Four Corners, ID -- Inspired by the success of Brexit, the movement to pull Britain out of the European Union, the Grand Encampment of the Knights Templar (GEKT) - the overseeing authority for Masonic Templar Knights in North America - has announced plans to leave the York Rite bodies.
Speaking from his office under conditions of anonymity, “Mr. Bill,” one of the leaders of the movement, told The Past Bastard, “We’ve been leading up to this for a long time, and as the Knights Templar is the capstone of Freemasonry, it’s time that we grabbed the bull by the tail and faced the situation.”
Tentatively called “Knexit,” the movement has grown out of the frustrations that the Knights Templar have faced when sharing resources with their Masonic counterparts. We asked several of the officers to give us more explanation.
“I mean, look, as far as we’re concerned, the Chapters and Councils are holding us back. All they do is siphon off dues and warm bodies. Most of the time we’re meeting in the same buildings, and almost always we share officers. An officer in Chapter is usually holding some other officer position in Commandery. Why? Because to be a Sir Knight, you’ve gotta go through the Chapter and Council. A lot of us in the Grand Encampment think that they should just come directly into Commandery, and let the Chapters close up on their own, instead of counting on the Knights to keep them open.”
Several other high ranking officers agreed. “It’s not like the Knights Templar are a natural progression, or anything,” said "John Galt," another group member. “In fact, a lot of us are getting pretty tired of all that pap we’ve been feeding petitioners about this not being a Christian organization, or that we take Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Pagans, or anyone else. It’s those sissy Grand Masters all over the U.S. that make us say that, because they’re afraid of offending anyone.”
He added, “I say we just take our equipment and go play in another field. We’re still Freemasons, but we’ll never get anywhere if we’re yoked to the rest of the York Rite.”
"Besides," said "Neo," another Knexit supporter, "We've got all these whiners, like that Hodapp guy, who are always complaining about us anyway. 'Stop marching, stop the parade drills, get rid of those uniforms, trade in those hats, blah, blah, blah.' You know how much the stupid uniform set me back? Like, twelve hundred bucks. We don't need guys like that yammering about how we should change things."
“Montag,” another officer, was less sure about leaving, but admitted, “It would be great if we could just limit it to, say, Catholics, Anglicans and Episcopalians, Lutherans, and maybe the Methodists. Most of those other religions just don’t really get it.”
The Past Bastard asked about opposition to the movement, or if there were any points in favor of remaining in the York Rite.
An officer who introduced himself as "Prometheus" explained, "Well, the current Grand Master has been opposed to the idea. In fact, he has even said that if it passed, that he'd pull a David Cameron and just resign." He then added, "We're hoping that the news gets around, because we're pretty sure that would make a lot more people vote our way, if you know what I mean."
The referendum could take place as early as mid-October of this year.
-- Conte Calvino Gliostro
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