Membership
Each Masonic body sets its own Membership requirements, which vary greatly. Many of these, especially those that actually confer additional Masonic degrees and orders, limit membership to Master Masons only. Others require the candidate to either be a Master Mason or have a familial relationship to one. Some require the candidate to be a Trinitarian Christian, which is more religiously specific than Craft Masonry, which accepts candidates of any faith as long as they declare a belief in a Supreme Being. Others require prior membership of other groups, or having held specific office in a group.
Membership is sometimes open, and sometimes invitational. In the United States, the York and Scottish Rites make petitions available to all Master Masons but reserve the right to reject petitioners, while other groups, such as the Knight Masons, require that one be asked to join by a current member.
Read more about this topic: Masonic Bodies
Famous quotes containing the word membership:
“The two real political parties in America are the Winners and the Losers. The people don’t acknowledge this. They claim membership in two imaginary parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, instead.”
—Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (b. 1922)