[Erik P Conard]

Think we are all saying the same thing. The Masons say it simply
"we are a private organization." But the rituals are available on
E bay, in libraries, for sale, and really, in the sum of it all, they are
kinda silly, or personal at best. When I joined the Masons long ago, I swore they stole the ritual from TKE! And the Elks, and the
Eagles, and the Moose, etc...
Folks, especially non-joiners, are really threatened when they think that we know something and are keeping it from them. I do
not know any answer for this. Most counselors are non-joiners.
I think there are other fraternities besides DU that are somewhat open. And when we do learn these "secrets" we say... "oh."
The Catholics and Mormons and somewhat some snake-handling
baptist types reject Masonry. When I was in the fraternity some
of the rushees would say their church was dead-set against the
fraternities. The Catholics would often use priests during the old
Phi Kappa Theta (Phi Kappa, Theta Kappa Phi, etc) rushes and the Lutherans would be at the Beta Sigma Psi house to induce the
wavering rushee to join their lot and not the others...and so on.
This is simply our cross to bear. We hold our heads high, try to
present a positive image, and go on.