Since the general theme of the Bible is "don't learn anything", the Genesis story is just the set-up for, yes, declaring knowledge to be sinful. After all, whose family line develops all the knowledge necessary to run a nomadic herding tribe? Cain's family developed all this knowledge, not Adam's additional progeny. You remember Cain, the guy cursed by God to wander the Earth forever, alone, for killing his brother Abel. Shortly after being so cursed, Cain settled down with a wife who couldn't possibly have existed (the only living humans on the planet at the time being Adam, Eve, and Cain), and populated an entire city with his children and grandchildren. Cain's grandchildren were the finest inventors on the planet, developing everything necessary for a nomadic herding tribe, including musical instruments. But back to the point, the Bible consistently states that learning knowledge (often dubbed "man's knowledge") can distract you away from your faith, so knowledge, if not a sin in and of itself, can lead you into sin very easily, so knowledge is best avoided if at all possible (which explains a lot about the Abrahamic religions). One specific example is that you should avoid looking up at the stars, because gazing on the stars could lead to you worshiping the stars (Deuteronomy 4:19).

Although assigned the kitchen sink, Eve’s sin was she liked to think. She knew she couldn’t go to college, And nibbled at the tree of knowledge. This didn’t go down well upstairs, A female putting on such airs! The outcome was quite hard on Eve, A learned floozy, asked to leave.

What about this then? If this doesn't convince you, whatever will?

Knowledge is a sin for religion for they want to keep people in fear and in the dark.

For organized religion, especially in the Western world, yes, knowledge is a sin and ignorance a virtue.

No, knowledge is not a sin but taking what doesn't belong to you is a sin. If you had a sandwich and you placed it in the fridge along with all sorts of sandwiches of every description and lots of drink and you asked your guest who was visiting your home not to eat that one sandwich, that they could eat any sandwich they wanted except for yours, if they ate it, that would be wrong. It was your sandwich. There was no need for them to eat that one with the variety of other foods available. They did not respect your authority as homeowner and food provider. That was what Adam and Eve did. They decided for themselves that they could eat what they were told not to. There was plenty to eat of everything else, but they chose to disobey. They didn't appreciate what they had been given and didn't accept his authority as their maker.

Eve had knowledge. She knew that she was not to eat the fruit, Adam told her this and God told Adam. Eve chose to listen to the Devil who was speaking through the serpent and she developed a wrong desire, she wanted to be God-Like. Adam like a fool, cast his lot in with his wife and then they were both banished from the Garden Of Eden and we are in this pitiful state because of it.

1) "In the Book of Genesis, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was a tree in the middle of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:9) from which God directly forbade Adam (Eve having not yet been created) to eat (Genesis 2:17)." "According to the Jewish tradition God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree that was to give free choice and allow them to earn, as opposed to receive, absolute perfection and intimate communion with God at a higher level than the one on which they were created. According to this tradition, Adam and Eve would have attained absolute perfection and retained immortality had they succeeded in withstanding the temptation to eat from the Tree. After failing at this task, they were condemned to a period of toil to rectify the fallen universe. Jewish tradition views the serpent, and sometimes the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil itself, as representatives of evil and man's evil inclination. Judaism generally recognizes no "evil" other than the evil actions of human beings. Eve's only transgression was that she disobeyed God's order. Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden and had to live ordinary, human lives." "In Christian theology, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is connected to the doctrine of original sin. Augustine of Hippo believed that humanity inherited sin itself and the guilt for Adam and Eve's sin.[2] By eating of the fruit of the Tree, Adam and Eve sought to be like God." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_of_Knowledge_of_Good_and_Evil 2) "In many expressions of Christianity, such as Catholicism and Anglicanism, knowledge is one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. In Islam, the prophet Muhammad has described himself and his vicergeant Ali as the sources of knowledge: "I am the City of Knowledge and Ali is its Gate". Hindu Scriptures present two kinds of knowledge, Paroksha Gnyana and Aporoksha Gnyana. Paroksha Gnyana is secondhand knowledge: knowledge obtained from books, hearsay, etc. Aporoksha Gnyana is the knowledge borne of direct experience, i.e., knowledge that one discovers for oneself. The Old Testament's Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil contained the knowledge that separated Man from God: "And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil…" (Genesis 3:22) In Gnosticism divine knowledge or gnosis is hoped to be attained and escape from the demiurge's physical world. And in Thelema knowledge and conversation with one's Holy Guardian Angel is the purpose of life, which is similar to Gnosis or enlightenment in other mystery religions." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge#Religious_meaning_of_knowledge 3) As a conclusion, knowledge has not been *generally* considered a sin by religious tradition, but some particular knowledge has been that. The hiding of knowledge has often been for various authorities a mean of keeping their power. This applies also to the power of the Church. Also the recognition of the authority of the Church for explaining scientific issues has been a long time an impediment for serious scientific research.

Can Knowledge be considered a sin, seeing Adam and Eve partook of the tree of Knowledge of good and evil? NO! In fact, God has said: "Ye cannot be saved in ignorance." ALL of life's experiences are 'bent' towards our continued learning. Even animals and insects continue to learn. We are given all the variety of life's experiejnces that we might learn. It is particularly important that we learn by our mistakes. God wants us to "repent". Repentance means that we learn to make a life change to our original nature or tendencies. "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." I believe, we don't know Him, until we learn of Him. Knowledge is Godly ... but we must use it with wisdom and propriety. Intelligence is the Righteous use of knowledge ... and the Glory of God is intelligence. If we return to the incident of the serpent and the partaking of the tree: Remember, God knows ALL things from the beginning, because He l;ives in eternity, and all things - past, present and future - are before Him constantly. He knew where Satan was going with the tree. God actually needed Man to grow for himself. So, it was expected that Adam would partake of the fruit that "would make him wise". Satan actually fell into God's bait!