That's exactly it, my grandad was one and he told me bits about it.

We avoid politics but encourage our members to be good members of their society.

Thank you very much 😊

It is very different. The stated goals of the organization have nothing to do with gender, but they discriminate based on gender. It's the sort of thing that makes people believe they're full of shit.

There are some good books on our history. You can contact a specific Grand Lodge to inquire about specific former members.

Why do women have to join “branches”? Obviously, people want to join the real deal and not some offshoot.

Lol, reminds me of one of the first times I was in the US on business, going through a drive-through in a rental car, and the woman asked me at the window if it was to go or for here. I just kind of looked at her.

Apparently they can give you trays for people that like to sit in their cars in the parking lot and eat.

I just transferred to a lodge that was a better fit for me. All the officers are younger guys with kids. Ours is very much a family lodge.

>1. Are women allowed to join your chapter and if so are they 100% equal with no restrictions or limits?

No. As it stands, there exist lodges of Freemasonry which accept qualified men as members. There equally exist chapters of the Order of the Eastern Star, which accepts Master Freemasons and women with an affiliation to Freemasonry.

It's been a major topic for the last few decades. Many lodges have bent/broken the rules and accepted members. There is no one central authority, but such rule bending hasn't yet been officially accepted.

>2. Does modern freemasonry (or more specifically, your chapter) have anything to do with religion? Again, what little I've read about freemasonry told me that freemasonry originally was religion based and that the organization claimed to hold "secret" information about jesus/christianity as a whole. Is it kind of like modern day mormonism, where it has roots in religion but modern day practices are mainly based around leading a good life?

Pretty fair assessment. The reason for the religious example today is (imo) that without some higher power than ourselves, there's no reason to try and better ourselves.

It's not religion, or any one religion. Just a power higher than yourself.

>I have (had) a close friend who is a freemason an basically lost him to it. It seems like the longer he was in it, the more closed off he became to anybody not part of the brotherhood. He also slowly grew a very bloated ego.

If it helps, this is more or less opposed to any teachings I'm aware of in freemasonry.

Unironically, "Freemasonry for Dummies" is a great book and recommended to every new member.

That is unfortunate. I have met some individual bigots within Masonry, but that runs counter to everything we teach about equality, tolerance and brotherly love.

If I went around saying I was an emperor because some moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!

I mean, it's no different than me not being welcome in a lesbian bar is it?

It’s a club with a bunch of old men. People don’t like when guys get together and talk shit behind closed doors.

Perhaps the most damning case I’ve read about was the murder of Roberto Calvi (Italian banker), allegedly by an Italian lodge of the Freemasons known as P2.

There are lots of other theories, most of which are speculation or are shrouded in mystery. Most interestingly is the link between Freemasonry and Adam Weishaupt, philosopher and founder of the Bavarian Illuminati. Which was an actual thing, not just a conspiracy theory.

I’m not a nutter, but I do believe that the term ‘Conspiracy Theory’ has been deliberately associated with paranoia and is now largely ridiculed.

I do think that far more goes on behind closed doors than we can conceivably imagine.

It involves your secret eleventh finger.

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Fair enough.

I’m not a free mason, but I think they started as the original engineers way back in history. (Pyramids, greek concrete, etc) Those people were magical with what they could do. Maybe seen as wizards to early people, so they had to be careful. Their skills were taught and passed down to like-minded people through the generations. Engineers are a very quiet analytical people by nature, so seem secretive and very magically skilled. It’s been very watered down ow to just a social group of men that try to better themselves and each other

Most Freemason Grand Lodges don't admit women. There are some but they are considered clandestine. We basically aren't part of the same network. They can't attend our lodges and we can't attend theirs. But there are female Masonic bodies my wife belongs to.

We require a sincere belief in Deity but that can be from any religion. We don't advocate any one religion or tell people what to believe.

By accident, followed by a dare, I assume. This was probably how many cheeses, yogurts, beer, etc. were invented. It didn't kill the first people who ate it, and they found it tasty, so they kept recreating it until they found ideal conditions.

Organizations are made of people. Get your revisionist shit out of here.

Well nobody knows because no historians wrote down the process when it was invented. That said, it was probably just invented on accident. Some cheese people were storing in a cave got accidentally inoculated and someone tried it and went "huh, this didn't make me sick and tastes pretty good. I'll add some to the rest of the cheese I'm storing too!".

The Masons are only one branch of the Masonic Family. There are several others that include women.

Yeah, a lot of lodges have gone down the maga route and been kinda excommunicated. (No longer recognised as lodges of freemasonry).

Tell me that isn't the most dogshit excuse on earth. If it was racially segregated for centuries, would that also be okay?