The United States is becoming increasingly non-Christian. Countless stories have been written about the rise of the NONES — people who have no religious affiliation. Add to this number atheists, agnostics, humanists, practitioners of earth-based religions, and people generally indifferent towards religion, and it seems, at least numerically, that the United States is well on its way to a secular or non-Christian majority. Worse yet for religionists is the fact that many people who claim to “believe” rarely attend church. Take the Southern Baptist Convention — the largest Protestant denomination in the United States. On any given Sunday, two-thirds of Southern Baptists are somewhere other than the churches they call home. And Roman Catholics? Most American Catholics attend mass occasionally, often only on major religious holidays. It seems, at least to me, that there is little difference between Christians and atheists these days. Both are sitting home on Sundays, and both pay little attention to matters of faith.
I have had some thoughts about joining a local fraternal organization. There are three main fraternal organizations in rural northwest Ohio: the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (Defiance Lodge #147), Loyal Order of Moose (Bryan Lodge 1064 and Defiance Lodge 2094), and the Fraternal Order of Eagles (Defiance FOE Aerie 372, Bryan FOE 2233). I know people who belong to each of these groups. My grandmother, the late Jeanette Rausch, was a member of the Bryan Moose for decades. As a child, she would take me and my siblings to holiday events at the Moose. All I remember about these events is that I came away with lots of candy. Well, that and Grandma spending a lot of time at the bar.
Not knowing how one becomes a member of one of these fraternal organizations, I consulted God — also known as Google — to see what was required to become a member. I quickly learned that atheists, agnostics, and humanists are not eligible to become members. That’s right, in a day of increasing religious indifference and secularism, the Moose, Elks, and Eagles require members to believe in God.
The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks website states the following requirements for prospective new members:
The Order is a non-political, non-sectarian and strictly American fraternity. Proposal for membership in the Order is only by invitation of a member in good standing. To be accepted as a member, one must be an American citizen, believe in God, be of good moral character and be at least 21 years old.
According to reference.com, to become a member of The Loyal Order of Moose you must meet the following requirements:
To qualify for membership in the Moose Lodge, a registered member must sponsor you. In addition, you must meet the basic requirements and some background qualifications provided in the membership charter.
To qualify for membership, you must be at least 21 years old and be of unquestionable moral conduct. Regardless of religious denomination, you must profess belief in a supreme being. After expulsion from one lodge, you must be granted a special dispensation to join another; otherwise, you do not qualify.
The Moose Lodge denies membership for individuals who are members of subversive groups or terrorist organizations. In addition, you do not qualify if you are a sex offender or a felon.
Finally, to become a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, a prospect must meet the following membership requirements:
To be eligible for membership in the Fraternal Order of Eagles, you must be a citizen of the United States or Canada over the age of 18 who believes in God.
You must be sponsored by two members of a Fraternal Order of Eagles Aerie or Auxiliary. The Eagle member who proposes you for membership must obtain a membership application from the Aerie or Auxiliary secretary. Fill out the application for membership and submit the completed application to the Aerie or Auxiliary secretary.
Your application will be read at a regular Aerie/Auxiliary meeting and you will be interviewed by the local membership committee. After the interview is concluded, the committee will report to the Aerie/Auxiliary concerning their recommendation of your membership.
When the vote is concluded, you will be notified and asked to present yourself for the Fraternal Order of Eagles Initiation Ritual. The Ritual is a set of rules by which Eagles are to conduct themselves not only in the confines of the Aerie, but in life in general. It’s one of the most outstanding models for living a good and useful life. It was designed to teach candidates for membership the highest standards of human conduct expected of us. (From the Medina, Ohio FOE website)
I suspect these fraternal organizations need new members, especially younger members. I also suspect waiving the “belief in God’ requirement would offend older Christian members, but doing so might be the only way to attract younger prospective members. Paying attention to changing demographics is crucial if membership groups — be they fraternal organizations, service clubs, or churches — expect to thrive in the twenty-first century. An unwillingness to adapt to societal change is a sure path to decline and death. The answer is not for atheists/agnostics/humanists to start their own fraternal groups. We need less fragmentation, not more. The Moose, Elks, and Eagles need to rethink who it is they want for members. While I can’t confess belief in God, I can say that I am a moral, ethical man. Surely, that should be enough for any of us to share a beer or join together to help our local communities.
