From the article, it would appear that unless you're Christian, the Elks don't want you as a member. According to one person's comment, if you're any other religion, you will be denied membership, because you don't believe in the Elks version of God.

Bathia_Mapes: ...because you don't believe in the Elks version of God.

Does he have antlers?

whatshisname: Bathia_Mapes: ...because you don't believe in the Elks version of God.

Does he have antlers?

Yep, he's a 12 point buck.

Take this story, and the story a few days ago that said Oregon had the highest percentage of atheists.. around 27% I believe.... and you'll begin to realize just how farked up and schizophrenic Oregon truly is.

Private organization dictating who can and cannot become members. Non-story. GL drumming up outrage and indignation, Subby.

Bathia_Mapes: Yep, he's a 12 point buck.

I think I want to punch you.

/unless the Elk God is a deer
//and not from Oregon

madmann: Take this story, and the story a few days ago that said Oregon had the highest percentage of atheists.. around 27% I believe.... and you'll begin to realize just how farked up and schizophrenic Oregon truly is.

To be fair, Brookings is literally a couple miles from the California border, and is huge for retirees.

Anyway, whatever, no big deal that they won't let her join her fruity little club. However, it is rather amusing that she cannot even attend anything as a guest, considering she's apparently been there many times before and was never trouble.

Remove all Republicans: Occam's Chainsaw: Private organization dictating who can and cannot become members. Non-story. GL drumming up outrage and indignation, Subby.

Except when it's a racial thing. Then it's a story.

No, that's a country club.

Woah, I never thought I'd see a Brookings, OR story on Fark. I spent a large portion of my life there.

Beautiful place, but far too many old people. And there is nothing to do there aside from beach and river activities.

Bathia_Mapes: From the article, it would appear that unless you're Christian, the Elks don't want you as a member. According to one person's comment, if you're any other religion, you will be denied membership, because you don't believe in the Elks version of God.

I'm a Freemason, and while we had to profess a belief in "God" in order to join, it was understood to be "God" as you perceived him--in my case, Odin.

Remove all Republicans: Occam's Chainsaw: Private organization dictating who can and cannot become members. Non-story. GL drumming up outrage and indignation, Subby.

Except when it's a racial thing. Then it's a story.

There are, actually, still a handful of private organizations that still discriminate based on race. They're not in the news.

puffy999: madmann: Take this story, and the story a few days ago that said Oregon had the highest percentage of atheists.. around 27% I believe.... and you'll begin to realize just how farked up and schizophrenic Oregon truly is.

To be fair, Brookings is literally a couple miles from the California border, and is huge for retirees.

Well, to be fair, the entire state is about half Californian retirees. Might explain the schizophrenia. :)

Max Edison Quote 2008-03-01 10:24:12 AM
Bathia_Mapes: From the article, it would appear that unless you're Christian, the Elks don't want you as a member. According to one person's comment, if you're any other religion, you will be denied membership, because you don't believe in the Elks version of God.

I'm a Freemason, and while we had to profess a belief in "God" in order to join, it was understood to be "God" as you perceived him--in my case, Odin.


interesting.. i thought wone of the underlying convictions of early freemasonry was to use religion to influence and manipulate the lives of americans?

could your perceived belief in "God" be a belief in the holy delusions of others?

My post to this article was deleted.
Of all the pointless, irrelevant, inane troll-bait on fark, mine was picked for deletion? WTF?

Politics section? Really?

madmann: Take this story, and the story a few days ago that said Oregon had the highest percentage of atheists.. around 27% I believe.... and you'll begin to realize just how farked up and schizophrenic Oregon truly is.

Please take a moment to review your repeated misuse of the word "schizophrenic". Schizophrenia is not the same as dissociative identity disorder (formerly known as multiple personality disorder).

That being said, Oregon is truly a mixed-up kind of place, politically. It's a red state masquerading as a blue state.

I'm not surprised in Oregon. They are pretty much a transplanted Bible Belt but without the KKK.


The weirdest article I read in their paper was about this woman at the beach, and she saw a kid screaming and running around and sticking his head in the sand. She went to investigate and the kid said that Harry Potter will save us. She made it a quick point to tell him that only Jesus can save us. The article stops there.


I'm not drunk, nor am I missing any details. That story didn't make any sense to me either.

I'm a Freemason, so I'm... um, whatever.

Just an FYI to any curious folks: Freemasonry's requirement is that you believe in a single supreme being. We don't give a flying fark if you call him God, Jehova, Yahweh, Allah, FSM, or Tom Cruise.

Well, maybe not Tom Cruise.

Aughsum: interesting.. i thought wone of the underlying convictions of early freemasonry was to use religion to influence and manipulate the lives of americans?

could your perceived belief in "God" be a belief in the holy delusions of others?

Nobody's really sure what the roots of Freemasonry are, but when Rudyard Kipling was initiated, he got his 1st degree from a Christian, his 2nd from a Muslim, and his 3rd from a "Hindoo". And all were perfectly accepted. There are Hindu Masonic lodges, Muslim ones, Jewish ones, etc.

ratman999: madmann: Take this story, and the story a few days ago that said Oregon had the highest percentage of atheists.. around 27% I believe.... and you'll begin to realize just how farked up and schizophrenic Oregon truly is.

Please take a moment to review your repeated misuse of the word "schizophrenic". Schizophrenia is not the same as dissociative identity disorder (formerly known as multiple personality disorder).


Well... I know this is going to shock & amaze the crowd, but I am less than well-versed in whatever they're calling it this week. If I gave the impression that I did, I apologize. I think my meaning was clear, however medically inaccurate it may have been. I stand chastised.

Reminds me of Sam Kinision when some AIDS activists got on him for some jokes he told that weren't 100% medically correct. "...And I was so upset with myself... because when I was going to Comedy Medical School, I SWORE that I would never stoop to telling medically inaccurate jokes!"

Ratman99- go up to any random person on the street and say "dissociative identity disorder" and ask if they understand what you mean. Then say "schizophrenia" and ask them for a definition. Save the lecture. The word almost everyone uses to describes multiple personalities is schizophrenia. No, thats not the medical definition. The word 'Gay' as recently as the early 60's had nothing to do with sex. But it does now and I doubt anything will ever change it back to its previous definition. But if you want to spend your life tilting at this particular windmill, be my guest Don Quixote.

On subject, you cannot force a private organization (as long as it does not use public funds) to change its membership rules. Yes, this means racists and sexist organizations are allowed to exist in a democracy. But only so long as A) Most of the public doesn't care and B) They don't accept public funds. If they are working with the city I suppose that some law can be applied (see the Boy Scouts in Philadelphia) but unless someone complains and then sues I doubt anything would be done about it.

LOL. Fraternal organizations such as the Elks are, by and large, a dying phenomenon. They seem to be populated entirely by the over-60 crowd at this point. The one exception seems to be small towns where membership is pretty much compulsory for social reasons since everyone else is a member.

Give it another decade or two and the Elks will be history.

That's what I expected when I joined the Masons. Still, if there was a conspiracy afoot, I wanted IN.

Most of the guys in my lodge are younger than I am (39), and we get 2 or 3 20-somethings initiated twice a year.

/Sadly, no conspiracy afoot.
//Still some great guys, tho.