Natural Intelligence and The Future of Religion

Natural Intelligence and The Future of Religion

Why Believers Should Abandon Religion to be Closer to God

Introduction

My personal non-scientific research in religion was, and still, an emotional and intellectual roller coaster of belief and disbelief; in this article I am only sharing a snapshot of where I am now on this roller coaster, because I think it will only end by a scientific fact.

Personally, it just doesn’t make sense to me that after all this long evolutionary process that led to this amazing natural intelligence, NI for short (the human), it will simply die and vanish!

I admit that I am desperately looking for another optimistic scenario where we, the NIs, come back in a way or another. The only scientifically explainable way (theoretically at least) for this to happen is if we’re living in a sort of a matrix (like the movie). If that’s the case then maybe there is an Extraterrestrial Intelligence (EI for short) who initiated this NI-producing universe.

That very thought made me look back at religion and its history in a different way; to see if it provides a pattern of evolutionary training similar to what a man-made artificial intelligence (AI) would go through to evolve intellectually.

It’s as if there was a period when we, NIs (humans), needed guidance at our infancy phase while we were intellectually and morally growing up, and while we were developing our very first moral concepts on our own. This guidance was delivered by releasing versions of “religions” for educational purposes. Consider it a training model for the NI that we are, that is released in successive versions.

Then came a time when the “divine revelation” has ended, and an era of sort of a deism has started. Humans are now continuously evolving on their own with minimal (or no) intervention from whoever was giving us this guidance.

We reached a threshold at our accumulative evolution where we can let go religions, their texts, and all the packages that come with them. Those religion versions were designed to fit specific intellectual and moral evolutionary phases of NIs (humans) at the time of release, and they were not intended to stay valid forever!

Living by those religions’ rules and regulations at the current time is disastrous. So many myths has developed around them, so many socially, culturally and politically driven components were attached to them, and in some case altered the core messages of those religions over many years. Moreover, there are more than 3,000 Gods out there, which one is the right one?! I’m not in a position to defend those, because now I reject all that.

We matured enough to be fully independent. We became able to seek and produce knowledge on our own, and to continuously develop our own moral values, laws, and meditation techniques without any guidance, in order to manage our own lives, find ways to live with each other, and utilize and preserve natural resources around us.

As a result of this theory, I currently reject all religions, yet I believe that there is an extraterrestrial intelligence (EI) out there who started this universe.

When I say an “extraterrestrial intelligence”, I don’t mean a “god” in the traditional definition, which basically means a direct creator. I mean an EI who’s driven by science and reason just like the universe around us. I mean an EI who respects the minds of NIs (human beings) the same way we humans would respect the mind of an AI or a robot we create ourselves. Not someone who wants us to blindly follow a set of rules and rituals for thousands of years without questioning or challenging them.

Although “Randomness” is the keyword in evolution, and there is no evidence of intelligent design or external control over its process, yet this doesn’t necessarily mean that the whole process was not started by an intelligent being. Unfortunately we don’t have (yet) a scientifically sound way to test this hypothesis in order to accept it or reject it. Hopefully in the future we will, at that point, I will follow science.

For now, I don’t claim that I have the ultimate truth about the cosmos and the origin of life! And I don’t think any believer or theist can! I am choosing to accept a theory without any scientific proof, I am choosing to abandon all religions, and be a religionless theist NI.

This article takes you through how I came to this conclusion.

Interpretations of The Divine Text

We (humans) were told by our ancestors that: what some of us now call: an “Extraterrestrial Intelligence”, used to be called: “God” or “Gods” by them, and that God sent them messages via prophets or messengers. Those messages were referred to as “Divine Texts”, delivered through “Revelations”, and eventually the texts became the basis of “Religions”.

For some reason, those texts are not crystal clear and they need interpretation, even in their own languages! Many people have provided their own interpretations of “divine texts” over the years. Some of them even claimed to be the holders of the only truthful interpretation and all others are wrong. This caused new branches of religions to be created, and even wars to be started, with every new interpretation that gathered a considerable number of followers.

Some interpretations (and their own religion branches) disappeared, while some have been continuously enhanced, and surprisingly, some old interpretations have persisted without any change for hundreds of years and became integral parts of those religions! This has deviated the original messages towards the interpreters’ societal or political orientations and later on it provided some people with more power over others.

