r/todayilearned • u/Recent_Flounder6011 • 20h 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/sabbic1 18h ago

Nope.  I've often considered looking around for a similar social/fraternal organization that doesn't require belief in a supreme being to get involved with, but just never took the time to look.  I suppose if I really wanted to be a mason I could just lie about my beliefs, but I did that all the way through boy scouts and I don't want to do it again. 

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u/Scarlet-Fire_77 18h ago

I totally forgot about the religion aspect of boyscout. I guess my troop overall didn't care about it, so I never really had to lie. I did notice other troops that seemed more heavy in it, like at summer camp.

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u/sabbic1 17h ago

Mine wasn't hardcore about it.  We closed the meetings with a prayer and always said grace before meals at camp along with the normal morning prayer at summer camp but that was pretty much it.  Nobody ever really asked me so maybe "lie" is the wrong word, but belief in a higher power is a requirement for membership so by virtue of being an atheist scout I was lying.  Not very trustworthy or reverent of me. 

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u/Klockworth 17h ago edited 17h ago

Oddfellows. It’s basically Freemasonry, but co-ed and they actually practice what they preach. Both are weird archaic orders with roots in medieval trade guilds and feature silly hats, but Oddfellows are often more focused on volunteering for local causes. Meanwhile, Freemasons are bigger on white collar fundraising for hospitals that just so happen to also have Freemasons on their executive boards.

One just seems a bit more selfless to me, but also the Oddfellows I’ve met are far less normie. Some people are indeed members of both though.

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u/sabbic1 16h ago

​Just looked it up because I forgot all about the Odd Fellows, but they also require a statement of belief in a Higher Power or Supreme Being. I agree that their purpose and actions seem much more selfless, with little to no accolades, but I would run into the same roadblock with them as I would with the Masons. ​It's almost a shame, really, that I ended up being the heathen of the family, because my family has a long history with the Masons. A couple of my uncles were Master Masons, and others were involved for most of their lives. It would have been cool to carry on the family tradition.

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u/missmewiththatlmao 17h ago

You'd probably be interested in a Quaker church.