WHAT THE FREEMASONS ARE — AND ARE NOT

First of all, a bit of general advice: Don’t believe everything you see in Nicolas Cage movies. Freemasons are not direct descendants from the ancient Knights Templar. They did not hide treasure in the United States. They did not provide a map to that treasure on the back of the original Declaration of Independence.

The Freemasons are a fraternal organization devoted to charitable giving. Membership isn’t nearly as exclusive as it’s rumored to be. Members can recommend their friends for membership, or hopefuls can put themselves up for consideration. One of the requirements:

Members must profess belief in a supreme being: A “Grand Architect of the Universe.” Members also swear to not reveal details of secret rituals and ceremonies.

Candidates are put through a number of tests — think of them as an “initiation ritual” — and then join as apprentices. As they gain experience, they move up from level to level within the organization.

Freemasonry began as a guild for stonemasons during the Middle Ages in Europe. And, sure enough, that guild was highly secretive about its membership and its traditions — as most trade guilds were in the day.

With the rise of capitalism and the market economy in the 16th and 17th centuries, however, the old guild system fell apart. Masonic lodges began to recruit nonmasons and to champion more than just stonemasonry — it pushed morality, honesty and philanthropy.

The result isa fraternal organization that still honors some of the symbols of the stonemasonry trade.

The first formal Freemason lodge was established in London in 1717. But the relative secrecy of the group launched repeated waves of conspiracy theories. In 1738, Pope Clement XII banned Freemasonry, declaring it “irreconcilable with the doctrine of the Church.” That prohibition continues today.

In the U.S., fears that Masons were becoming too powerful within the government — plus, the mysterious 1826 disappearance of William Morgan, who was working on a book he said would expose the secrets of Freemasonry — led to creation of the nation’s first political “third party” in 1828: The Anti-masonic Party. The party manged to get eight members elected to Congress but failed to prevent Andrew Jackson — who, yes, was a Mason — from being elected president.

In 1870, a group of Freemasons in New York City decided to launch a Masonic branch devoted less to ceremony and ritual and more to fun and fellowship. The group they formed is called the Shriners. The Shriners run 22 children’s hospitals around the country where there is no cost to patients and their families. Various Masonic organizations reportedly donate $2 million a day to charity.

The Masonic House of the Temple in Washington, D.C., completed in 1915.