The Masonic Ring

@swirlie I know that. I am asking the poster though

@revenant In the English constitution ceremonies it stands for 'God.' I have sometimes heard it suggested it can stand for geomatry.

@BritishPerson yes but it might be the first letter also of another character.

@swirlie not at all

@swirlie I am not a freemason and know no3body who is but if the poster does not know what I think.......am having doubts.

@swirlie yeah. I do not think there is anything sinister about them. They also built cathedrals

@swirlie Character as in the kind of person someone is. Someone already has to be of good character before joining and Freemasonry seeks to further develop and improve the person. We have the symbols of the rough and smoother ashlar stones in Freemasonry which represent this idea.

@swirlie lots of people do.

@swirlie I guess so. There are masonic symbols all over the place if you pay attention.

@swirlie Freemasonry has its roots in medieval stonemasonry. There were stonemason guilds who met together and they proved themselves qualified through secret signs, grips, and words. The secret signs, grips, and passwords we use today hark back to that. The details of the process are unclear but over time men who were not actual stonemasons joined these lodges and they developed into what we are today. In our ceremonies, we are presented with certain working tools used by actual stonemasons and it is said, "As we are not all operative Masons, but rather free and accepted or speculative, we apply these tools to our morals." We use the symbolism of building as an analogy for building our own characters.

As for the occupations of Freemasons, we have members from every walk of life. At a meeting I went to last weekend I met a young plumber. I have quite a few teachers or former teachers in my lodge, a guy involved in computer programming, a few guys in the film industry, and a bus driver. There is no reason why a member couldn't work somewhere like Walmart. The only requirements are that you are of good character, the right gender (depending on which order you're trying to join) and believe in a supreme being.

@swirlie like any group or community out there, they help each other out.

@swirlie I have heard stories like that before but that kind of thing is forbidden in Freemasonry. It certainly is in the UGLE. It is unMasonic to use your membership to unfairly disadvantage others. If you are found to be doing so, you can be kicked out. I suppose what could happen is that someone might give work to someone in their lodge because they are someone they know and trust. That could happen anywhere though, not just in Freemasonry. The same Mason might give work to someone they know and trust from a different setting too.

@swirlie I would not know about the last part. I am not one and do not know anyone who is so..

@swirlie I don't know any Freemasons who have the attitude you just described. Absolutely everyone I know would find the idea of making sure someone goes bankrupt to be completely abhorrent. One of our central values is charity. I wouldn't want to be part of an organisation like the one you just described there. Thankfully, it's not the reality.

@swirlie I haven't been a Freemason for very long and I am still very much in the process of learning but I still find it more than a little amusing when people who haven't even been initiated tell me that they know what Freemasonry is about better than I do.

Since being initiated just over a year ago I have come to see just how much of a force for good we are. I didn't believe all the garbage claims about Freemasonry when I joined but now, it is just utterly inconceivable to me that Freemasonry would be involved in committing and covering up crime or making someone go bankrupt as you claimed. We couldn't be more diametrically opposed to such things.