The Plot: Proofs of a Conspiracy...pp. 47-49

We've introduced our villain--Adam Weishaupt--well kind of. He's going to take the conspiracy from all of the new people that thought Masonry could do more than just host rib night on Thursdays. Last post we dug a bit into who Weishaupt was as a person, and now we're going to move forward with the actual conspiracy plot. Finally, we're going to get to this. I was promised proof of a conspiracy against the globe and so far I got an 18th-century stand-up routine, "French masons are like this, but German masons are like this..."

One thing I have to say upfront, and I definitely should have said this before: I don't know where Robison is getting his information. In the first chapter, I could divine that it was mostly his experience and then what people told him. At best, his information is coming second-hand. There was a book he mentioned that described the various Masonic lodges but that was it for sources. As he delves into Weishaupt the person and the happenings in the Bavarian Lodge Theodore I have to wonder if he is repeating rumors. This is super important to understand because this book, as I have written, forms the basis for what we know of as the Illuminati conspiracy (or the NWO conspiracy, the globalists, the Jews, etc.); and it just may be all based on what Robison thinks is happening because someone else told him a rumor. 

The book repeats itself at the beginning of our selection complaining that the discussions in the Bavarian lodge began to touch on religion and politics. This was a no-no in the lodges prior to this, but I'm sure it was one of those rules that were only enforced when people began to disagree. You don't talk about religion or politics in a bar, the adage goes, but as long as everyone is on the same side. The political conversations became so strong that an outside official had to investigate.

Here is where I get confused. Why would an outside official even care? My thought, without researching 18th-century Bavarian society charter law, is that there is something in the law that prevented such organizations from being political or religious. Perhaps if they were, they had to register as a different kind of club and show allegiance to the local monarch. In either case, the official (called "the Elector") investigated the Lodge Theodore. The investigation discovered that this lodge and a few others were infested by another group calling themselves the "Illuminated." The candidates were called the "Minervals." The group assured the Elector that they were not dangerous. 

However the existence of the group, and indeed a private interview with one of the members by the Elector (no names are given) explained that the Order "as one that in time must rule the world."

The facts of the Illuminati that I know are not in contradiction to these claims, though the context of the claims makes it seem much less nefarious. Weishaupt tried to form his own secret society based on the principles that religion was a useless superstition whose primary function was no longer relevant. That people should have a say in the law and who is in charge, and the poor should not rely on divine charity but rather on their fellow human beings for assistance. The "Illuminated" was really conveying the principles of the enlightenment, only in the German language areas of the world rather than just the French or English. The idea that they must "rule the world" is not so much a threat as it is a promise that their ideas were going to spread and take hold across the world. 

Now, I have no naive view of human nature. There is the distinct possibility that, like the Anabaptists in Germany in the 16th century, who preached religious socialism--that some individuals would attempt to take control for their own ends. Perhaps the individual interviewed by the Elector said this, perhaps that person misunderstood it, perhaps Weishaupt lied to us about his real purpose, or the Elector lied knowing that the dangerous idea of democracy was already spreading through Europe and pamphlets critical of the Bavarian monarchy and the religious influence over it. I think it was likely the latter, but it is one of those things we cannot know without documentation. The result was an edict that banned all secret societies including the Masonic lodges. Robison tells us that the law was never meant to be enforced and that Lodge Theodore, the headquarters of the Illuminated, stayed open and continued to distribute pamphlets that offended the monarchy. They did this as a statement against tyranny, which I find interesting given the type of people that oppose the "Illuminati" today. 

The reason that I doubt the veracity of this first claim is that there is another coming. Robison reports that four members of the Illuminated were brought before the Illuminated in 1783. These four confessed that the Order "abjured Christianity, and to refuse admission into the higher degrees to all who adhered to any of the three confessions." 

The statement of their confession goes on to list what it is that the Illuminated wanted--and I'm going to have to deal with that next week as it is going to make this week's post run way too long. What I will say is that there is some truth to this. The Illuminati, Weishaupt himself, were all Deists--they believed in the creator god. The clockmaker who then places the clock on the shelf and never interacts with it again. The Illuminati could have accepted religious people but the more devout they were--the less likely they would join anyway. Remember the Pope banned membership for all Catholics in the Masons. The penalty for this was ex-communication. As far as banning admittance in the higher degrees? I have no working knowledge of this. I do know that Weishaupt was weird and all kinds of degrees, ranks, and positions no doubt encouraged by our friend Baron Knigge from last week. I cannot comment on this portion of the claim. 

We will get to the beliefs of the Illuminati and their disbanding in the next post. For now, though, we have to break. There's too much in these confessions to skip over.