Date: 01-10-97 (17:42)              Number: 515 of 541 (Refer# NONE)
  To: ALL
From: yollie@azstarnet.com, WILLY
Subj: Re: Are Blue Lodges Hoodwinked??
Read: (N/A)                         Status: PUBLIC MESSAGE
Conf: alt.freemasonry (12)       Read Type: GENERAL (A) (+)

Newsgroups: alt.freemasonry
Organization: Starnet
Message-ID: <yollie.204.0020C903@azstarnet.com>

Brothers,
I did not realize what I was starting when I first posted this thread.
The replies are the best I have read in a long time. Even some humor.
The R.W. Senior Grand Warden of Arizona gave a talk at a stated
meeting in Tucson this week where in he stated that Arizona is hoping
to implement opening on the first degree. This has been a dream of
mine since the first night I took my E.A. obligation and was told I
could not attend until I did the M.M. obligation. I darned near
dropped out. As many of you have said it is so important for a person
to feel he is a part of an organization and most of all wanted. I also
feel by allowing E.A. and F.C. to attend we the "old Hands" will have
a better chance to get to know them. As it is now how does one base
his vote? It seems to me we tend to vote" y" if he looks like he can
pay his dues. This is not saying much for our Fraternity.

Thanks for the imput. Good threads are the fun part of this sight,

W. E. Caldwell P.M. Nogales #11

Date: 06-18-97 (08:39)              Number: 832 of 852 (Refer# NONE)
  To: ALL
From: robertr@vnw.com, ROBERT REEDER
Subj: Re: ONE DAY Masons, a new members opinion
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Conf: alt.freemasonry (12)       Read Type: GENERAL (A) (+)

Newsgroups: alt.freemasonry
Organization: The Asymetrix Corporation
Message-ID: <33A80117.72E0@vnw.com>

Steve Crane wrote:>
>
> Robert,
>         Idaho passed such a provision last year. We can now conduct
> business on any degree at the discretion of the WM. It allows us to
> make FC and EA's part of the lodge from the very begining. The only
> restrictions are that the lodge must be opened in the highest degree in
> which it expects to labor and that all balloting must be done in the MM
> degree.
>         It is interesting to note that many GL's around the world conduct
> business in the first degree. We had a sojourner from Queensland Australia
> yesterday who was puzzled by our opening in the third. He indicated that
> most of the lodges he has visited outside the US conduct business in the
> first. The US GL's only changed from this process after the Morgan affair in
> an attempt to keep cowans out of the lodge.
>
> Steve Crane
> Lakeside Lodge #42
> Sandpoint Idaho

Hi Steve!

Another possible solution occured to me last night. Several times in the
degree work there is mention of "a Lodge of Entered Apprentice Masons"
or a "Lodge of Fellowcraft Masons". One might therefore presume that at
some point in our history, such things actually existed. If the waiting
period between degrees and the number of individuals in the lower
degrees were sufficient to warrant this, I can see this as a fairly
viable option. If you had, say, the requisite number of Entered
Apprentices to open a Lodge on that degree, EA's could fulfill the roles
of officers (script in hand, what better way to learn?), and a MM from
the initiating Lodge could likewise function as WM. The meetings could
naturally focus on education of the degree in question. Anyway, this was
my rumination on the topic last night. Any thoughts?

Robert Reeder MM
Queen Anne Lodge #242, Seattle


Date: 08-18-97 (02:07)              Number: 499423 of 504178 (Refer# NONE)
  To:
From:
Subj: PSOC Open Bar - American Masonry
Read: NO                            Status: RECEIVER ONLY
Conf: Internet E-Mail (1)        Read Type: GENERAL (+)

From:
Message-Id: <UPMAIL05.199708180532330926@msn.com>

Brother Michael Heinz,

Is not the Masonic closed bar strictly a product of the evolutionary
process with American Masonry???

Could it be that our American Masonry has evolved
much like the unique species of the Galapagos.

For example - Only in American Masonry can we find:

1.  Alcohol Free Masonry
2.  Grand Lodges requiring belief in a triune God
3.  Grand Lodges requiring belief in a revealed God
4.  Grand Lodges forbidding publishing of ritual
5.  "Working" in the Third Degree
6.  Grand Masters sponsoring ocean cruises
7.  Masonic credit cards and other commercial activities.
8.  The concept of exclusive jurisdiction
9.  The concept of clandestine masonry
10.  Black and White Masonry

It seems we are very unique in the world of Masonry.

Sincerely and fraternally




