Sure it is. It's hard to take Communion that way, though. About the Freemasonry thing. I imagine you get around a lot in your industry, Red. Have you ever run into Freemasons personally, in the scientific community? I know they are supposed to be involved in banking and gov't. Was just curious if there are any famous Masonic scientists.
The Catholic Church's primary objections to freemasonry is not that it is atheistic. It is that it is pan-theistic pagan system of worship which contridicts Church teaching. Freemasonry condemns atheism, its main principle is belief in the architecht, an ambiguous creator god. Protestants object to freemasonry as an occultist/satanic angle. Maybe you are confusing your conspiracies. In any note my grandfather was a high ranking mason before he became Catholic. He used to try and scare us by telling us about strange rituals, but really all the masons did was drink beer at their lodge. I still have his mason sword, tuxedo and book. There is nothing peculiar about any of it. Just a bunch of jibberish.
There are Freemasons everywhere. Most are inactive. Like many fraternal organizations, it gets boring after a while. Yes, freemasons collude in business, help each other, even to evade the law, and have a giant network. But so do many groups including the church, the unions, and big corporations. Not too many scientists are freemasons, to my knowledge. Too much religion, ritual, and secrecy for people inclined to be straightforward, practical, and open. Then again, they wear funny robes and mortarboards and invoke dead languages on occasion to celebrate the spending of small fortunes on small pieces of imitation parchment.
I meant that the Masons seem like a good way to further your career prospects if you have no religious obligations to the contrary. Otherwise your post is correct. I would also say it is certainly possible at the upper levels of masonry that they are occultist/satanic. You would never know the difference from the local lodge members.
Except my grandfather was one of those dudes. He was a master or wizard or something like that. Those dudes drank beer and played darts. They didn't conspire to topple world governments.
I dunno. He was on the national council for a time. He had a pretty awesome sword. All of his masonic items fell into my hands. Most of the secret mason papers were about whose wife was going to make the potato salad at the next meeting. He was a Scottish rite mason if that means anything to you. From what I remember to get the degrees you had to go to an afternoon long presentation at the lodge. It wasn't that big a deal.
crime rate is higher in br and new orleans im pretty sure even though its not the heartland. priests are weird because they make a vow of celibacy. goes against human nature/condition. and it eventually rears its ugly head (both operative words).
