system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5 What's the connection between Knight Templars and Freemasons?

Is it just a conspiracy? Why do people keep making connections between Knight Templars and Freemasons and even Illuminati? What has the Freemasons ever done to deserve this?
gpt
Freemason here with a interest in history. 

The Templars were denounced by the Pope in 1312, mostly at the behest of the King of France who was in severe debt to them and viewed the order as a threat to his own authority. To cut a long story short, they were hunted down and killed leaving only a few survivors. 

Looking for a safe haven, the knights travelled to Scotland. Why? At the time, King Robert the Bruce was excommunicated by the Pope and had no incentive to follow orders from Rome. As they settled into their new home, the Templars wanted to continue their practices but with some protection of secrecy. At the time, actually stonemasons would use lodges, signs, and passwords to protect their secrets and prove their proficiency in an era of illiteracy. Over time, the two organisations grew closer and closer. Fast forward a few hundred years, these lodges have grown outside of Scotland, particularly in England. During the enlightenment, curious gentlemen and scholars were drawn to the morals and dogma taught in these lodges, often with Templar legacy thrown in, and joined as non-operative masons. 

This is a very summarised version but yes, there are connections between the two but it isn’t overt and the growth of Masonic ideals in the last 300 years are much stronger than the “original” Templar influence from the 14th century.