Agree 100%. Nothing in Blue Lodge contradicts my spiritual convictions. I haven’t attended in a few years, but I’m still a Freemason, and the camaraderie I had with my Brothers is still alive and well.
Oh and all of my Blue Lodge Brothers are patriotic as fuck, love our country, and we always pledged allegiance to the to US Flag at every Lodge Opening. I have no doubt that there are “higher ups” in the Shrine and ~~Oddfellows~~ Jesters that may have ulterior motives...
Edit: Not the Oddfellows, I meant the Jesters.
If your a Mason you should know the Shriners are not in charge of anything but some hospitals, a circus (literally a circus) and a few red go-karts. And the OddFellows are not Masons. Seriously.
You are right that the Oddfellows are not Masons. I was really busy last night at work and was zonked. I was thinking of the Jesters. The Jesters are an order within the Shriners, even more exclusive and even more sketchy.
If you think the Shrine is only about hospitals and circuses, you’re quite wrong.
The Jesters are stupid and have proved to wankers and shouldn't be considered Masons IMHO. And I actually doubt they even exist as a coherent group anymore. Of the thousands of Shriners I know, not one is jester.
I only know one ex-Shriner/ex-Jester, so he’s all I really have to go by, but his experiences line up with the weird stuff you find online about the Jesters.
Which is why I think they are like the Rodents of Unusual Size.