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7breaths t1_iua3frz wrote

Reply to comment by enderandrew42 in eli5: What are freemasons and why are there so many conspiracies about them? by SovietCyka756

Almost joined a while ago, couldn't bring myself to lie and say I believed in a god. No controlling the government for me 😫

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squeevey t1_iua5iba wrote

You dont have to believe in god. From what i understand you need to believe in a "higher power". That could literally be universal physics.

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rideincircles t1_iuabgxv wrote

My neighbor was a freemason, and he made it up the ranks, but stopped at some point since he said you had to believe in the devil to keep going higher.

He has now passed away, but is the only freemason that I have known and that's what he said about it.

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dorgatus t1_iua74wx wrote

As others have said. The higher power can be anything as long as its genuinely important to you. I've heard of people using Darwins Origin of species or their respective Philosophical Book in the initiation. This directly represents your freedom of believing in anything and still be accepted as someone who wants to do good. But it's important to know beforehand that many of the moral texts are based on parts of the old testament. As a non Christian myself I see the stories for the message that is the core and accept the scaffolding surrounding it as such.

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ecwhite3516 t1_iuabf0z wrote

About as high of a power for this atheist would be the USGA Rules of Golf. I could get it with this as my philosophical book?

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Sciros t1_iuac4z0 wrote

"moral texts" don't precede moral behavior, they follow it. So I don't see the relevance here. Asia never needed an old testament.

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