[nopardons]

No matter WHAT you think, Freemasonry is not a religion; neither is it a cult. The ONLY reason that Catholics couldn't be be Masons, is that their church won't let them, AFTER 1738. Prior to that date, they could be and were Masons. Some have ignored the various Popes' Bulls and been Masons anyway.

Your last sentence was apples and oranges.

[Conservative til I die]

No matter WHAT you think, Freemasonry is not a religion; neither is it a cult.

I have asserted neither, sir. However, I have said there is a religious element to Freemasonry, something that other Masons and those sympathetic to Masons have indeed said. I have merely stated that a Catholic cannot be a Mason because whatever religious ideas put forth by Masons are not compatible with Catholicism.

As to whether one could be a Mason at one point and be a Catholic, I'd really have to check the history so you may indeed be right.

But if so, it doesn't change things, since the Church is not necessarily against membership in another club or group until it contradicts one's Catholicism.