Are you a member of a fraternal organization? Are you an atheist or a non-Christian? Were you aware that fraternal groups require members to believe in God? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comment section.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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i have always been intrigued by the masons – my grandfather was a mason. they said i don’t have to believe in “god”, but i do have to believe in a “supreme being”… and then, in the next breath, they held a “prayer” where about half of the postulants were praising “jeezis”… i don’t think i’d get along with them too well…
also, a few years ago, i postulated to E Clampus Vitus, otherwise known as the “clampers”, which describes itself as EITHER a historical drinking society, or a drinking historical society… which sounds like it would be right up my alley. ? but, on the night i was to be presented, i made the mistake of wearing a red shirt, and only accepted clampers are allowed to wear red shirts to clamper meetings, so i was not accepted… but, if the other people who were waiting to be presented are any indication, i’m pretty sure i wouldn’t have gotten along well with those folks, either.
i belong to a troupe of musicians, artists, and performers, and we get together frequently to plan and rehearse, and we give public performances on a regular basis… just like a fraternal society (except we allow women to join, as well?)… the only thing we don’t have are funny hats that are all the same.
oh well… ??♂️
My brother-in-law who is not an open atheist but couldn’t care less about religion is an Elk, mostly so his family has the club with the pool they can use in the summer. Somehow he got around the religious thing. I know that the Boy Scouts has a religious component, and fortunately my son was too busy for sports to be interested in Scouts. Plus, my daughter found Girl Scouts insufferable due to poor leadership so we didn’t bother with Boy Scouts. My husband and I aren’t very much into joining things, so it never occurred to us that so many of those organizations require a belief in a deity. Whose business is that? I guess if these organizations figure out they can’t recruit members because they exclude the growing number of nonreligious people, they will change their tune. Money talks.
I also suspect waiving the “belief in God’ requirement would offend older Christian members
That’s probably it. The rules will change after some critical mass of the older religious guys have died off. Of course, by then the groups may no longer be viable or may have a hopelessly stodgy reputation and won’t have any appeal to younger people anyway.
I’ve never tried to join a group like this. Never saw any point in it (I’m not very social anyway), and if they exclude atheists, I certainly wouldn’t be interested.
Rotary, in the UK was very exclusive, you needed a good income and middle-class status to be invited to join. Every year, a Santa on his sleigh goes round our village playing carols. and they knock on doors and invite kids to go and meet Santa parked in their street. They also rattle collecting tins for their charities. This year, they put well-designed flyers through every door saying ‘Have you considered joining Rotary? You need to be able to give up one night a fortnight for our local meetings….’ Struck me they must be getting desperate for members if they are inviting the hoi-polloi, the great unwashed to join! (I approve of their charities somewhat..they have partnered WHO etc in eradicating polio, but ‘the old boys network’ they ran in my previous town was almost criminal.)
they must be getting desperate for members
Hope so. People can do Christmas shows or run charities without forming some snooty club with a funny name and a bunch of snot-nosed rules about who is and isn’t good enough to join. Those groups really seem like relics of a bygone era.
Oops, meant it’s a rotarian santa+sleigh, towed by a posh, top of the range car, which makes me smile!
I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member. -Groucho Marx
It is not surprising that these clubs demand compliance in various ways, want your thought patterns controlled and directed, your shirt and hat to be just-so, your contributions to the pot to be regular and regularly increasing in dollar value!
Christianity of the variety most mentioned around this blog demands much more but gives you tools to happily hate others you don’t understand or enjoy. It helps you to see that these others are just like those who hung dear sweet Jesus on the Cross of Calvary. This is the religion of Peace.
I joined the evangelical Christian club and by way of that experience, I would never join another club, not even one that asked me to be their supreme leader. Besides, though I know quite a bit after 67 years on the earth, I am neither able to claim that I am stable or a genius either, like our great leader, Dumbo Trump.
I was going to say something snide about the Boy Scouts, but I see ObstacleChick beat me to it. (My own history with the Boy Scouts is decidedly ambivalent; there were things I really liked about it, and things I really detested.)
I’m fortunate in that Firstborn isn’t much of a joiner, either. Secondborn… I’m not sure, but we’ll burn that bridge when we come to it.
I am, or was, a Master Mason. I used to be very active in the Masons (F&AM of Alabama). My lodge had Christian, Jewish, and Muslim members. Atheists are strictly forbidden.
