Membership in the Masons requires a
belief in a single God, but no other religious test is made. Because of its secretive
history, which endangered theories that Masons sought to take over the world,
the organization garnered opposition from many quarters. Communists and other
totalitarian nations traditionally banned Freemasonry and until 1983, the Roman
Catholic Church forbade its members to join Masonic lodges.
Today, there
are more than five million Masons worldwide, with about 70 percent of them in
the United States. They are widely involved in charitable activities. For example,
the Masonic order known as the Shriners, raises money for hospitals serving burned
and crippled children. Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Henry Ford, and Will Rogers were
Masons.
