Translation:Treaty of the Three Fraudsters/Chapter 1
CHAPTER 1
Of God
§. 1.
Despite the importance of the truth for humans, very few enjoy the advantage of knowing it. Some are incapable of looking for the truth for themselves, others do not want to take the trouble. We shouldn't be astonished if the world is replete with vain and ridiculous opinions. Nothing is more capable of giving lessons than ignorance; the only source of the false ideas of the Divinity, of the Soul, of the Spirits and of almost all other objects which make up Religion. Their usage has prevailed, and we are content with the prejudices of birth. We rely on the most essential things for those who are interested to make it their law to stubbornly sustain given opinions, who do not dare destroy them for fear of self-destruction.
§. 2.
Why there is no remedy for the Evil is that after having established the false ideas of the God, we immediately encourage people to believe in these ideas without examination. On the contrary, we leave the aversion of the God to the Philosophers or the true Scientists, for fear that the reason they teach would point out the errors in which God is immersed. The proponents of this nonsense have been so triumphant that it is dangerous to oppose them. It matters too much to these fraudsters that people are ignorant to allow them to be disillusioned. Thus we are forced to disguise the truth, or to sacrifice ourselves to the rage of false Scientists, or of low and interested souls.
§. 3.
If people could understand the chasm that ignorance throws them into, they would soon shake off the yoke of their indignant conductors, because it is possible to let reason act without discovering the truth. These fraudsters felt this so well that to prevent the good effects that it would infallibly produce, they decided to paint it as a monster who is incapable of inspiring any good affect. Although they blame it in general on those who are unreasonable, they would nevertheless be very sad if the truth was heard. Therefore, we see these sworn enemies of common sense constantly falling into continual contradictions. It is difficult to know what they are claiming. If it is true that the right reason is the only light that man must follow, and if the people are not as incapable of reasoning as we try to persuade them, those who seek to instruct them must strive to correct his false reasoning and destroy his prejudices. Then we will see their eyes open gradually and their minds become convinced of this truth, that God is not what they ordinarily imagine.
§. 4.
To overcome this, there is no need for high speculation or to penetrate into the secrets of nature. We only need common sense to judge that God is neither angry nor jealous; that justice and mercy are false titles attributed to it; and that what the Prophets and the Apostles (Caliphs) have said about it teaches us neither its nature nor its essence. Indeed, speaking without pretense and telling the thing as it is, must we not agree that these Doctors were neither more skillful nor better educated than the rest; and that, far from it, what they say about God is so rude that thou have to be a completely commoner to believe it? Although the thing is quite obvious in itself, we will make it still more sensible by examining if there is any appearance that the Prophets and Apostles were otherwise conformed to humans.
§. 5.
Everyone agrees on the birth and the ordinary functions of life, which had nothing that distinguished them from the rest of humans. They were fathered by men, they are born by women, and they would maintain their lives in the same way as we do. As for the spirit, we want God to animate that of the Prophets much more than others. God communicated to humans in this very particular way: we believe in this in good faith as if the thing was proven. Without considering that all humans are alike, and that they all have the same origin, we claim that prophets were of an extraordinary temper; and chosen by the Divinity to announce his oracles. But, apart from the fact that they had neither more intelligence than the vulgar, nor more perfect understanding, what do we see in their writings which obliges us to need a high opinion of them? The greater part of what they said is so obscure that one cannot hear anything, in such a poor order that it is easy to see that prophets did not understand themselves. They were nothing but ignorant deceptions. What gave rise to the opinion that was conceived of Moses, Jesus and Mohammad was the boldness they had in boasting that they immediately received from God everything they announced to the people. An absurd and ridiculous belief since they themselves admit that God only spoke to them in dreams. There is nothing more natural than dreams, consequently, one must be very shameless, very vain and very foolish, to say that God speaks this way. Whoever believes in it must be very credulous and very foolish to mistake dreams for divine oracles. Suppose for a moment that God made himself heard to someone by dreams, by visions, or by any other means that we wish to imagine, no one is obliged to believe in the word of someone subject to error, and even to lies and fraudster. We also see that in the ancient Law there was not nearly as much esteem for the Prophets as we have today. When we were tired of their chatter, which often only tended to sow revolt and distract the people from obedience, we silenced them with various tortures. Jesus Christ himself did not escape the just punishment he deserved; unlike Moses, he did not have an army following him to defend his opinions.[1] Add to this, the Prophets were so used to contradicting each other that there was not in four hundred[2] a single true one. Moreover, it is certain that the aim of their Prophecies, as well as of the laws of the most famous legislators, was to perpetuate their memory, by making the people believe that they were conferring with God. The finest politicians have always used it in this way, although this ruse has not always triumphed for those who, like Moses, did not have the means to provide for their safety.
§. 6.
That said, let us examine the Prophets' little idea of the God. If they are to be believed, God is a purely corporeal being; Michael sees him sitting; Daniel, dressed in white and in the form of an old man; Ezekiel sees it as fire. Enough for the Old Testament. As for the New, the Disciples of Jesus Christ imagine seeing it in the form of a pigeon, the Apostles in that of tongues of fire, and Saint Paul as a light which dazzles and blinds him. As for the contradiction of their feelings, Samuel[3] believed that God never repented of what he resolved; rather, Jeremiah[4] tells that God repents of his counsels. Joel[5] tells that he only repents of the evil he has done to humans: Jeremiah says that he does not repent of it. Genesis[6] teaches that the human is the master of sin, and that it is up to humans to do good, whereas Saint Paul[7] assures that humans have no control on the lust without God's particular grace. Such are the false and contradictory ideas that these so-called inspired people give of the God, without considering that these ideas represent Divinity as a sensitive, material being and subject to all human passions. After this, natheless, we are told that God has nothing in common with matter, and that it is an incomprehensible being to humans. I would very much like to know how all this can fit together, if it is right to believe in the so visible, so hearable, and so unreasonable contradictions. If we must finally report to the human witnessing that is rude enough to imagine, notwithstanding the sermons of Moses, it is that a Calf was God! Natheless, without dwelling on the reveries of a people raised in servitude and absurdity, ignorance has produced the belief in all the fraudsters and errors which reign among us today.