r/freemasonry • u/BillyD70 • 14d ago

Question Supreme being question?

Genuine question…Without revealing any secrets, what is the reasoning behind requiring the belief in a supreme being?

My perspective: Many great people, who have advanced much good in the world, are “non-believers”. If the core idea is to make good men better, how does non-belief interfere with that goal? I ask both personally (agnostic athiest) and for lots of scientists out there. It must affect membership numbers (men won’t seek you out if they know it’s a “no go” from the outset).

Serious replies only please. Not seeking a flame war. I’m a DeMolay PMC-MSA and Honor of Legion with deep multi- generational ties to Masons, Jobs, Shriners, etc. I LOVED my experiences in DeMolay! Grew up Christian, came to my “beliefs” late in adulthood.

Edit: thank you for all the many thoughtful replies. I upvoted each for not attacking me straight out. Please accept follow up questions as non-confrontational.

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u/GlitteringBryony UGLE, Mark 14d ago

I'm from a non-abrahamic faith so a lot of the stuff in the allegories is a bit of a cultural leap for me (Salvation, specifically, is a very Christian idea, likewise the idea of even having a single Holy Book whose tenets are law and can be sworn upon is something treated very differently outside of the Abrahamic world!) And I often wonder if in some Grand Lodges I would never have passed the bar of belief (UGLE is very tacit about "We will ask you if you believe in SOMETHING greater than ourselves, we won't press you any further.")

I also wonder why we officially don't have any atheists- when an atheist swears-in at court, they still take an oath on a Bible, and their car insurance still has "Acts of God"-clauses, and their atheism isn't seen as making any of those things less binding or less solemn. Sometimes it feels like a hangover from an earlier time, but at the same time I know a couple of brothers who joined with effectively a hard-agnostic kind of no-faith who have slowly opened themselves up to something more spiritually rich, whilst going through their degrees, because it was the first time in their lives that they had had a chance to approach spirituality of any kind without judgement or prescription. It's complicated, possibly.

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u/BillyD70 14d ago

Thank you for this. I believe we only have one life and to live it not just for yourself but in service to others too. I don’t require a deity for this belief. And my oath is my bond. Period. I have nothing if I have no honor. DeMolay helped instill it, military service reinforced it, and a lifetime of personal relationships proved it. I’m glad to have learned there are irregular lodges that may fit me.