I miss the ritual and pageantry. But if I tried to go back, I suspect I would be expelled since now I am an outspoken atheist.
Where I come from, there were two influential groups that basically ran everything on into the 1990s. I don’t know how how the conditions are now. Those two groups were the Masons and the Klan. They absolutely hated each other: a Mason who was found to be a Klansman would be expelled, and I suspect a Klansman found to be a Mason would have been shot.
My family was traditionally Masonic, having no truck with the Klan. But despite Masonry’s high-sounding rhetoric about the brotherhood of man and all that, there sure was a lot of racism when I married someone who didn’t look like the rest of us…
My grandfather was a Mason, so were a couple of uncles, and my mom was very active in the Eastern Star. I used to go with her to set up the lodge hall for meetings, installations and such. There were little tables with a chair beside it at each point of the star on the floor. Each represented some woman from the Bible: Adah, from Judges, Ruth, Esther, Martha, and Electa (the Elect Lady from II John) and a virtue, I helped put the symbols of the women on the little tables, like a sword and blue veil for Adah and a sheaf of wheat for Ruth.
What I remember best though are the potlucks: there were some fabulous cooks in my mom chapter of the OES. I get hungry just thinking about it.
Either those organizations will change to gain new members, or they will die out. It’s that way with all groups. The Boy Scouts are learning this the hard way. The others will too.
Exactly. Adapt or die. It is as true of social organizations as it is of species.
(Not sure if anyone else here is a regular reader, but Captain Cassidy over at Roll To Disbelieve often discusses the changing demographics and ever-increasing membership losses of Fundagelical churches in the US. Worth a read. RtD is one of the Patheos Nonreligious Blogs; I’m gonna insert the link text here, and maybe Bruce can turn it into a live link? https://www.patheos.com/blogs/rolltodisbelieve/ )
Rotary Club doesn’t have a religious test. My dad was in it for decades and my opinion is they did a lot of good in the world. My mother always thought it was a good way for men to have time with other men, though I’m pretty sure women may now join.
The Boy Scouts immediately comes to mind (as other comments suggest) At the time when the scouts and some of the organizations came about morale character and being religious were inseparable. Something, perhaps not well known, is that the Girl Scouts are not part of the Boy Scouts organization and as such have their own rules and they don’t have a religious test. I think that’s fantastic.
I suppose it makes sense that these groups are products of their time. Most communities had people of different religious make up–but everyone was religious. So if you wanted to a community group you’d demand religiosity, but not to a specific religion. (A notable exception is the Catholic “Knights of Columbus”)
My cousin joined the Masons butleft because they were becoming ‘too religious’ for his tastes. I’m not sure why he joined because I thought they were upfront about belief in some higher power.
I don’t know if this was just at the particular Southern Baptist church that I attended growing up, but it was frowned on by the church to join the Masons as they were perceived as somehow being Satanic ir demonic. There was a man at our church who was a Shriner, and he could get discount tickets to the Shriners’ circus so all the kids could go, and that was somehow ok.
Early on in the ministry, I wouldn’t let Masons join the church. I viewed them as a Satanic cult. This policy really affected how the community at large viewed the church. The Masons, though a man in our church, asked to borrow our bus to take a group to Columbus. I said, absolutely not! This one decision early one gave many locals a bad opinion of our church. I regret doing so.
https://virginmostpowerfulradio.org/our-shows/the-terry-and-jesse-show/ Actually( incoming sarcasm) The author of this blog should not feel bad about his not allowing Masons to join his church or not allowing them to borrow the church bus to go to some event. The link is to an Catholic radio program on the EWTN radio network. The two hosts of the radio program are Terry Barber and Jesse Romero. Often on their radio program they themselves or some guest priest will talk about how Freemasonry is a threat to the Catholic Church. Obviously the area where you pastored at that time was overrun with unsaved Protestants who were uninformed about no true Christian could be a member of the Masonic Lodge. Also I believe that the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod is opposed to the Masonic Lodge.
I recall, decades ago, when I had my born again experience and, soon after, was accepted as a student with Youth With a Mission (YWAM), the leaders of our YWAM discipleship school held a special one-time class for incoming students that focused on the Freemasons (and all others Freemason-associated groups – Shriners / Eastern Star / Rainbow Girls / DeMolay Boys), because, apparently with YWAM, it was quite common for numerous incoming students to have a extensive family history associated with all the various Freemason groups (my family certainly was heavily involved, for many generations).
