User:JASpencer/Orange

Removed from the article Catholicism and Freemasonry as there was no evidence of any influence on relations between either institution due to Freemasonry's parentage of radical Protestant groups.

Links to Militant Protestantism
In many parts of the English-speaking world, such as Northern Ireland and the United States, Freemasonry has been seen as having an influence on the structure and form of militant Protestant organisations.

The Orange Order had various similarities to Freemasonry, such as the language, the secrecy and the personnel. Many of the Orange orders' terms and language derived from Freemasonry, examples include "lodge", "grand master" and "degrees". The two movements have grown apart, today the highest bodies in Freemasonry and the Orange Order specificly deny any connection between the two institutions.

The nineteenth century American anti-immigration groups the Order of United American Mechanics and the Order of the Star-Spangled Banner (the forerunner of the Know-Nothing movement) were also secret fraternal organisations basing their organisation on a quasi-Masonic model.