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The Illuminati (plural of Latin illuminatus , "enlightened") is a name given to several groups, both real and fictitious. Historically, the name usually refers to the Bavarian Illuminati , an Enlightenment -era secret society founded on 1 May 1776. The society's goals were to oppose superstition , obscurantism , religious influence over public life, and abuses of state power . "The order of the day," they wrote in their general statutes, "is to put an end to the machinations of the purveyors of injustice, to control them without dominating them". [1] The Illuminati—along with Freemasonry and other secret societies—were outlawed through edict , by the Bavarian ruler, Charles Theodore , with the encouragement of the Roman Catholic Church , in 1784, 1785, 1787 and 1790. [2] In the several years following, the group was vilified by conservative and religious critics who claimed that they continued underground and were responsible for th