That's the propaganda that the church and the government at the time were spreading about Illuminati, but absolutely not what they were for, historically. Illuminati comes from the word "to illuminate," and their goals were specifically to illuminate minds in regards to "dark," mind-closing things like religion, bigotry, and government subjugation. Of course, as governments and those in power have often demonstrated (and 2004 presidential elections and Fox News continues to demonstrate), the way you destroy a thing that is trying to bring down your power is by incessantly claiming that the thing is exactly the opposite of what it is. The Illuminati were exactly the opposite of power-hungry shadow government.