash penalties*). I lived in the east San Francisco Bay area then, and there were four Rotary clubs within easy driving distance. They all met different days at different times. Two met for breakfast, if I recall correctly, and the other two at lunch. It made it really easy to find one that fit your schedule.
*One of the prime fundraisers for Rotary seems to be fines. If your name appears in a newspaper or magazine, five bucks. If you miss a meeting, ten bucks. I can’t remember what they all were, but it was bleeding me dry–especially the first one. I’m a writer, dammit. My name’s in newspapers and magazines constantly.
It’s true that Catholics remain forbidden to join a Masonic order. But there is no rule forbidding them from speaking to a member of a Masonic order, and while an individual bishop has legislative authority within his diocese, extending a prohibition that far would be dramatic indeed.
So it’s possible, in the sense of “technically” possible. But it would surprise me mightily to learn that were the case.
What are the home visits like? What are they looking for? How common is it to be turned down?
I just started, literally, I just filled out the Membership Information Request Form to find out where I send my petition and I don’t know what to expect.
So a key tenet in terms of membership is a collectivism regarding all religions, in a sense. Which would explain why fundamentalist Christians are so up in arms about your group, cuz you know, you accept as members people that are “other” than a Christian faith.