From time to time, to remove the effect of societal or political deviations, people try to introduce new fresh (or modern and progressive) interpretations, in order to understand what was going on at the time of “receiving” those texts. I wanted to follow the steps of these people. I wanted to read the text in a way that makes sense to me personally, and goes in-line with my own belief in an EI.

Because I come from an Arab Muslim background, I studied Islamic text. But because I grew up with it, it was very challenging for me to get out of the box and read the Quran with a fresh mind. Specific understandings were engraved in my memory, and it took several years and many books to reset my critical thinking of the text.

I read books by many “modern” muslims who provided liberal progressive understandings of Islam and criticized old understandings, I read books by ex-muslims who converted to other religions and criticized Islam, and I read books by atheists who criticized all religions. At the end, I decided to dig deeper into language, use what I learned from all this reading and develop my own understanding.

While working on my own reading, I was influenced by the research of Dr. Muhammad Shahrur. As part of his research, Dr. Shahrur analyzed all “received” texts of main religions, then he extracted the main concepts from them, and plotted them along a time axis. The purpose was find patterns of legal and moral evolution in the text.

For me, his study offers a way to find intelligence in these revelations reflected by a correlation with humans’ natural intellectual evolution. This will also help understand the bigger picture or the bigger purpose, if any, behind this revelation.

Of course we can argue that if this text is not “divine” at all (if it’s written by humans without a divine revelation), it will show trends of evolution naturally as humans evolve intellectually and morally, I totally agree. I would also add that even if the text is divine, we still don’t have a way to tell whither the text was received as is (being the exact words of God) or it was an inspiration articulated by the human messengers, hence influenced by the evolutionary phase of people of the time. For the purpose of this article, I will assume it’s divine regardless of who actually articulated it, just to look at the big picture and avoid getting lost in the details of the text for a change.

Note: Although there is no way to tell as a fact if that extraterrestrial intelligence (EI) is a male, female, or other; singular or plural in nature; one or multiple beings; I will address EI as a “one singular male being” like it was addressed in the “received” text.

The Authenticity of The Divine Text

I think that all divine texts were altered someway or another, intentionally or unintentionally. Intentional alteration could have happened for societal, political or financial purposes. Unintentional alteration could have happened naturally by the continuous development of languages or even while collecting or translating the text.

As mentioned earlier, we still don’t have a way to tell, for a fact, whither the text was received as is (being the exact words of God) or it was an inspiration articulated by the human messengers. That’s why I personally disagree with Dr. Shahrur’s opinion that Quran is as precise as the human body; justified by the belief that they both came from the same God.

It was people who collected quranic text after the death of the prophet, and they actually disagreed on what to include (there was a disagreement on some words, verses and even chapters), how to order its chapters and even how to read the words. To me, this is natural, because people would have different understandings, various linguistic skills, and even distinguished dialects.

I also disagree with Dr. Shahrur’s opinion that God pledged to keep Quran safe of any alteration based on verse 15:9. I think the word “Thikr” in that verse doesn’t mean Quran. Based on the meaning of the word in other verses such as 16:43, 38:38–49, we can clearly see that it means History. Hence, we can understand the meaning of verse 15:9 as: “Indeed, it is We who passed down the history and indeed, We will be its guardian.” and the context of the chapter confirms this meaning. In other words, major historical events are kept save from obliviousness. The safekeeping could be done via nature’s laws through ancient scripts, fossils, and old ruins that are discovered and studied by archaeology.

Regardless of any intentional or unintentional alterations in the meanings or usage of the words, the best way to get a better understanding of the main concepts in those divine messages would be by dividing every single denomination into topics, then collecting text from all denominations (versions) for specific topics, and then analyzing the development of the topic or how it was addressed over time. While doing so, we should take into consideration human moral and intellectual evolution at the time of receiving each part of the text we collect. (which is what Dr. Muhammad Sharur did)

We should also take into consideration the development of the initial revelation language for every denomination and how it relates to other languages that existed at the time of revelation. For example, at the time of Quranic revelation, some Arabic words were taken from Persian and Syriac Languages (Arabized). (which was ignored by Dr. Muhammad Sharur)

Language Continuous Development

I realized that as languages develop or evolve over time, some words get new meanings, and the original meanings start to disappear. Moreover, when translating a text to other languages, some words, and thus some sentences, get new meanings.

