Can You Join the Freemasons If You're Not Religious?

This is the question men ask last, in a lowered voice, usually after they have already decided they want to join. It deserves a straight answer rather than a diplomatic one, so here it is: you do not need to be religious to become a Freemason, but in nearly every regular jurisdiction you do need to profess a belief in a Supreme Being. Those are two different requirements, and the confusion between them turns away good men every year.

§What the requirement actually says

The historic formulation appears in Anderson's Constitutions of 1723, which obliges a Mason to that religion in which all men agree, leaving particular opinions to themselves. In practice, the United Grand Lodge of England and most Grand Lodges in its tradition require a declaration of belief in a Supreme Being and nothing further. No denomination is specified. No doctrine is examined. No attendance is expected. The Wikipedia article on Freemasonry sets out the historical background if you wish to read further.

§Where different men actually stand

The lapsed believer

Baptised, raised in a faith, has not attended in twenty years, still believes something is there. This is the single most common profile of a modern candidate. You qualify without difficulty, and you will find yourself in excellent company.

The private believer with no church

Believes in a creating intelligence, does not belong to any organised religion, would not call himself religious in conversation. You also qualify. The declaration is about belief, not membership.

The agnostic

Here it becomes a question of honesty rather than rules. If your position is that you do not know but you believe, that is a belief and you can declare it. If your position is that you genuinely do not hold the belief, then signing the declaration would be a lie, and Freemasonry rests entirely on the value of a man's word. Do not begin there.

The convinced atheist

In regular Freemasonry, the answer is no. Some irregular or liberal bodies, most notably the Grand Orient of France, admit atheists, but they are not recognised by the Grand Lodges in the English tradition and joining one closes doors permanently. This matters more than most beginners realise, and it is covered in How to Find a Real Masonic Lodge.

The declaration is not a test of piety. It is a test of whether a man will say something he does not mean in order to get through a door.

§Which faiths are welcome

Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Parsees and others sit in the same lodges, and in many jurisdictions a candidate takes his obligation on the volume of sacred law that binds his own conscience. In lodges with mixed membership several volumes may be present on the altar at once. It is one of the quietly remarkable things about the fraternity and it is rarely mentioned in the documentaries.

§But religion is not discussed in lodge

Correct, and this is the part that reconciles the requirement with the experience. Religious debate is barred at the meeting, as is politics, precisely so that men of different faiths can sit together without friction. You will not be asked to defend your beliefs, argue about them, or listen to anyone else's. The requirement is a threshold, not a subject.

The fuller treatment of why Freemasonry is not itself a religion, and why that confuses people, is in Is Freemasonry Religious? The Honest Answer.

§What if my church objects

Some denominations do formally object, and pretending otherwise helps nobody. If you belong to one, find out where your own church stands before you petition rather than afterwards. A committee will respect a man who checked. A minister will respect it too. The MasonicFind archive covers the main denominational positions in more detail than a committee ever will.

§How the question is actually put to you

1. The petition form carries a printed declaration of belief in a Supreme Being
2. The investigation committee will ask you the question directly, once, plainly
3. No one will ask which faith, how often you attend, or what you call the deity
4. No one will return to it later, and it will not come up in lodge

What a committee is weighing is covered in full in What Happens at a Masonic Interview?, and the wider eligibility picture in Can Anyone Become a Freemason?.

§The honest summary

You can be a Freemason without being religious. You cannot be a Freemason in a regular jurisdiction without believing in a Supreme Being, however privately, however loosely defined. If that is true of you, this obstacle is smaller than you have been treating it. If it is not true of you, respect yourself enough not to sign it.

If the belief question is settled and the rest of the road is what worries you, The First Step Roadmap covers every stage from first email to the end of your first year.

And if your family's questions are the real hurdle, Six Myths About Freemasonry is written to be handed over rather than argued.