Some people get confused and think being a Freemason conflicts with their religious beliefs but this is not true, people of any and all religions are welcome to become Freemasons, and they do!
All Freemasons are expected to believe in God, but Freemasonry does not seek to replace a Mason’s religion or provide a substitute for it. It deals in a man’s relationship with his fellow man not in a man’s relationship with his God.
Some religions though can confuse secular rituals with religious liturgy but this is where people actually misunderstand Freemasonry and its objectives. There are many Masons who follow a religion where their religious leaders have been openly critical of Freemasons, but their leaders do not realise that actually Masonry has always actively encouraged its members to be active in their own religion.
It is true that some in the Roman Catholic Church actually think that Catholics cannot be Masons, but this is simply not true, in fact, no less than four Grand Masters of English Freemasonry have been Roman Catholics and today there are many Roman Catholic Freemasons.
In our meetings we do talk about the “Great Architect” and the “Mighty Architect” so depending on what religion is your own, you can decide for yourself who this Great Architect must be?
So what religions are represented at Grey Friars 1101? We have no idea, we do not ask or discuss, what is important they are a fellow Mason.
But what about politics? One of the joys of being a Mason is that you meet and socialise with other Masons from all ages and backgrounds and quite often different political persuasions too. Freemasonry, as a body, will never express a view on politics or state policy.
Many of us have strong political views, however due to the differences in opinions and how this could disrupt relationships, the whole subject is avoided during our meetings and Festive Board, and actually the discussion of politics at Masonic meetings has always been prohibited.
So your religious beliefs and your political persuasion are two things that are very probably very important to you, but neither will interfere with your being a Mason and Freemasonry would never interfere with your belief or politics, in fact, we won’t even discuss them, lets us instead focus on our fraternal relationships as Brethren, and with each other!