One thing I remember learning at YWAM was / is that in one of the most upper crust “levels” of Freemasonry, one of the secret / sacred ritual words (maybe even a sort of club password) is “Abaddon”. What freaked me out at the time when being told about “Abaddon” was that the word is referenced in Revelation:
(Per Wikipedia) In Revelation 9:11, Abaddon is described as “Destroyer”, the angel of the Abyss, and as the king of a plague of locusts resembling horses with crowned human faces, women’s hair, lions’ teeth, wings, iron breast-plates, and a tail with a scorpion’s stinger that torments for five months anyone who does not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
In my age 20-something mind at the time, I suddenly panicked, as if generations of my family were some sort of Satanic worshippers because of their different associations with different Freemason-affiliated groups. After all, why would “Abaddon” be considered a sacred word to these people??? And, looking back, I think YWAM was manipulating us newbie students to have that fear. To YWAM, I’m guessing it was a way for the ministry to make us feel horrified and frightened, leading each one of us to renounce any Freemason-connection cooties that we felt we might be clinging to, and, at the same time, demonstrate our deeper commitment to the ideals of YWAM.
A few years later, I stumbled across an official Freemason book of rituals in a Goodwill thrift store and can confirm the above about “Abaddon”. It’s right there in the ritual book, if I remember, at the 33rd level of Freemasonry.
After I left YWAM, for years, I nagged my father (Freemason), my mother (Eastern Star), and my grandmother (Eastern Star) to do what I did: renounce Freemasonry. They thought I was nuts. I knew they were sadly deceived.
All these years later, I can’t help but shrug at the bullshit. Whoever dreamt up the “Abaddon” part of the upper level of Freemasonry, was probably a early version of a troll or someone who was part of a pre-internet Poe’s law. Yet, for may years after, my “Abaddon” focus developed into a divide between me and members of my family when all they wanted to do was socialize / have comradery with other people in our rural small town community.
So, now-a-days, since I’ve de-converted, I don’t give a shit about any suspiciously manufactured Freemason subterfuge. And, I also say “Fuck you, YWAM, for your spiritual manipulation!”
And, as CAROLK mentioned above, I agree that the potlucks were pretty damn good – made lovingly by family members and community neighbors. That’s worth fondly remembering!
Last year I went to a few Quaker meetings. I think you can be an atheist Quaker. They seemed nice. At the front where the cross would have been, instead there was a fireplace. The meetings consisted of about 35 people staring into the fire for about 45 minutes and then people would begin randomly sharing various thoughts.
That actually sounds very relaxing….
I would think the thing that limits new members is based upon the fact that these groups do not ‘proselytize’, thats is, seek out new members. I have never been approached to visit or join one in 50 years. Even my dad, an Elk did not.
Some fraternal orders might seek out new members but often people are disinterested in joining. There may be several reasons for that, lack of time lack of interest, and the knowledge that some members of some fraternal orders really fall down in their practice of ethical behavior. In one local fraternal order that never numbered more than forty total members at least four one-time members were sentenced to prion for various felonies. one for sexual offenses, one for theft, one for animal cruelty, ( several dozen animals died from neglect) and one for aggravated dui. This order is one where the members are expected to belong to one particular Christian church. Hint the members do not belong to any Non-Catholic Christian church.
This is fascinating. My father was both an Eagle and an Elk and was one of the least religious men I have ever known. He was a ‘Christmas & Wedding Catholic’ … ie went when he had to go.. on and for funerals. Honestly he belonged because it was good for business. The fraternal organizations were networking opportunities for these guys. I remember the Eagles had really nice Christmas parties for the community, or maybe it was just member kids but I always came home with something cool. I also think that as a man whose parents emigrated from ‘the old country’, it was really common to belong to some sort of benevolence society. If my grandparents had not been sort of scooped up by this group or another, they would have had few connections and life would have been harder. They were mostly part of cultural societies/groups, but I wonder if that cast the mold for their sons? (I’d say children but until these organizations were sued, they were exclusively for male membership)
It’s a bummer these groups have a belief in a Supreme Being prerequisite. I’d love to join the FOE or the Moose, as my husband and I are retiring and find more available time for volunteering and… yes, drinking in their bars! But I can’t get over someone needing me to believe in a higher power as a test of my worthiness or proof that my moral compass is calibrated. I know too many people of faith who are toxic or dangerous, etc to fall for that religiosity-as-a-litmus-test-for-morality line. Pass!
