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I have a very close Brother who I get the same gist from. The part about if you oppose gay marriage you are a bigot and if you do you are tolerant stuff. To me, he seems a little defensive. I think most folks understand and respect the views of folks who simply define marriage as between a...

It seems to me Arkansas Grand Lodge put the Shrine in that state over a barrel. How could they survive if the GL effectively banned it in the state? I hope and pray that this has the opposite effect that people think it will. Because now we will get to see the results, in numbers. We'll see...

I suppose for me I just don't think it is a choice. Folks are just wired that way. That is my read after observing the gay folks I know and whatnot, and it is bolstered by what they themselves say about it. Therefor I don't see it as a moral issue or sonething to "reform" from, if you will...

I started out with Atari 2600, ran a BBS with TW, LORD and all that kind of stuff - was a MUD coder, beta tester for Ultima Online, built maps for Quake, and have been a (very large) corp leader in Eve, guild leader in so many games I'm embarrassed and on and on. Was lead administrator (sort...

*shrug, the folks I know of same sex persuasion use the word "gay", but it doesn't hurt to go the extra mile to be sensitive about it I reckon. By the way, the first real exposure I had to the issue was while working for Chevron as a web developer years ago. I pulled a project redoing their...

Re: Gay and Bi Brother Masons I know gay Masons. Some it is an open secret. Some I was the first, and for a while the only Brother they told. Not only do I have no problem with it, I would go to bat for them and fight the good fight for them if it ever came down to that. One in particular...

Certainly. My attorney, for one, is a Brother Mason and serves with me as an officer in my lodge. I cannot tell you what a sense of well being that gave me while going through probate. To just *know* that he'd treat me fairly, do everything he could on my behalf, and that he was exceedingly...

It doesn't take much of a person's time to just join appendant bodies. Serving as a leader in one generally does. But really, simply joining YR, SR, and the Shrine can be done pretty simply and with only a few meetings and so forth. Attending each would be a small number of days per month...

Thats a tough situation. I've been married twice, but married something like 98% of my adult life so I may be a bad person to give advice here.....but for me, if I was dating, I'd pick up the tab no questions asked. But expect it to be Dutch if it was an exclusive relationship and the lady was...

I've been caught off guard a few times by Masons recognizing my affiliation and giving me a grip, or asking me "How long have you been travelling, Brother?". The first time I was given the grip I about jumped out of my socks, it was a fellow who I would not have expected at all - was a great...

In addition to dues/endowment costs, how many times per year will the lodge meet? Monthly? Quarterly? I think this would be a great way to raise awareness for the Texas Masonic Retirement Home - make a "pilgrimage" there a few times a year. Another question - about the TMRC. I see that in...

Thanks for the kind words, Brother. As this year's Senior Deacon, I think its safe to say that I'm serious business bordering on fire and brimstone during the degrees. I'm a speak from the diaphragm sort of fellow and they say they can hear me clearly clear into the lodge room during the...

G.A.O.T.U. (Grand Architect of the Universe) used to be referred to as G.O.A.T. (God of All Things) back in the day, for one thing. There are extremes to everything. If the joke is carried too far on one hand, or if people are so up tight about the actual degree that they can't see that the...

Love that, Brother Josh, and its how I see it as well.

Thats probably true. I was just hoping to come at the undercurrent that Islam is an inherently negative religion in some posts here from other tangents, but I agree I was all over the place. So to focus - do you believe a man can become a good man through Islam? Salvation is something else...

I don't feel this push, but then again, I am a Deist and not a Christian. It is why I am a Unitarian Universalist, which holds very similar views as Freemasonry itself does - equality of all religions. For me, personally, God takes no special favorites and there is no one chosen people. So...

Well, I hate to be contrary - but there is another potential reason. He didn't like the looks of you, something rubbed him wrong in your conversation with him, or he had already formed an opinion of you that made you being made a Mason a thought he couldn't stomach. Sorry, but thats...

We may not be able to discuss the ritual, but we can pry each other's ribs recipes out of each other sure enough!! :beer:

The second highest recipient of US foreign aid is Israel. 1st and 3rd are Afghanistan and Iraq, respectively. Folks who believe we can effectively occupy a country and then not lend a hand with roads, schools, and so forth as we extract ourselves I'm not sure what to tell them. It is one of...

I mentioned this to some fellas, but I think there is some karma to veteran's services. Its the sort of thing that even the most conservative sort of men in a lodge can get behind. As is stuff that reach out to the local Police. Someone mentioned the Wounded Warrior Project...