When we try to understand any old text, I think we have to find the original meanings of its words that were used at the time of receiving/writing that text in its native language, and understand it in the simplest way we possibly can, this will help us come closer to how it was understood at the time, without any fancy interpretations.

Being an Arab myself, I can talk about some changes in Arabic words. An example of that is the word “Sayarah” in Arabic, which now means Car. “Sayarah” used to mean Convoy (a group of people traveling together with their camels, horses, luggages and food). After the invention of cars, Arabs called the car “Sayarah” because cars help you travel or move from a place to the other, in doing so they utilized the verb “Sara” in Arabic (in past tense) which means “Moved” whither by walking or other means.

Another example is the word: “Tharrah”, which now means atom, but a thousand years ago it was used to describe the tiny dust particles you see in sunlight beams coming through the window, it was also used to describe the smallest ants.

Religion Is Just A Mentorship Agreement

Of those examples there is also the word “Abd”, which was used to describe someone who chose, at their own will, to follow another person as their guide or mentor and stay with that person in a sort of an agreement. In that sense “Abd” translates to a “companion with an agreement”. Arabs used to say “Abida Bihi”, when someone accompanies someone else for good. They also used the word “Al Abadah” to mean staying, and “Abdo Al Dinar” (Dinar is the money unit or currency at the time) to describe a materialistic person who’s driven totally by money.

A “Slave” in Arabic is “Abd Mamlouk”, which means an owned companion, and the old word for slavery was “Riq”. However people started to use “Abd” without “Mamlouk” (owned) to mean a slave because it was understood from the context when used in a sentence. Unfortunately later on “Abd” started to mean “Slave” for the next generations mainly for political reasons (to convince citizens that they are slaves to God managed by a master human who represents God on earth! And obeying the master is the only way to obey God).

Based on that, I think we should understand verse 51:56 in Quran as Arabs have understood it at the time (before the meanings have changed and before politicizing religion), which meant at the time (in my opinion): “I designed humans and Jinis but to be my companions and follow me as their mentor”. This is very different than the known traditional understanding that translates as: “I created humans and Jinis but to worship me”, and worship here is used to imply being slaves. (also for me, in the same verse, “Khalaqa” means designed, not created)

So if you choose to be an “Abd” for another person, then you follow that person as your mentor for training, education, sustenance, honor, protection or any other benefit, and there will be an agreement between both of you. That person may ask you for specific commitments to accept t be your mentor.

This very agreement between you and your mentor is the original meaning of the word “Deen” in Arabic, which now translates as Religion! Even the english word “Religion”, originally in Latin, used to mean an obligation or a vow, which is closer to the original Arabic meaning as well!

This is how I think Arabs understood the relationship with what they called God at the time. They had the absolute personal and individual free will to decide (verse 19:95) to believe in his existence and to follow him as their mentor, and no one can force any of them to do so (verse 2:256).

The purpose of following that “God” as per the text, if you decide to, is to learn from him, and get help and guidance because he describes himself as the all knowing, the omnipotent, and the owner of everything (verses 2:151, 42:12, and many others).

Islam Is Not A Name of A Religion

According to the divine message, if you choose to follow that “God” for the benefits we mentioned, then by definition, you believe in his existence, but you still have to vow to one simple obligation: believe in him as the one and only God and the creator/designer/starter of this world. In other words be a monotheist not a polytheist.

In Quran, this was articulated by the verb: “Aslama”, which (I think) went through a similar evolution or change as the other words I mentioned earlier. And because the word: “Islam” was derived from “Aslama”, I think the word “Islam” too has a different meaning now than the meaning it had more than 1400 years ago.

Let’s dig deeper into the meaning of these words by starting with a simple example; when early Arabs said: “Salima Adam”, that meant: Adam survived or was kept safe of harm or disease (or impurities of the body). When used with objects, as in “Saluma Al-Ma’a”, they meant the water was kept safe of any pollution or impurities, i.e., the water was kept “Saleem”: unharmed or pure, this is in passive voice. When it’s in active voice, they said: “Sallama Adam Al-Ma’a”, meaning: Adam kept the water pure and safe of any impurities.

