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Donner accès à des textes connus et surtout peu connus liés à l’histoire du mouvement libertaire; présenter des réflexions et des débats.

BAKUNIN. – GOD AND THE STATE
Article published on 5 November 2013

by Eric Vilain

The Bible, which is a very interesting and here and there very
profound book when considered as one of the oldest surviving
manifestations of human wisdom and fancy, expresses this truth very
naively in its myth of original sin. Jehovah, who of all the good gods
adored by men was certainly the most jealous, the most vain, the most
ferocious, the most unjust, the most bloodthirsty, the most despotic, and
the most hostile to human dignity and liberty – Jehovah had just created
Adam and Eve, to satisfy we know not what caprice; no doubt to while
away his time, which must weigh heavy on his hands in his eternal
egoistic solitude, or that he might have some new slaves. He generously
placed at their disposal the whole earth, with all its fruits and animals,
and set but a single limit to this complete enjoyment. He expressly
forbade them from touching the fruit of the tree of knowledge. He wished,
therefore, that man, destitute of all understanding of himself, should
remain an eternal beast, ever on all – fours before the eternal God, his
creator and his master. But here steps in Satan, the eternal rebel, the
first freethinker and the emancipator of worlds. He makes man ashamed
of his bestial ignorance and obedience; he emancipates him, stamps
upon his brow the seal of liberty and humanity, in urging him to disobey
and eat of the fruit of knowledge.