For those who don't know,Askel15 and I have known each other for a very long time and she has ALWAYS answered my replies and we have even been on threads,for years,where we were on the same side,posting against others!
Is the appellation "SUPREME BEING" (which isn't exactly the correct term that Masons use)not the same as GOD?And if not,why not? Some Jews refuse to say GOD;they even refuse to spell it out.Should a secular,fraternal organization,in your opinion,be compelled to use a word that would offend its membership/potential membership?
When Freemasonry was begun,atheists were looked upon as not only suspect,but devoid of moral turpitude.Agnostics at least believe in the possibility/probability of GOD or,if you will,a supreme being.OTOH,I rather doubt that many agnostics have been Masons.
Freemasonry wanted/wants men of good morals and behavior for membership and people who believe in GOD,they thought/think are more probably going to be that way. Of course,there's no guarantee of that being sol,then or now.But it was,until recent times,also an historical fact that religious observance was demanded by law,in colonial America and once we became a nation;though no,not at the federal level.
You haven't a leg to stand on using the word "conceit" for others or any organization you've been libeling using spurious propaganda and your own biased musings.
Why is a secular organization making belief in a supreme being their first requirement? That's the more interesting question
You haven't a leg to stand on using the word "conceit" for others or any organization you've been libeling using spurious propaganda and your own biased musings.
The word "conceit" has more than one meaning. For instance, it can mean the same thing as "folly" ... such as the follies of the garden of Le Desert De Retz.
How does this square with the enmity toward Catholics? Surely there is no larger body of professing Christians on the planet.