What does this mean to you?

I doubt if I would even if approached. These organizations and clubs, Lions, Rotary, Elks etc don't really appeal to me.

 

We have masons and Buffs.
Masons have a reputation for being corrupt. If a mason in trouble speaks to a high ranking mason copper - there are no troubles any more. I would not put that down to the society, but to bent members.
I know neither masons nor buffs care for the company of women, and are in fact, quite horrified by their prescence. I know this because some needed a barrel changing in a bar I was working in, and when I politely knocked on the door, waited for an answer and told them - well, their faces - you would have thought the great noodly one was visibly floating in front of them, and telling them their wives were lady boys.
The racism may be historical. People become suspicious of private clubs.

 

No woman in Georgia can be mason. They are called eastern stars. And a man can not be a eastern star.
Yes we do some great charitable work.

 

I'm not familiar with a buff. Please explain.
Where are you from?

 

I know of the Masons. I cannot be one because I do not believe in a higher power. I did a great deal of research on them when I was in high school. After all the hooplah surrounding them, I came to the conclusion they're pretty boring.

 

There are a ton of black Masons in the military.

At least based on the rings and bumper stickers.

 

What kind of research did you do? Why?
Boring? Matter of opinion

 

I think all fraternal type clubs/organizations are boring.

But then, as Groucho Marx said, "I dont want to belong to any club that accepts people like me as a member."

 

Buffs -
Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I am in Hampshire (the old one)

 

Oh no wonder I didn't know what They were. I did notice that they were founded in 1822. That's a long time ago.
Masonic goes back to king Solomon

 

Ralphie, I was a mason some years ago, but left because I didn't have enough time to devote to the Lodge. I was very active for a few years, then I started a family and bowed out. I am at least a third generation mason and both of my grandfathers were masons. I was also an active Shriner while being a mason.

Nice to meet you brother!

 

Nice to meet you too brother.

 

Ralphie I remember my dad being active with the Masons and Shriners from when I was young. So at least 15 or 20 years before he died.

 

A friend of mine asked me if I would be interested in becoming a Mason. The closest I come to believing in a higher power is embracing Carl Sagan's notion that we are "a way for the universe to know itself." I've heard mixed opinions on whether that really counts, and I feel that it would be disingenuous and disrespectful for me as an atheist to join an organization whose core tenet is belief in a higher power based on what I see as a technicality. Local Freemasons do a lot of charity work including support for children's hospitals, so I'll gladly donate a few bucks if they're doing fundraising.

 

I do recognize the sign, in fact we have a Lodge just up the street. And from what I know (which isn't much) about the Masons I would not have immediately assumed racism by seeing the sign.

However, after reading that Women, non free-born (initially African american slaves) and handicapped people ("shall be unmutilated") can not be members I'm not so sure that the organzation as a whole is not potentially racist (or at least sexist), at least in the sense of its membership.

I did a quick search on the Internet and found the URL listed below. I have not had time to read it all and just noticed that it is mainly talking about whether Masonry is a religion or not (which I don't want to get into) But I did read the "Separate but Equal Brotherhood" section and it was pretty clear about their feelings on the Prince Hall Masons (effectively a separate branch of African American masons that are not fully recognized by "white" Mason halls). Of course this does not say that Masons go down the street being racist all the time or even any of the time and it does not really say anything about people of other ethnicities but it is an interesting perspective to see and read about.

I will look into this some more next week and try to get some other perspectives as it has peaked my curiousity how others view the Masons.

Here's the source: http://www.formermasons.org and I was reading the "Separate by Equal Brotherhood section".
--- merged: Jun 13, 2013 at 7:50 PM ---
Really quickly I wanted to read about racism from an actual Mason not an ex-Mason and I notice a website written about 8 years ago where Masons wrote in papers describing the "Problems confronting Freemasonry in the 21st Century) and one of the papers was on racism:

http://www.masonicdictionary.com/racism.html