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The majority of our active brothers are in their 20's and 30's.

I don't know of a single Grand Lodge that recognizes International. If you can point one out, I'll stand corrected. Someone selling their regalia simply means that someone is willing to make money from them, not that they're recognized.

Why is this in "General Freemasonry Discussion." Is Snowden a Mason?

And the UGLE in its early days renumbered so often that even their own historians can't always state with certainty which lodges have seniority. An interesting read on this is The Four Old Lodges: Founders of Modern Freemasonry and their Descendants by Robert Freke Gould. But yes, most GL's...

First, I've been discussing from the hypothetical. People have been assuming they are my positions, when I clearly have said "what about the brother who believes..." On your statement here, Bro. Stewart, I don't know about your jurisdiction, but there are very few things that are specifically...

You're absolutely correct (except UGLE formed in 1813.)

So then, there are no behaviors that are condoned by any religion, or condoned by the petitioner's own belief of what God accepts, that you would consider to be incompatible with a man becoming a Mason? Interesting.

Be generous in your analysis of their actions. A lot of brothers are not certain what they are allowed to talk about outside of a tyled lodge, so their fallback position is just not to talk about it at all.

You didn't read my hypothetical. I didn't propose a single act; I proposed a brother whose religion teaches that homosexuality is a sin, and the petitioner who is in a homosexual relationship. Thus, he is a sinner who is neither repentant nor trying not to sin in the eyes of the brother. I...

I wish we'd adopt this custom in the states, instead of the majority of the brothers wearing the ratty, wrinkled, decades old, plain white cloth aprons from the pile at the tyler's station. I have both a MM apron and a PM apron of my own.

We go dark in July and August. A good reason for that is that our very old building has no air conditioning in the second-floor Lodge room. It's usually stiflingly hot at our last June meeting. July and August would be unbearable.

My Valley gives each new member a copy of A Bridge to Light. I (and others have reported the same) found it extremely useful to read the chapter on the degrees I was about to see, then read it again afterward, to better understand what I had just gone through. Oh, wait, you're talking about...

If we apply "judge not" in entirety, then let's get rid of investigating committees and balloting. Because we surely judge during both of those. What that says is that you will be judged by the same standards you use to judge others, so you should be very careful in your judgment...

All I did was ask a question. I did not champ at the bit to run to anyone's defense. You answered my question.

That depends on jurisdiction. Up until this year, you could not hold elected office in two lodges simutaneously here in Minnesota. At GL this year, it was voted to change that to not being allowed to hold the same elected office in two lodges simultaneously.

I'd also want to know how long it has been. If it was thirty years ago (and felonies aren't automatic disqualifiers in your state) I'd balance it against the rest of the investigation. If it was within the last five years or so, I'd say no.

I'm confused here. How has WalMart defrauded workers of their wages? Do they not pay them the wages they were offered, and accepted, when they were hired? If they do, there is no defrauding. If they offer one wage and then pay a lesser one, or not pay it at all, that's defrauding.

I don't think this should start to devolve into arguing with each other. He gave his honest feelings; don't demand that he defend them. Yes, we are all sinners. We are, however, expected to repent our sins and genuinely try not to sin. In my original example of a brother who believes that...

The United Grand Lodge of England does not have authority over any Lodges other than their own. There is a question of "legitimacy of origin," where a Grand Lodge must have been constituted by Lodges that can directly trace their lineage back to the Grand Lodge of England, Grand Lodge of...

Re: Gay and Bi Brother Masons Devil's advocate question: what if a brother's religion teaches that homosexuality is a sin? Would you expect that brother to support a sinner for membership?