Wow, looks like I missed an interesting exchange.  In my jurisdiction we refer to the requirement as monotheistic.  Also we do not "ask" anyone to be a member, but we can talk about Freemasonry and answer question that were are allowed to.  If the profane cannot meet a simple requirement then maybe they should look to a moose lodge or Kiwanis for civic fulfilment.  AF&AM, F&AM, and PHA will not drop the requirement that a petitioner must believe in God (your pick) as it is a fundamental of our work.  Freemasons are steeped in tradition, empires have risen and fallen within Freemasons longevity.  We are not going to change, for you.   If a Person cannot meet our requirements, then Freemansonry is not the fraternity for that person.

Ps: if you find a Masonic lodge like the Grand Orient of France where atheists, & women are allowed then super for you.  Just be advised, it has nothing to do with us, and is considered clandestine.  You would never be recognized as a Freemason outside those doors.  Whereas I can travel the world.  

This was said, not to trifle with your feelings, but to impress upon you...  Like the military, biker gangs and Freemasonry we are conformist organisations.  Not the other way around.  It then becomes simple, it either is or is not a fit for you.

Freemasonry is system morality, vailed in allegory, and illustrated by symbols. (I just wanted to throw that in for old time sakes)

Thank you for your time and attention, Aza

You take oaths, you need to believe in being accountable to something

So how does one find out about local masons? I have always wondered about them but never actually known one. I am a Christian and would like to learn more.

Fill out this form someone will be in contact with you be mindful of the covid stuff they might not get back to you a timely manner because of that

https://www.grandlodge-nc.org/districts-lodges
You can also check to see which lodge is closest to you and contact someone at the lodge. My first point of contact was the secretary, but again as said above me with COVID the answer could take a little while to get back to you.

We're meeting again in TN again so maybe it won't be long

The only issue I see with this approach in general is that every religion thinks they are right and the others are all false (except universalism, which has it's own set of problems that can't be reconciled). So for the Buddhist member, in his mind, the oath the Muslim guy took is actually hollow because the higher power the oath was sworn to doesn't actually exist. I realize you guys overlook that little detail, but its there nonetheless. As long as everybody agrees to overlook that, it works.

Why does that seem strange? Non religious people can be virtuous if they so choose. What is preventing that? Religion isn't just about producing virtue. It has many other goals depending on the religion. You are watering it down if thats all you think of it.

The problem you will always have that others don't is that your ethics or "morals" are not grounded in anything. Since you don't believe in a higher power to which you are accountable for moral laws, all of your morals are subjective. They can never be objective, because there is no moral lawgiver above the human level. This makes you a liability to an organization that requires moral stability of its members.

Even your definition of integrity could sway with cultural norms. Six million (actually probably more) Jews were murdered because one group of people thought they were doing the virtuous thing in their society. Now we think it was horrible. What changed? Was the act actually wrong or did culture just change? If it was wrong, what objective moral law, based on something higher than human law was violated?

A religious person can answer this within their worldview. An atheist or agnostic can't without being intellectually dishonest about what "objective" means...

That matters to Masons.

ETA: sorry...old thread. Didn't notice at first.

What you seem to be overlooking is that what’s important is that the individual be accountable to a higher power. His oath vow whatever is what guides him and what others believe is irrelevant. That is the moral guide they choose to use. They dint need the whole group to believe the same thing they simply need them to believe they will be held responsible for their actions by their own system.

That’s how I take it as a non Mason.

Not all jurisdictions allow Buddhists for that very reason.

Some do and overlook it. I know there's a Buddhist in a lodge in my area. Funny guy. His mom has cooked us all dinner once and it was amazing.

Trolling is when people are deliberately trying to provoke aggressive reactions for the sake of provoking aggressive reactions. Just because you don't like what he said doesn't mean it's trolling. Beliefs aren't people, and your beliefs aren't entitled to not be criticized. That was a rather childish thing you did, beer slayer.

Seems like the critical detail here is whether or not they're being held accountable for how they live, rather than whether the thing holding them accountable is a sentient being or just a way the universe is structured.

The Buddhist concept of karma, wherein they believe people are reincarnated into better or worse lives as reward or punishment depending on how they behaved in the previous life, is a perfectly comparable system to the Judeo-Christian heaven/hell dynamic. Both belief systems involve a cosmic force that either rewards or punishes you after you die in accordance for how you conducted yourself.

As almost all folks do, I think.

The overwhelming majority of religious people don't actually functionally believe their own religion. It functions as an objective basis for the social values and norms that they've already decided they want to follow for reasons that come from outside the religion.

Various things we think of as being christian values are good because they're conductive to a cohesive and stable society. The social stigma against hook up culture, the value of keeping sex within marriage or at least within serious monogamous relationships where partners are actually committed to eachother, the value of having a tight knit local community, the importance of charity and compassion, are all values and norms that make for a stable and prosperous society by overriding our primal animal nature and the chaotic misery-inducing habits that come with it.

That's why the overwhelming majority of religious people are so. Because supernatural forces provide a firm and undebatable foundation for the social norms and values that are conductive to the kind of society they want to live in. But they don't, by and large, actually sincerely believe in the supernatural parts of the belief system. They go through the motions to the extent they need to in order to maintain the pretense, both to convince others and themselves, that they actually believe their own beliefs. But they aren't actually sincerely expecting to be judged by any sort of omnipotent supernatural being for their actions or to spend eternity in any sort of parallel dimension according to that judgement. The human mind is deeply partitionable.