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The earliest challenge to the Old Order in Europe came with the Reformation. This upheaval in society brought with it a number of new concepts and, probably, the most far-reaching was the removal of the necessity for "redemption". No longer was mankind weighed down by the thought that transgression would bring eternal damnation.
With this release came a relaxation in certain moral tenets. Notably, usury was no longer considered immoral.
From the middle of the seventeenth century various societies appeared in many countries, often under the highest patronage. Amongst such associations was the international brotherhood of Freemasons, with its deliberately syncretic rituals and decor (Solomonic temple, signs and symbols) that made it cosmopolitan and religiously neutral - an ideal reflection of the "Enlightenment", which Kant described as "liberation from self-imposed tutelage".
It was introduced apparently from England or Scotland into Europe in the 1720s and in a half century it spread widely. Later it was to be the object of much calumny with the accusation that it had revolutionary and subversive aims. True or not it is easy to believe that masonic lodges helped in the publicity and discussion of ideas and thus contributed to the breaking up of tradition and convention.
One interesting result of this was an increasing Jewish emancipation.
Freemasonry played an important part in the American Revolution. It was found on both sides of the coming war between the colonists and the Crown and, although there is no clear evidence of collusion amongst masons from opposing camps, the fact that the British made some extraordinary military errors does arouse suspicions.
Cagliastro one of the major players in the "Necklace Conspiracy" in the build-up to the French Revolution was a Freemason.
As the attacks on the ruling class throughout Europe accelerated there was much talk of a Jewish/Masonic conspiracy behind all the revolutions and civil wars. An idea that continues to-day.
This secret society founded in 1776 by Adam Weishaupt expressed for the first time the aim of destroying the existing order of society and replacing it with a New World Order.