But if any of you want to start a Maternal Order of the Invisible Pink Unicorn – I’m in!
Yep. We have been guest at several fraternal organizations over the years. Good food 🥘 and booze 🥃 😂😂 But, there’s that God thing. My friend told me to lie, but I can’t. Besides, everyone around here knows I’m the Village Atheist. 😢No hiding for me.
Could the requisite belief in a supreme being in these organizations be interpreted as it is in AA and churches such as Unity, that it is whatever you believe it is, including your higher self? For some people, that means God. For others, it means spirituality on a looser level. Some people believe in a supreme being; others believe in more than one. For others, it means simply acknowledging that you are not God, that there must be something more powerful than you in the universe. I always wonder about this.
Some of us can’t even pull that off. A supreme being is simply beyond my ken. I was raised Catholic, toyed with Evangelicalism, wore my knees out praying at various times, and finally concluded that it was only me, my fellow humans, and the uncaring universe. Mind you, once you get past the initial shock of concluding that, there’s a lot to build on in life.
We are made of the ingredients of stars; we can either ignore that illustrious beginning, or rise up to it. We are members of a very social and interdependent species, and are sufficiently aware, profoundly capable, and with the capacity for immense destruction Rising up to that illustrious beginning requires doing our best, given our individual situations, to put off destruction and support our fellow humans as we can. That’s a difficult demand, given the vagaries of our lives, what is happening inside and outside our communities, and all the demands on us from those local to us (physically or metaphorically speaking) who need our assistance.
Still worth striving for.
My spouse and I belong to The Moose. We joined for the cheap booze and safe atmosphere. They also have inexpensive meals occasionally. The hubby believes in a supreme being. I however, don’t. It has never came up. Not when we joined, not when we renew our memberships. If asked, I will either claim the his noodley goodness FSM as my deity or depending on my mood “Mother Earth” I did belong to the Daughters of the American Revolution for a few, but quit after they wanted me to be their Chaplin. LMAO! They were scraping the bottom of that barrel. I don’t abide meetings where they insist on starting with a prayer and the constant worship of Veterans and/or the American flag.
We anthropologists refer to such organizations as “sodalities,” which are non-kinship-based social organizations. I have never been a member of one of these fraternal organizations. However, my wife and I invented one just for our own comfort. We call it the “Benevolent and Protective Order of Ribs” (BPOR). Few things are more comforting than a nice order of pork ribs cooked in a favorite, made-from scratch, southern bar-b-q sauce or rub. Membership in the BPOR is one step higher than being a recipient of the “Order of Lenin.” We get a real kick of of the Order of Lenin. The very concept of it makes us laugh, and laugh, and laugh!!!
I am not a believer. Still, a part of me would like to mess with the Moose (Hey, there’s a slogan for you: “Don’t Mess With The Moose.!” Of course, it would be accompanied by an image of Bullwinkle.) by showing up in a kaffiyeh and chanting “Allah Akbar!” just to see whether belief in any deity is OK with them.
I never belonged to any of those organizations. The closest I came, aside from churches and Christian fellowships, were the Boy Scouts and the Army Reserves. The latter, to my knowledge, doesn’t officially require a belief in a deity but it operates as if the Christian God is blessing their efforts. (It’s Manifest Destiny in uniform.) And, like the fraternal organizations, many of its members used it for networking.
Hmm…Maybe now, as a transgender woman, I should start a parallel organization to the Elks, Moose, etc. Of course, we couldn’t call it “fraternal.” And if members want to profess a belief in any deity, she/they has to be female, genderqueer or non-binary!
Charles—If there were an Order of Lennon, I just might join!
Imagine!
MJ, I love this comment! Witty!
I guess I am a Spartan – meaning, I participate in Spartan Obstacle Races, and there’s quite a community both online and in person for these races. No deity required, though there are a number of people who wear Bible verses, and plenty of us who swear “Jesus F%cking Christ” when the race gets hard (and it generally does).
OC—Spartan Obstacle Races? Was that a bit of self-promotion? If so, I’m all for it.
Meantime, I’ll start a new event: A Day at the Marxist Races—in honor of Groucho, of course!