I just wanted to tell a little about my experiences with the Masons:
I was involved with an organization called DeMolay (Jacques DeMolay was the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar) which is roughly the junior masons. They meet in masonic lodges and all of their meetings can be attended by masons. I was later the president of the florida state demolay assoc and was present at several of the international meetings. I later sent a letter to their international headquarters asking that they remove me from their records and that I disavowed any connection or membership.
The masons at the lower levels-- called "blue lodges" in common speech (first three degrees) are pretty much a good ol boys club like moose lodges etc. Most of them in my area are rednecks and from when I've visited masonic lodges in other states, the same seemed to be applicable. I would not call any of these people demon worshippers or anything like that-- most don't know any theology at all and are protestant christians.
The state level of blue lodge, called "grand lodge" is composed of very rich masons who want some esteem within the organization. They get a big hullabaloo at the annual grand lodge meetings but again, nothing theological.
The blue lodge states that one must "believe in a supreme being" to join-- and no other religious restrictions are imposed. Inside a masonic lodge, you will find chairs against the walls with a raised dais with chairs for the senior officers and an altar in the middle with a bible on top of it.
Here's where it gets a little sticky. The masonic "canons" state that there can be up to 33 degrees. Degrees 4 through 32 are called "Scottish Rite" masons. You get to see a "play" for every degree. To join Scottish Rite, just pay some extra dues, watch your plays and you are there. In the plays, there are some veiled references to ancient babylonian and other pagan deities.
Here's where it all goes bad. There is a 33rd degree-- these are the highest officers of the scottish rite-- and there are only 33 of them. There is a special degree for initiation into this. It was written along with degrees 4-32 by Albert Pike, a noted mason. He often stated that the degrees were to reveal mysteries (sort of like dionysian rites of ancient greece). The first three degrees are intentionally misleading but more and more is revealed as the degrees go higher and it finally culminates at the 33rd degree with outright references to ba'al worship. The masons are in essence modern day gnostics.
Albert Pike wrote seveal books on "masonic philosophy/theology"-- most of which you should be able to find in a library. He is THE leading figure in this. To give you an example of his prominence, there is only one memorial to a confederate general in our nation's capital-- one to Albert Pike.
As for orthodox church, the church is extremely against a member joining the masons. Many saints have written against the masons. It is interesting the there are only a few specific heresies specifically warned against in the New Testament and gnosticism is one of them-- and this is masonic religion at the highest level. Please let me reiterate once more that most of the masons locally will know nothing of the theology and just enjoy the "fraternity."
One last thing, when you try to research masonry, you mostly get conspiracy theory stuff. Most (I said MOST) of these people are quacks and it is very difficult to dig out the truth. Believe it or not, you will actually get more truth visiting a masonic website than you will a conspiracy theory website for the most part. If you want to see the 33 degree stuff, look up "house of the temple" located in Washington DC-- the actual website, not the conspiracy stuff.
--Chris