What is a Freemason??

Question

What is a Freemason??

Answer 1

Rachelle does a fairly decent job...

some additional info --- it is a social fraternity that studies morality through ritual, symbol and allegory; its main tenets are faith, hope, charity, truth, justice, temperance and brotherly love.

Answer 2

Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins (theorised to be anywhere from the time of the building of King Solomon's Temple to the mid-1600s). Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, and has millions of members. The various forms all share moral and metaphysical ideals, which include, in most cases, a constitutional declaration of belief in a Supreme Being.

Generally, to be a regular Freemason, a candidate must:

- Be a man who comes of his own free will.

- Believe in a Supreme Being. (The form of which is left to open interpretation by the candidate)

- Be at least the minimum age (18–25 years old depending on the jurisdiction).

- Be of good morals, and of good reputation.

- Be of sound mind and body (Lodges had in the past denied membership to a man because of a physical disability, however, now, if a potential candidate says a disability will not cause problems, it will not be held against him).

- Be free-born (or "born free", i.e. not born a slave or bondsman). As with the previous, this is entirely an historical holdover, and can be interpreted in the same manner as it is in the context of being entitled to write a will. Some jurisdictions have removed this requirement.

- Have character references, as well as one or two references from current Masons, depending on jurisdiction.

Read more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemasonry

Answer 3

Some good info above - just a clarification... Freemasonry is the practice of speculative Masonry, the peculiar system of morality veiled in allegory, and illustrated by symbols.

The craft of operative masonry, the building of structures with stones (or currently bricks and mortar) is something separate.

Freemasons use symbolic reference to some activities, tools, and principles used by operative masons in their explanations and illustrations of moral lessons.

This is an excellent source of information on Freemasonry.

http://www.masonicinfo.com/primer.htm

The wiki entry posted beforehand is good, as well.

Answer 4

Answer 1 is great, just to add, many of the founders of the United States were Freemasons.  The organization still exists and is open to anyone regardless of race or religion (a belief in G-d is required),  The book "The Da Vinchi code" is based loosely on these Freemasons.  They also run hospitoals and retirement homes for there members.

Answer 5

it started as a meeting place in a pub for stone masons to meet and bs and drink ahahahaha but turned into a bit more as more ppl became interested. they now have a huge list of members. millions worldwide who have put much money into the upper echelons of the freemasons for what even the lower echelons dont know. but its a place where they can share thoughts not officially shared in the public eyes. such as science, philosphical  ideals of politcal rulings and alchemy in a time when ppl would have had them put to death for going against the church and its iron hand rules. and it just seemed to continue as a place to meet like minded ppl who share thoughts and ideas. and socialize

actually only a very very small handful of our founding fathers were freemasons that is a myth. sorry to burst ur bubble there.

Answer 6

They are known around the world. They do good things

Answer 7

freemason is a misnomer for an expensive plasterer with yuppy notions