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Original poster

My husband is thinking about joining the Masons and I am horrified

280 replies

SovietTrumpet · 20/12/2021 18:35

I hate boys’ clubs and silly rituals etc and doing each other favours. He thinks it will help him at work. Arguments please against and in favour…

OP posts:
Broads93 · 20/12/2021 21:20

Ahh the elite group of misogynistic incels.
I hope you don't have daughters that's all I can say.

CathyorClaire · 20/12/2021 21:21

@ClaudiaJ1

And what is Christianity if not a load of strange rituals? Go to any church, whether CofE or Catholic, and the traditions and rituals at mass is as old as time.
Never thought I'd be defending them but Christian churches are upfront and open about their rituals which in turn are open to all.

No rolled up trousers and exposed left breasts required. Even for women.

ClaudiaJ1 · 20/12/2021 21:22

@pantherrose

What the heck has climate change got to do with it? I suspect you are trolling and here to disrupt the thread.
It has everything to do with it if a person pretends to be a Christian but doesn't care about the state of the planet that Christ created.
DingleyDel · 20/12/2021 21:24

@MargaretHooper

Well if it's all about charity, OP's husband is going to be sadly disappointed, as that's not his motivation in wanting to join!
Very good point!
Shehasadiamondinthesky · 20/12/2021 21:24

Id be "horrified" if my husband was joining the national front.
Not sure what's horrifying about the masons. Its no worse than the boy scouts.
A lot of people have preconceived ideas about these groups which are not accurate.

Thelnebriati · 20/12/2021 21:26

He thinks it will help him at work.
The only way he could think it would help him at work is if someone has told him joining the Lodge will help him progress and make contacts, and he doesn't see that as a red flag.

CathyorClaire · 20/12/2021 21:26

A lot of people have preconceived ideas about these groups which are not accurate

Do elaborate.

TimTeleporter · 20/12/2021 21:27

It probably will help him with work. I can't see the problem personally. Let him get on with it

Barbarantia · 20/12/2021 21:27

Hmm sounds like a boy's club which excludes poor boys.
Their charity isn't from them giving because it is needed but because they are in a privileged position to be able to.
Sounds like elitist nepotism but hey ho if they are doing good for the community apparently we need to turn a blind eye to whatever goes on under the hood.

Luredbyapomegranate · 20/12/2021 21:30

I don’t know if he’s right about that, they are dying out - dozens of lodges closing every year - 5 times as many over 80s as under 30s etc.

My grandfather and my father were masons, it is a leg up boys club, and very naff, and that’s before we get into the sexism and racism.

HeronLanyon · 20/12/2021 21:31

Secret Freemasons should have no place in public life

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/05/freemasons-masons?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Toomanyradishes · 20/12/2021 21:32

This is laughable. You actually need to be a Christian to join the Freemasons, they don't accept atheists. So of course it is compatible with Christianity!

Thats not really how it works you know. Not specifically about masons but an organisation cant decide it will only admit christians and that automatically means its compatible with christianity, its the other way round, christianity gets to decide whats compatible.

Thats not including the fact that christianity is not one homogeneous mass, what the pope thinks is compatible wont necessarily be what quakers think are compatible, or calvanistic methodists, or Jehovahs witnesses etc etc

I could set up a family planning clinic only for christians but the pope still probably wouldnt turn up to cut the ribbon

MiladyBerserko · 20/12/2021 21:35

Catholics not quite welcome either.

pantherrose · 20/12/2021 21:36

You’ve lost me I’m afraid, I’ve no idea what you are referring to and why you are linking Christianity to climate change on a thread where OP has concerns about her husband joining the Freemasons.

Moolia · 20/12/2021 21:39

@Bonnealle

Also, the whole ‘charity’ thing as an argument is ridiculous. Anyone can donate to charity. It’s the best cover up there is, whilst also helping to offset tax. There are so many undesirable/dodgy organisations that have a cop out of ‘donating to charity’. If you feel that strongly about charity, donate yourself. Don’t leave it up to an inherently misogynistic organisation to do it for you.
Agree. Just look at Jimmy Saville.
Bluntness100 · 20/12/2021 21:46

Honestly it’s so so cringe. I cant believe folks are posting it’s just some rituals and secrets and they have lady masons like that’s not remotely cringe 🤣🤣🤣

It’s no place in todays society and is slowly dying out.

My BIL keeps getting asked and to be fair he’s been to a couple of their social events but won’t do it, join, it’s just too daft for words. They really seriously do rituals and they really do have “secrets” apparently.

It was a huge thing in the seventies and eighties though. Like leg warmers and rara skirts.

logsonlogsoff · 20/12/2021 21:47

Good friends DP is a mason, funny apron,
Knife and all that. Can confirm that he is an upper
Class, white, banker twat with very old
Fashioned views about race, gay people
Women as are the majority of his Mason friends.
It’s all funny handshakes, jobs for the boys, and doing ‘favours’ for one another that many would
Consider illegal.

Nanny0gg · 20/12/2021 21:47

@reallyworriedjobhunter

Isn't the WI quite different to the Masons? Not as much pretend mystic ritual?
We do wear aprons sometimes... Grin
CathyorClaire · 20/12/2021 21:48

You actually need to be a Christian to join the Freemasons

No you don't. You just need to admit the authority of the 'Great Architect Of The Universe' Hmm which leaves membership open to pretty much anyone but atheists.

iwanttobeonleave · 20/12/2021 21:49

@reallyworriedjobhunter

Isn't the WI quite different to the Masons? Not as much pretend mystic ritual?
Yes!! Completely different.
logsonlogsoff · 20/12/2021 21:50

She hates him being a Mason but he was
one before they metAs was his father and his father before him etc.
Also as she is his mistress ( wife and kids in the country, mistress in the city seems to be the norm with his mates) she has less sway than his wife who is happy for him to be one as she thinks it means he spends evenings at the lodge rather than at his city flat with a girlfriend

Nanny0gg · 20/12/2021 21:50

@TwilightSkies

Are there any non-white Masons?
Yes.

There was a series a few years back about the Masons. Very interesting.

I'm not saying it's totally diverse, but there are people of colour and also women's lodges

SammyScrounge · 20/12/2021 21:50

@TulipsGarden

I would also be horrified. My FIL was a Mason. They're misogynistic, racist fools who are stuck in the 1970s and exert far too much pressure on public life.
My Dad was a mason and neither he, nor his friends, were anything like that. And they threw the best children's Xmas parties in town.
Nanny0gg · 20/12/2021 21:55

@youvegottenminuteslynn

Why do they need the logo on the ambulances then *@Lorw*? It implies they need to see themselves congratulated for their charity work. Which means it's ego led rather than actually altruistic.
It's not unusual to advertise like that. Sunshine buses Variety Club Rotary etc
Nanny0gg · 20/12/2021 21:57

@CathyorClaire

Overgrown boy's club. They haven't shaken their back-hander, leg up for the boys,high-fiving the judge from the defendant's box ever despite all the 'behind the doors' documentaries they've made which tells you something.

In addition everything I've read or seen about the Masons points to the charitable funds raised going overwhelmingly to Masonic charities.

Well, if you raise funds for the local hospice, that's where they go.