I've known a few Shriners, a North American branch of Freemasonry. They are best known for sponsoring a number of pediatric hospitals. They seem to spend most of their time raising funds for the hospitals and consuming distilled spirits. They strike me as folks who never outgrew the university fraternity thing. Relatively harmless as long as they sober up before driving. No more likely to pose a threat to democracy than any other group that tends to wear funny hats and vote Republican.