DH is a Freemason and it makes me cringe

[YerJokin]

He takes it so seriously. He's always gone through hobby phases but he's done this for years now and takes it very seriously. He's currently on the phone discussing 'Bretheryn' and it gives me the major ick, I actually want to cry listening to it.

I've tried to stand by him as he takes it so seriously so i attend events and smile encouragingly but I can't bear it. Never knew when I married him that he wanted to do this. It's not the worst thing he could do of course but it's an old boys club and we're only in our 30s!

He has lots of friends and other hobbies so it's not even his only social outlet, no idea why he needs this in his life and treats it like a second job.

There was a Sky TV series “Inside the Freemasons” which you can view on YouTube:

Mine too. Never been a problem, and no, we don't give loads of money to it. Just the occasional (small) charitable donation. Been to some very nice dinners with some interesting people.

How to you come to those conclusions?

They tend to be bigots, a cult almost. I’d run a mile if it were my husband. It’s well known where I live they’re all weirdos in all honesty.

Yes but what are your hard facts
not hear say

Massive issue if my husband was one. Such a strange cult. Really dark and sinister too. Look into it. So creepy.

If it's voluntary that's v good & generous. Unluckily there is much coercion among at least some Mormons. I hope the money I used well.

Never let a fact get in the way of a good pitchfork wielding 😂😂

I dislike that sort of exclusivity and scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. When one of the masons meets another perhaps influential man they think might be helpful to them they try to do a funny handshake to see if it's reciprocated..

I have a couple of g
friends who’s DH are masons. No idea what they do but in 2020 the masons donated 50 million to charity…. So not all bad.

Is that just the London ones or all off the Home Counties?

I’ve had family that were Freemasons. I think it all really depends on the lodge as to what they’re like, the ones I knew where in lodges that were heavily into charity work (though the misogyny was definitely there with the older members to a degree) and even they found some lodges cringe 🤷‍♀️. If he’s into the history & charity aspect maybe suggest finding a different lodge that suits better

My ex boyfriend's dad who was very high up in the police force was a member. He used to hob nob with judges there. This is going back 20 odd years but if its still the same, how can this even be legal? It's corrupt as fuck. Also, the few people I now know who are members are selfish bigots. They are in it for themselves; the charidee side of it is just a cover.

Do you also think the golf club where a high up policeman “hob nobs” with someone who is a judge is “corrupt as fuck”? Do you ponder how golf clubs “can even be legal”?

None of that is true though is it?

Load of rubbish being written here about free masonry. There are lady freemasons and have been for over 100years! It is not secretive but has its secrets which is not the same thing. It is about moral self improvement and charity for example all the St Johns ambulance's were replaced with new ones during Covid thanks to the freemasons, no publicity was sought the deed was just done. It is certainly not a cult. What people don't know they make up bit like certain newspapers. Joining was the best thing I ever did perhaps the OP should investigate joining a local ladies lodge.

It certainly was jobs for the members in education about 25 years ago. Maybe it’s changed since then. It’s the secrecy, hierarchy and quasi religious aspects that I find somewhat unsettling. It’s certainly not comparable to any other hobby!

( if )

WomanFromTheNorth
Sorry but you really don't know what you are talking about corrupt masons are ejected every barrel has a few rotten apples such is human nature.

Met a few and had one or two to speak at events as part of their roles. Massive twatfuckery. One was an incoherent codger who couldn't string a speech together hut spent loads of time telling us how he became the mayor of a major medieval town due to the Lodge agreeing it was his turn, and he couldn't wait for his son to join as he'd get such a leg up the career ladder. Nothing good to say of the experiences I have had with them. One chap left and was hounded for years to rejoin with all sorts of weadling.

i mean, I’m quite careful to whom my views are aligned.

“The Nazis rejected Freemasonry, banning it in January 1934, partly because it was associated with Jews.
The secrecy associated with Masonic rituals has always made the organisation susceptible to conspiracy theories. The Nazis believed that the Freemasons were part of a conspiracy working against the interests of German nationalism. Criticism of Freemasons was a regular theme in Nazi propaganda – often framed in antisemitic discourse about the threat from ‘World Jewry’.
Thousands of Freemasons were persecuted by the Nazi regime and many were imprisoned in concentration camps, classed as political prisoners.”

Makes you wonder what other Nazi views are slipping their way back into common thought. I’d hate to think my views corresponded to those that saw people thrown into Nazi concentration camps.

My knowledge, gleaned from FMs who have been clients. You have to believe in a supreme being. That is essential, but that can be any God so membership is not barred to muslims or sikhs, for example. Women have had their own lodges for 100 years. The religion, professional career, wealth or other background characteristics of members are irrelevant.

The main purposes are to create mutual bonds of trust and integrity between members and, against that backdrop, to contribute to wider society from a position of unity and strength. The main objective is not to individually benefit but to individually contribute, the theory being that if the world is a better place each member and their family will incidentally be better off. There is a payback in the form of a support network, but the stories of people getting let-off from parking fines and drink-driving are at best outdated. I had to attend a meeting with a FM client and some potential investees (also FMs), but no business was done because the client did not believe in the investees' business proposals.

My ex-FIL and ex-MIL were both members, though they never went to meetings much after they retired. When they needed residential care in their 90's they went into a registered and FM run nursing home (fully fee-paying) somewhere in Berkshire where they died after receiving excellent care.

My father was a Freemason. He likened it to playing cowboys and Indians. He died when I was 7 leaving Mum with 4 children under 12. The masons assigned someone to help her financially and moral support who visited quarterly I think. They provided finacial help when we went to college in the form of an allowance. Thanks to them we all went on to gain professional qualifications.

Whoknew24
Absolute rubbish.

And yet
What charities got the vast majority of that money
The charity of Freemasons…to themselves….just like MrsScarecrow up thread and others who have posted here.
Even hmrc have looked at their so called philanthropic activities as questionable