Shriner's Ladies Craft Bazaar

[janmitchell1]

2808 S. Sheridan Rd., 8:00 am - 3:00 pm.  Admission free.  Vendors inquire at janmitchell1@cox.net.

[DolfanBob]

Ok at the chance i might ruffle some feathers here, I want to say that i have alway's wondered this because whenever the Shriner's are brought up in a conversation i have heard this response a few times so help me out.
Is the Shriner's organization a cult ?
And with this post are there Female Shriner's ?
Trust me on this i have no idea what people mean by that statement but have alway's wondered what do Shriner's do other than the Children's Hospital ?
So help me out so i can straighten them out when i hear that.

[custosnox]

Ok at the chance i might ruffle some feathers here, I want to say that i have alway's wondered this because whenever the Shriner's are brought up in a conversation i have heard this response a few times so help me out.
Is the Shriner's organization a cult ?
And with this post are there Female Shriner's ?
Trust me on this i have no idea what people mean by that statement but have alway's wondered what do Shriner's do other than the Children's Hospital ?
So help me out so i can straighten them out when i hear that.

Okay, I'm not a shriner, but a co-worker is and I asked him to clarify these points for me real fast. 
No, the Shriners are not a cult, they are an organization that is associated with the Free Masons (you must be a mason to be a shriner) that is primarily for charity events to benifit things like the Childrens Hospital.
There are not any female Shriners, the Shriner's Ladies are the wifes of the shriners helping out where they can.
Their charities pretty much benifit the Childrens Hospital only.

[DolfanBob]

Thank you so much for clearing that up. I felt ignorant for asking so thank you.
Also had your friend ever heard that before or was someone playing a cruel joke on me.

[custosnox]

Thank you so much for clearing that up. I felt ignorant for asking so thank you.
Also had your friend ever heard that before or was someone playing a cruel joke on me.

Which part? I'm assuming your refering to the cult reference.  The Shriners are connected with the FreeMasons, and as such get a bit of a bad reputation because of it.  Neither the Masons or the Shriners deserve this reputation, however.  It comes from people not knowing anything because of the secrecy that is within the Masons that is used in their ceremonies and ways to reconize one another.  So either organization being called a cult is a misconception that does occur fairly regularly.