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Purplehood wrote:I was under the impression that belief in a deity, period, was "sufficient". I got the impression that being a member of a particular religion was not a requirement of the Scottish Rite. Have I got that wrong?

Looking at the article, I would say you are correct.

York Rite Masonry in its concluding Degrees or Orders is the champion of Christianity. A man must pledge to defend Christianity to become a Knight Templar Freemason in the York Rite. Good men of other religions (Jews, Moslems, Hindus, etc.) believing in Deity may become Scottish Rite Masons.

So if you are interested in becoming a Mason and you are Christian you can (should?) become a York Rite Mason. If you are Jewish, Moslem, etc. you should become a Scottish Rite Mason. At least that's my reading of it. But I am not a Mason so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

I found two things interesting in that article:

separation of church and state

While I do agree that the State should stay out of the church, I do not think that it is necessary, and in fact is detrimental, for the <insert-house-of-worship> to be separate from the State. And I think our Founding Fathers would agree. After all, they kept the federal government from establishing a state religion, but did not prevent various religious groups from participating in government.

Council of Kadosh

Kadosh (in Heb. "קדוש") is Hebrew for Sacred or Righteous. So this would literally be a "Council of the Righteous" or a "Councel of Righteousness".

Kinda neat to find that out.