It’s not like unquestioning obedience to authority hasn’t led to despair, and to both figurative and literal mass suicide before. The Germans only said they were only following orders from their fuhrer; and so were the people in Jonestown following their prophet’s order to drink poison.

Plenty of nonsensical rules in the bible, my friend. And Yahweh has issued so many bad commands, particularly in the Old testaments with violent punishments. Like, ordering to kill first born children, who have nothing to do with enslaving Jews as they are too young to be involved nor make any decisions. Not to mention the really weird accounts on Lot’s family, starting with the arbitrary command to not look back while Sodom was being smite, resulting in Lot’s wife turning to a pillar of salt.

I don’t like all of these, and even if they are true accounts, then the whole world just blindly follows a power-tripping deity who punishes innocent children, and turn someone into a pillar of salt for breaking a command that serves no purpose and has no sense in its nature whatsoever. Only an absolute ruler could make such rules and commands with no sense-- like ordering not to eat the fruit of knowledge. What is so bad with eating the fruit of knowledge? Everyone wants knowledge after all, right?