>1. Are women allowed to join your chapter and if so are they 100% equal with no restrictions or limits?

No. As it stands, there exist lodges of Freemasonry which accept qualified men as members. There equally exist chapters of the Order of the Eastern Star, which accepts Master Freemasons and women with an affiliation to Freemasonry.

It's been a major topic for the last few decades. Many lodges have bent/broken the rules and accepted members. There is no one central authority, but such rule bending hasn't yet been officially accepted.

>2. Does modern freemasonry (or more specifically, your chapter) have anything to do with religion? Again, what little I've read about freemasonry told me that freemasonry originally was religion based and that the organization claimed to hold "secret" information about jesus/christianity as a whole. Is it kind of like modern day mormonism, where it has roots in religion but modern day practices are mainly based around leading a good life?

Pretty fair assessment. The reason for the religious example today is (imo) that without some higher power than ourselves, there's no reason to try and better ourselves.

It's not religion, or any one religion. Just a power higher than yourself.

>I have (had) a close friend who is a freemason an basically lost him to it. It seems like the longer he was in it, the more closed off he became to anybody not part of the brotherhood. He also slowly grew a very bloated ego.

If it helps, this is more or less opposed to any teachings I'm aware of in freemasonry.

Unironically, "Freemasonry for Dummies" is a great book and recommended to every new member.