Are Freemasons modern Templars

Within the Masonic Family there are what are called different "Rites." After becoming a Master Mason in a "Blue Lodge" you can join (in the USA) the "York Rite." Part of the York Rite is an order called a Commandary in which you receive 3 orders culminating in the candidate being metaphorically knighted a Knight Templar. You then get the Masonic title of Sir Knight. This knighting is symbolic only and does not mean you are actually a Knight Templar.

Some Masonic historians believe that the Knights Templar may have had a roll in forming what has become modern speculative Free Masonry but this is only a theory and no evidence exists the confirm the connection between the two.