Frequently Asked Questions

The Purpose, Aims & Values of Freemasonry

(Taken from the Mission Statement for the Province of Yorkshire West Riding)

Our Purpose:

Is to be good citizens by practising the highest moral and social standards in friendship, charity and integrity.

Our Aims:

• To achieve and maintain the highest moral standards.
• To encourage our members to serve their own religion and community.
• To demomstrate that we are a society of upright men.
• To enjoy each others company and develop team spririt and fellowship.

Our Values:

• Friendship
• Charity
• Integrity
• Respect
• Virtue
• Self-discipline
• Patience
• Discretion

Our Purpose

Good Citizens

• We are dedicated to making good men better and to developing our knowledge of ourselves as individuals and the world around us through education, discussion and social exchange.
• We aim to make proper use of our time, dividing it between worship, work, leisure and service, thus making the best use of our mental and physical abilities.
• We aim to use our talents for the benefit of ourselves, our families, our neighbours and our communities throughout our private, public business and professional life.
• We declare our membership whenever any possible conflict of interest may arise or be perceived to arise.
• We promise not to use our membership to promote our own or anyone else's private, public business or professional interests.

The Highest Moral and Social Standards

• We aim to behave towards others as we would have them behave towards us.
• We aim to be constructive in our approach to life and uphold the importance of the welfare and independence of everyone.

Friendship

• We admit members from every ethnic group in the world.
• We believe that all individuals are equal and dependant on each other. That they must be valued for their own merits regardless of factors such as race, national origin, religious creed, social status or wealth.
• We respect the ideals and beliefs of others and endeavour to behave with kindness and understanding to all.
• We cherish all life and the well-being of all.

Charity

• We consider charity as being goodwill to all.
• We care not only for Masons and their families, but also for the community as a whole.
• We raise money for charitable purposes only from our own members, not from the general public.
• We give as generously as our wealth will allow and through voluntary work in the community.

Integrity

• We strive for truth and believe that nothing can justify the telling of lies or being untrustworthy.
• We treat everyone in an open and honest manner.

Our Aims

The Highest Moral Standards

• We are concerned with human behaviour, especially the distinction between good and bad and right and wrong.
• We are taught to be aware that all individuals have a natural tendency towards both good and evil; to consider our options and choose the former.
• We define our moral standards as
  • Obeying the laws of the land.
  • Working hard.
  • Living peaceably and creditably.
  • Acting honourably and with understanding and charity to all.

Serve Their Own Religion

• Freemasonry is not a religion, but is about man's relationship with man.
• There is no Masonic God.
• However, all Freemasons must declare a belief in a Supreme Being and we therefore have members of many faiths, including Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism.
• We are encouraged to practice our own religion, whatever faith it may be, and regard Freemasonry as a moral code subordinate to, but supportive of, that religion.
• We do not admit atheists or agnostics into Freemasonry.

Serve Their Own Community

Freemasonry encourages us to fulfil our responsibilities to:

• Our Family and Ourselves
  • We try and support our families in all they do.
  • We try to deveop knowledge of ourselves, look after our health and do nothing to excess.
• Our Neighbours
  • We try to behave towards others as we would have them behave towards us and to help anyone in need of support and assistance.
  • We try to avoid private disputes and quarrels.
• Our Masonic Lodge and its Members
  • We serve our Lodge by:
    • Attending regularly and particpating in the ceremonies through which the high moral standards to which we aspire are re-inforced.
    • Keeping the few traditional Masonic forms of recognition within the confines of the Lodge.
    • Preserving harmony at our meetings.
    • Joining in the social activities.
  • We promise to support and serve our fellow members by:
    • Respecting their family.
    • Defending their good character in their absence.
    • Keeping their confidences - except anything contrary to the laws of our own religion or country.

A Society of Upright Men

• Our governing body is The United Grand Lodge of England. For administrative purposes it divides the country into a number of 'Provinces'.
• We have in the Province of Yorkshire (West Riding), over 200 Lodges with almost 10,000 members in an area which stretches from Ripon in the North to Sheffield in the South and Bentham in the West to Goole in the East. Each Lodge is individual in character and has its own Bye Laws.
• We offer membership to men of any race or religion who are of good reputation and not atheists or agnostics.
• All applicants must confirm that they are aged 21 years or above and come forward voluntarily with no expectation of obtaining material advantage.
• We exclude from membership those Freemasons who abuse the trust placed in them in their private or public lives or who fail to uphold the rules of Freemasonry.
• Our ceremonies contain dramatic presentations of moral lessons and include:
  • Traditional passwords and signs of recognition which are only used in those ceremonies.
  • Solemn promises which are no different from those taken elsewhere.
  • Traditional penalties from an earlier age which are symbolic, not literal. They allude to the pain any honest man should feel at the thought of violating his word. We give as generously as our wealth will allow and through voluntary work in the community.
• Our society is for men only but there is a parallel and totally independent Masonic organisation for women.

Enjoy Each Other's Company

• Our social activities and our enjoyment of Freemasonry cannot be over-emphasised. The objectives of Freemasonry are serious but our members are ordinary, fun-loving individuals who seek a good balance in life.
• Most of our meetings include a social dimension where the focus is on good fellowship and enjoyment in the company of like-minded friends.
• Our family and friends are important to us and are activly encouraged to participate in our social activities just as we participate in theirs.

Develop Team Spirit and Fellowship

• We develop team spirit and fellowship through all our activities and gain an understanding of the needs of others which in turn leads to increased tolerance and respect.
• We therefore consider Freemasonry to be a way of life which, when practiced, makes us good citizens.
• Happiness is the outcome of such activity. It cannot be expressed in words but can only be experienced in the heart. As such it is sometimes described as the only true mystery of Freemasonry.

Our Values

Friendship w Charity w Integrity

Respect w Virtue

Self-discipline w Patience w Discretion

• Our Values are expressed as single words which decribe those attributes which Freemasons try to practise.

• The following expanded list of attributes contains the traditional words used in our ceremonies together with others which add to the overall picture of what we value in our Freemasonry and the standards we strive to achieve.