what are the free masons

Freemasonry refers to fraternal organizations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities and clients from the end of the 14th century. Modern Freemasonry consists of two main recognition groups: Regular Freemasonry and Liberal Freemasonry. Regular Freemasonry insists that a volume of scripture be open in a working lodge, that every member professes belief in a Supreme Being, that no women be admitted, and that the discussion of religion and politics do not take place within the lodge. The Masonic lodge is the basic organizational unit of Freemasonry, where local Freemasons meet and work. Freemasonry is one of the oldest fraternal organizations in the world, and it unites men of good character who, though of different religious, ethnic, or social backgrounds, share a belief in the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of mankind. Freemasonry offers a system or blueprint for the good man to further improve his character and actions through its system of degrees, symbols, and fellowship opportunities. The United Grand Lodge of England reports that worldwide membership totals more than 6 million Freemasons, 1.1 million of whom are in North America. Freemasonry evolved from the guilds of stonemasons and cathedral builders of the Middle Ages, and with the decline of cathedral building, some lodges of operative (working) masons began to accept honorary members to bolster their declining membership. From a few of these lodges developed modern symbolic or speculative Freemasonry, which particularly in the 17th and 18th centuries adopted the rites and trappings of ancient religious orders and of chivalric brotherhoods. Freemasonry contains many of the elements of a religion; its teachings enjoin morality, charity, and integrity.