When the preposition “Li” (to) is used, as in “Sallama Adam Al-Ma’a Li John” the meaning becomes slightly different because it means Adam kept the water purely to John, as a way of saying Adam gave or handed the water to John. Similarly in “Sallama Adam Nafsaho Li John” is a way of saying Adam surrendered or submitted to John.

However the word used in Quran is not “Sallama Li”, it’s “Aslama Li”. “Aslama” is another variation of the same verb but it implies a different meaning, which is: Dedicated purely to something without any distractions (impurities). Here is an example: “Aslama Adam Nafsaho Li Al-Dirasah”, means: Adam dedicated himself to studying and nothing else.

It can also be used to describe a dedication in a relationship where a person is dedicated purely to someone without any one else (impurities in the relationship) as in marriage for example where having a relationship with other than the spouse makes the relationship impure.

It’s worth noting that Arabs sometimes use the word “Wajhaho”, which literally translates to: “his face”, but contextually used to mean his orientation towards a specific destination.

Also worth noting that Arabs used the verb “Hanafa” to describe the act of deviating from the norm (at the time) of believing in multiple Gods and follow only one God. Whoever does that was called: “Hanif”.

When all that is used with God as in: “Aslama Adam Wajhaho Li Allah Hanif”, the meaning becomes: Adam dedicated his orientation towards Allah as the only God without any other Gods. In that sense, the antonym to “Aslama Li” is “Ashraka Ma’a”, which literally means: had another with, and contextually means became a polytheist.

Based on the above, I think Arabs at the time understood verse 4:125 as follows: “And who is better in religion than one who decided at his own will to dedicate his orientation towards Allah while being a doer of good deeds and followed the religion of Abraham, who left all other Gods for Allah, the only one God?”

This is also seen in the second part of verse 22:34 which I can now translates as: “For your God is one God, so to him alone be dedicated” instead of “For your god is one God, so to him submit”.

Now let’s move to the word “Islam” which is different than “Tasleem”. “Islam” is derived from “Aslama Li”, while “Tasleem” is derived from “Sallama Li” and now we know the difference between the two. Thus, the word “Islam” in this sense simply means the belief in the existence of a God, and only one God, who created/designed/started this universe (or simply: monotheism, in it’s very basic definition).

We can clearly see that in verse 26:89 which I translate as: “But only one who comes to Allah with a mind that believes in one God not many Gods” instead of “But only one who comes to Allah with a sound heart”. Noting that the word “Qalb” used to mean Mind for early Arabs, but later on it was used to describe the heart muscle in human body. Unfortunately most of the translators used the later meaning.

Please notice here another difference between “Sallama Li” and “Aslama Li”. In “Sallama Li”, a person might be forced to surrender or to submit, but in “Aslama Li”, the meaning in Arabic implies a confirmation that a person took that decision on his own, and eliminates any possibility of him being forced to do so.

That’s how early Arabs also understood why Quran called those who prevent people from making their own decisions regarding religion “Mujrimoon”: criminals, because they offended the very basic principle the religion was built on: Free Will.

What’s Included In This Agreement?

Now let’s summarize the definition of a Religion as per the Quranic divine text. It’s just an agreement between a person and God, into which the person enters at their own will, to follow that God as a mentor in order to learn from him. In return, the person vow to believe in the existence of that God as the only God there is, who is the creator (or starter) of the universe.

What else does this God want us to believe in? Well, he continuously asks us to do good deeds or “righteous”. But good or right is relative! So this doesn’t sound fair. Moreover, he wants us to believe that sometime in the future, he will bring back people from death and reward those who believed in his existence and did good deeds with “Heaven”, while those who didn’t will be punish by “Hell”. This also doesn’t sound fair! What if a person does good deeds but doesn’t believe in God?

I will come back to these two very important points later on in this article, but for now, let me drive your attention to the fact that the religion agreement does not include Law or Prayers! It only includes belief in God existence and ethics.

