A Brief Description and Introduction:

The Knights Templar of North America® is an ancient and legitimate Christian order of knighthood upholding the ideals of Chivalry and Religious Commitment, historical research, and fighting today's enemies of disease and social distress through charitable efforts and fund-raising.

Today the Order remains a true, historical Order of Chivalric Knighthood, now entering both men and women to membership as Knights and Dames. It is both a Religious and secular Christian Ecumenical Order. It does not require membership in the Roman Catholic or any other Christian-denomination Church, and has its own Internal Monastic Order. It is not a church itself, a "religious movement," Masonic Order, or a "historical re-enactment" organization. It simply requires that its members be baptized Christians, accepting the teachings of Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Spiritual Master.

It is fully ecumenical in membership application, accepting baptized Christians of any denomination for selective membership.

Non-Political, Non-Profit, Charitable:

The Order is fully non-profit. It does not have its own charity, but rather raises funds for and donates time and talent to already-established charities and relief groups, philanthropic endeavors and historical studies. It does not involve itself in political activity, nor adhere to any political party or doctrine.

A Brief Historical Reference:

The Order of the Temple, or "Knights Templar," is almost 900 years old, and rich in history. It was founded in 1118 A.D. by nine French knights who traveled to the Holy Land. They banded together as the first religious / military Order of Knighthood, initially formed to protect Christian pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land. Later they became the first soldier / monks of the ancient Christian (Roman Catholic) Church, wrestling the Holy Land from the Islamic Saracens, and helping establish and maintain the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem for almost two hundred years. The Order was later suppressed by the same Church of Rome it protected, under the hands of a greedy French King controlling a weak French Pope. Instead of dying (as is incorrectly reported by many main-line historians), the Order instead secularized and continued its existence in secret. It resurfaced privately in France in 1705, and became fully public a century later with historical documentation of its continued-but-secret previous existence.