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According to wikipedia the real illumianti were:

...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...

According to wikipedia Luciferianism is (not to be confused with Satanism):

...a belief system that venerates the essential characteristics that are affixed to Lucifer. The tradition, influenced by Gnosticism, usually reveres Lucifer not as the devil, but as a liberator, a guardian or guiding spirit,1 or even the true god as opposed to Jehovah...

This is similar to the idea of Prometheus who was punished by Zeus because he gave to mankind the technology of fire.

In popular culture we have seen many of movies such us Bladerunner, Prometheus, The Devil's Advocate, Lucy, Transcendence and large etc. that show this free-mason symbolism and the underlying idea of the Christian creator god being in fact the devil.

Knowing the amount of disinformation and conspiracy theories on this matter are there any credible sources that link this group of people with Luciferianism or as many other intellectuals of their time they were just atheist?

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  • Completly non-sensical : the Illuminati - if real - were an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on 1 May 1776. The society's goals were to oppose superstition, obscurantism, religious influence over public life". Thus, if they opposed superstition and obscurantism how they can rever Lucifer ? And what is the link from an Enlightenment-era secret society and pop-culture movies ? – Mauro ALLEGRANZA May 21 '18 at 7:44
  • @MauroALLEGRANZA "if real??" are you questioning the validity of the wikipedia article and its references? There has been other secret societies such us "Skull&Bones" linked to occultism. I want to know abut this historical secret society in the past. – user22051 May 21 '18 at 7:56
  • Well, they shared interests with luciferians, but it's like to say Lucifer himself is luciferian. Which is odd. – rus9384 May 21 '18 at 8:33
  • @rus9384 I have added references and needed explanations. Most people here seem unable to tell between "conspiracy" and real fact because of personal prejudices. – user22051 May 21 '18 at 8:47
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    I agree with what you say. But at first, definition of luciferianism involves the fact that you believe in Lucifer and that what he did is right. While "oppose superstition, obscurantism, religious influence over public life, and abuses of state power" does not explicitly state it. There is bigger chance that masons called themselves after Hermes (which can be translated as mason), but illuminati do not have any explicit reference to Lucifer. – rus9384 May 21 '18 at 9:59
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The Bavarian Illuminati had no connexion with Luciferianism so far as I can ascertain, if 'Luciferianism' implies veneration of or respect for Lucifer.

My immediate source is a review of Vernon Stauffer's New England and The Bavarian Illuminati :

Well-entrenched tradition has asserted that the secret force responsible for the New England [civil] disturbances [in the late 18th century] was the Bavarian Society of the Illuminati. In the third chapter, therefore, the author discusses the life of Adam Weishaupt, founder of the Illuminati. He shows how, after "an educational experience which had made him a passionate enemy of clericalism, Weishaupt, Professor of Law at the University of Ingoldstadt, arrived at the conclusion that a general offensive against the clerical party ought immediately to be undertaken . . . to overthrow the forces of superstition and error." He would found a model secret organization, "comprising 'schools of wisdom,' . . wherein those truths, which the folly and egotism of priests banned from the public chairs of education, might be taught with perfect freedom to susceptible youths." On May 1, 1776, the organization was founded. Under Weishaupt's sole domination, the Order was stagnant. With the accession, however, of Baron Knigge, a Freemason of high degree, progress resulted, and eventually an alliance with Freemasonry was effected. Internal dissension, the scandalous lives of the leaders, and political intrigues brought about suppression at the hands of the Bavarian Government. On August 16, 1787, the Duke of Bavaria "launched his third and last edict against the system. The measures taken against the Order in Bavaria effectually counteracted and destroyed its activities in other countries. (Joseph A. Murphy, The Catholic Historical Review, Vol. 5, No. 2/3 (Jul. - Oct., 1919), 265-270 : 267-8.)

Weishaupt clearly regarded the mainstream Christian churches as harbouring and spreading error, superstition, folly, and egotism. None of this suggests the least velleity towards Luciferianism. Indeed, I should imagine Lucifer was to be dispatched along with other clerical superstitions. (In this I wholly concur with Mauro Allegranza's opening comment, which can hardly be bettered.)

HISTORICAL NOTE

'Luciferianism' can also refer to 'the sect founder by Lucifer, bishop of Cagliairi in the 4th cent. AD, who opposed the supposed leniency of the Church towards epentant Arians' (Oxford English Dictionary). I assume these are not the Luciferians you have in mind.

REFERENCES

Vernon Stauffer, NewEngland and the Bavarian Illuminati. Vol. LXXXII of Studies in History, Economics and Public Law by The Faculty of Political Science. New York: Columbia University Press, 1918.

Review by: Joseph A. Murphy Source: The Catholic Historical Review, Vol. 5, No. 2/3 (Jul. - Oct., 1919), 265-270.

Hardly recent sources but I have been unable to find anything later.

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  • I was researching Albert Pike and his famous Luciferian quote It seems there is nothing linking the original secret society with the late luciferian Freemasons. – user22051 May 21 '18 at 15:48
  • PbxMan. Our views coincide, then. Many thanks for letting me know the origins of your question. I hope your research is working out well. Best - GT. – Geoffrey Thomas♦ May 21 '18 at 16:00
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You could make a much better case from what you quote for atheism or deism. Luciferianism has always existed more as a smear than a coherent theology, and there is a history of trying to apply it to discrediting freemasonry https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxil_hoax

The only serious attempt I know of to examine what the self-declared Illuminati were historically, is Niall Ferguson's in "The Square and the Tower: Networks, Hierarchies and the Struggle for Global Power". There is quite a detailed discussion of this part of the book in the Waking Up podcast episode #117 "Networks Power and Chaos" https://youtu.be/w0TwPma4A2c

Umberto Eco's "Foucault's Pendulum" is a work of fiction that illustrates the way the idea of secret and hidden societies can become a screen to project ourselves on, and a tar baby to absorb energy and creativity.

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