to be suspicious of freemasons?

[wheelsonthefeckingbus]

My brother is a member and wants DH to join. Dh isn't interested anyway, but I did have a bit of a debate with DB recently. The problem is that because it is a secretive society, it's very hard to get ammunition to argue.

Would it be true to say that they are

elistist? after all only certain people can join.
nepotistic? there is an element of "helping" each other - ie. members of that elite
patriarchal? although women can join a separate group
homophobic?
have some sort of mumbo jumbo religious element?

DB say that they "do a lot for charity" but he doesn't have to join a secret society and roll up his trouser leg to be charitable.

Any comments?

'Other opinions have been well founded and can be explained by personal taste.'

Was can a typo?
Because there are serious philosophical objections to Freemasonry from feminism and from other organised religions, that have nothing to do with 'personal taste', as well as secular objections that are concerned with the backscratching element.

I think you can find people to complain about the Catholic church on grounds of paedophilia. Give me a man wearing a daft apron scratching another adult man's back any day..........

I refer to the Catholic Church more frequently than to other Christian churches because I'm a Catholic and I am more familiar with Catholic views on Freemasonry. But opposition to Freemasonry is not confined to the Catholic Church. Here's a sample of opinions:

'Church of Scotland
"In our view total obedience to Christ precludes joining any organisation such as the Masonic movement which seems to demand a wholehearted allegiance to itself, and at the same time refuses to divulge all that is involved in that allegiance prior to joining... The initiate is required to commit himself to Masonry in a way that a Christian only should commit himself to Christ."
(COS Panel on Doctrine, 1965)'

'The Free Church of Scotland
"... in the minds of the committee, according to their interpretations of the Scriptures, membership of Freemasonry... is inconsistent with a profession of the Christian faith." '

'Church of England
"There are a number of very fundamental reasons to question the compatibility of Freemasonry with Christianity."
(High Anglican Church of England Synod, official publication "Freemasonry & Christianity: Are They Compatible?" page 40, July 1987). '

'Russian Orthodox Church
"The Church does not worship the god that is worshipped in Masonic temples... Masonry is a spiritual disease and is a rival of the Church as a moral guide. It declares that it is not a religion and yet claims to be religious... Since Masonry rejects the divinity of Jesus Christ and places Him on an equal level with founders of other religions, every Christian should stop and realise the implications of Masonry to his Christian faith."
("Masonry or Christ", an official publication of the Russian Orthodox Church.)'

'Lutheran Church
"Masonry is guilty of idolatry. Its worship and prayers are idol worship. The Masons may not with their hands have made an idol out of gold, silver, wood or stone, but they created one with their own mind and reason out of purely human thoughts and ideas. The latter is an idol no less than the former."
Report of the Lutheran Church "The Northwestern Lutheran," p. 281 31/8/1958'

"The origins of Freemasonary can be traced back to Egypt. They adopted their mysteries, and their rituals are based on Egyptian rituals. My question is this, and I have posed this to many Freemasons, (but no one has ever been able to answer it), The original mysteries are based on 360 degrees of knowledge. Freemasonary only goes to 33 degrees. Why?

PS - I know the answer.

Thanks in advance,

SA"

Becuase no-one knows what the fuck you're talking about?