The founders of modern Freemasonry pulled in a lot of streams from the zeitgeist of the British Renaissance and Enlightenment, and that means that it's brimming

The founders of modern Freemasonry pulled in a lot of streams from the zeitgeist of the British Renaissance and Enlightenment, and that means that it's brimming with everything from alchemical terminology to astronomy and Egyptophilia. It also has a strong base in the Bible. There is an argument that it was popularised in response to the removal of high ritual from the church during the reformation, and took the place of a lot of the mystery and esotericism which was lost along the way; and as such, it represented a threat to the Roman church, whose reaction spurred a lot of the conspiracy theories we see today. Like the other poster who responded, I think it's likely to experience a resurgence, for similar reasons to the rise in popularity in the UK of choral evensong services in churches and cathedrals. As far as discussing politics is concerned, Freemasons have long been enjoined from discussing politics in lodge, for a variety of reasons.