Who wants to become a Mason?

SHOOT: It's not as big a deal as many have been lead to believe. Anyone can become a Mason, from any religion, so long as they believe in a Supreme Being. What has made this group vulnerable is that they are fairly hush hush, which means anyone taking pot shots at them - they simply don't respond to allegations.

clipped from news.yahoo.com But the editor was intrigued by a real-world question: How many present-day members of Congress are Freemasons? And is any member of Congress also a Knight Templar — a famous subgroup of Masons that traces its lineage to the medieval crusaders? A YouTube video shows a member of Congress accepting an award from his fellow Masons in 2008. It’s Joe Wilson — the South Carolina Republican who shouted “You lie!” at President Barack Obama this month. He says he is a member of the Sinclair Lodge of West Columbia, S.C. “For over 250 years, Masons have been a part of the fabric and leadership of the United States,” Wilson says on the video. “The grand tradition of brotherhood is a reflection of the very framework this nation was founded upon.” But Fletcher said Masons don’t keep records of government officials who are members — and wouldn’t release them if they did, for privacy reasons. “A lot of our Founding Fathers were Masons. Maybe because they liked to be so rebellious and nonconformist.”