I never cease to be amazed to find that my position in life is to do with all the advantages that Freemasonry has brought me. In 16 years in the Royal Air Force I don't recall getting a single favour from anybody, masonic or otherwise, that furthered my career. I wish I had, a Flight Lieutenant's pension is not enough to live on.
I just don't believe that anybody gets more favours through being a Freemason than any other system. No doubt there are people who favour Lodge members, but round here it is more important to belong to Burford Golf Club than any Masonic Lodge. A Masonic friend is letting me have his car for nothing; the fact that we know each other literally from the creche is more likely to be an influence.
It should be remembered that when you are invited to join a Lodge it is unlikely to be a complete stranger that does it, but more likely somebody who has known you or your family for years, since they have to declare in the application form the time they have known you and that they deem you to be a suitable person to join the Lodge. I joined a Lodge where one member had delivered newspapers with me and another, as stated, is a life long friend. I met lots of new people, but all were indirectly linked to each other through mutual friendships over many years. It might be the fact that people know each other outside the Lodge that conditions any propensity to favour them.
The membership of Lodges is private. I cannot obtain a list of all members of the RAF Golf Society, or whatever it is called, but I suspect that people within it do favour each other. I've seen people ordered to take a day off to attend a championship even though the rest of us had to cover!!! If my masonic membership is desired by others within the service (and I am still on the Reserve List), then it is reasonable for me to be given the names of all of the members of other bodies within the RAF, including, obviously, the religious denominations entered on personal records (would you believe some RC type removed my membership of a station Anglican church committee from my list of secondary duties at ACR time).
We might well have an open society, but that doesn't give anybody and everybody the right to know who belongs to which clubs and societies.
The difference of course is in public life where civic society now demands declarations of interests. As an elected Town Councillor I have already declared openly my membership of my lodge (available at Carterton Town Hall) as well as all the other bodies that I am involved in. That doesn't mean that every member of each of those bodies has to declare their interest, but that those of us who hold public office should be open to place us above suspicion.
I do not consider being a member of the Royal Air Force to be 'public life'.