The Illuminati 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 in Bavaria, today part of Germany. The societys stated goals were to oppose superstition, obscurantism, religious influence over public life, and abuses of state power. The Illuminati did plenty of unusual things, such as using symbols like the owl, adopting pseudonyms to avoid identification, and having complicated hierarchies like Novice, Minerval, and Illuminated Minerval that divided the ranks. The group was founded by Adam Weishaupt, a German law professor who believed strongly in Enlightenment ideals, and his Illuminatenorden sought to promote those ideals among elites. The group initially had ambitious goals, such as replacing Christianity with a religion of reason, but it was short-lived, operating for only a decade from 1776 to 1785. The group was disbanded, but the myth of the Illuminati has expanded since then, and it has become one of the most enduring conspiracy theories of modern times. The Illuminati has been accused of conspiring to control world affairs, by masterminding events and planting agents in governments and corporations, in order to gain political power, influence, and to establish a New World Order. However, most of the rumors are fiction, and the groups influence was not nearly as vast and enduring as modern conspiracists claim.