- This page is about a Masonic organization. For the medieval Knights Templar, see Knights Templar. See also Knights Templar and popular culture.
The
Knights Templar is an international
philanthropic chivalric order affiliated with
Freemasonry. Unlike the initial degrees conferred in a
Masonic Lodge, which only require a belief in a
Supreme Being regardless of religious affiliation, the Knights Templar is one of several
additional Masonic Orders in which membership is open only to Freemasons who profess a belief in the
Christian religion. One of the obligations entrants to the Order are required to declare is to protect and defend the Christian Faith. The full title of this Order is
The United Religious, Military and Masonic Orders of the Temple and of St John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes and Malta. The word "United" in this title indicates that more than one historical tradition and more than one actual Order are jointly controlled within this system. The individual Orders 'united' within this system are principally the Knights of the Temple (Knights Templar), the Knights of Malta, the Knights of St Paul, and only within the
York Rite, the Knights of the Red Cross. Like the "
Red Cross of Constantine" (derived from the
Military Constantinian Order) and the "
Knights of Malta" (derived from the
Order of Malta), the Masonic order of Knights Templar derives its name from a Medieval
military order (see
Knights Templar), but does not claim any direct lineal descent from the original Templar order.
