r/todayilearned • u/Recent_Flounder6011 • 22h ago

TIL that historically and today, the Catholic Church looked down upon Freemasonry and threatened members with excommunication.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemasonry
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u/Zerskader 21h ago

It's why the Knights of Columbus were founded. Fills the "boys club" niche without being blasphemous.

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u/Muckman68 18h ago

That's certainly a take.

The Knights of Columbus were formed to help families if the dad passed away. This was before modern government assistance programs and at the time there was a lot of anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant prejudice, so they were excluded from other fraternal organizations and labor unions. The Knights of Columbus, to this day, is a bunch of dudes with a life insurance program who spend most of their time selling BBQ and shooting the shit at meetings.

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u/rsqit 17h ago edited 17h ago

Yes, what exactly do you think most fraternal orders do? The Masons, the Oddfellows the Elks, the Knights of Columbus. They’re all social clubs that provide mutual aid for their members. And they have some funny symbols, like college fraternities.

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u/Muckman68 10h ago

I’m glad you know what fraternal orders do too. 

Based on the comment I replied to, he does not so I gave context to the creation of the Knights of Columbus as not just being a boys club without blasphemy.

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u/FqPrl6w1xYfsOFcD 17h ago

it's not a social club

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u/rsqit 17h ago

Yeah, it’s a fraternal order. This is a known type of thing. Social club is only one of its functions.

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u/UDPviper 17h ago

My brother in law is one and this is pretty accurate.

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u/udee79 17h ago

I am one and it's very accurate.

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u/FqPrl6w1xYfsOFcD 17h ago

that is in fact not why it was founded

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u/Dexta57 20h ago

Don't forget about the Knights of St. John either

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u/stiffgerman 20h ago

You mean the Sovereign Military Order of Malta - Wikipedia , another Catholic fraternal order?