Originally Posted by ScottGem
The free masons are a charitable organization and social club. They originated from the free masons guilds of the middle ages who were among the first true craftsman. Because the techniques they used were kept secret to preserve the need to hire them to do any sort of building, they became a sort of secret society. And people fear what is kept secret.
The mason exist today and many famous and illustrious people have been masons. Their basic purpose today is to do charitable work. Masons often contribute to local charities and run fund raisers. They also run many social events in conjunction with raising funds.
There are others threads here where this discussion has already gone on.
But again, because they maintain a level of secrecy about their meetings, this has fostered some conspiracy theories. They are bunk though.