We can see this clearly in verse 2:62 which translates to: “Indeed, those who believed [speaking to what we now call Muslims], and Jews and Christians and Sabeans — those [among them] who believed in Allah and the Last Day and did righteousness — will have their reward by God, and no fear will there be concerning them, nor will they grieve.” (the same messages was repeated in verse 5:69). So regardless of the denomination or the “religion version” they belong to, if they believe in God, the “last day”, and do good deeds, they are all considered the same to this God.

What does a person learn from that God in this agreement? Mainly leaps in: knowledge, moral principles, legal concepts, and meditation. In this sense, canon law, Islamic sharia, Jewish halakha, in addition to all kinds of prayers, are not part of religion itself (which is just the agreement), they are part of the learning people get as a result of that agreement.

The Evolution of Learning

Before getting even deeper into the learning people get from that God, let’s explore an analogy. A mother takes care of her baby by feeding, guiding, teaching, training, and protecting him (even from himself sometime) until he’s mature enough to think and make decisions on his own and be responsible for his own decisions. At that time, he becomes fully independent of his mother.

During the physical and mental growth period, the kid acquires a set of skills to seek and realize knowledge including language and reason, he also learns ethics and moral values. This is accomplished by either direct education or indirect education via stories (real or metaphoric) to derive morals and induce critical thinking.

During the growth period, a mother also sets specific and sometimes strict rules for the kid. Those rules usually loosens up as the kid grows up and develops the ability to differentiate between the good and the bad, and the ability to think of the consequences of his own actions. Those rules are either communicated by strict orders like Dos and Don’ts, or guidelines on how to do or avoid doing somethings, or by motivating the kid to do something with a reward and frightening him to prevent him of doing something else with a threat of punishment.

If we look at the development of religion teachings from a religion version to the next, we can notice a similar pattern. The big picture here is that there was a period were humans needed God’s teachings while they were intellectually and morally growing up, and then came a time when they matured enough to be independent of that God’s teachings.

They reached a threshold of accumulative evolutionary state where they became able to seek and produce knowledge on their own and to develop their own moral principles, laws, and meditation techniques in order to manage their own lives, find out ways to live with each other, and utilize and preserve natural resources around them. Hence, the period of “revelation” and sending divine messages has ended, and an era of sort of a deism has started. Humans are now on their own with minimal (or no) intervention from that God.

By analyzing the divine text, we can notice how the early messages were much simpler than later ones to fit the human’s levels of intelligence and moral systems.

The delivery mechanism also evolved over time. In the very beginning, (according to the text), messages included specific moral actions delivered by animals that humans started to imitate (such as burying the dead which we learned from crows!).

Next, (again according to the text), messages were sent via angels who looked like people yet still differentiable somehow from mankind. The messages at that time only introduced the elementary concept of God without any laws, morals or prayers.

Then some humans were selected to be prophets or simply messengers to deliver God’s message which they received via visions and then revelations and in rare cases via direct conversations. Those messages were more sophisticated than the earlier ones, they included educational leaps in science (via miracles, by motivating people to criticize them and repeat them on their own, and via direct teaching of how to do or build things), law systems (via canon law, Islamic sharia, Jewish halakha and others with reward and punishment systems to teach law enforcement), moral principles (via real stories supported by scientific historical evidence or by metaphoric stories with no scientific historical evidence), and meditation techniques (via prayers).

The later the message, the less strict laws it introduced and the more room it offered for human involvement in developing the rules, and the more abstract the concepts become. Finally, all messages stopped, and humans started to be fully in control of their own science, laws, ethics and meditations evolutions.

According to the text, messages have concluded when the religion was completed, i.e., the agreement details has been fully communicated in an evolutionary approach over decades of interventions and revelations since Noah until Mohammad. At the end, the basic learning has finished and humans have developed the accumulative moral values, and has acquired the necessary knowledge tools for them to start building on that. This is how we can understand the middle part of verse 5:3. Here, please remember that the word “Islam” is not used as the name of the religion, it’s used to describe the act of dedication as the vow in the agreement.

In that sense, the “divine message” (in singular form) is the total of all divine texts from all denominations. Every text had an evolved version of the message that is compatible with humans’ intellectual and moral evolution at the time of revelation. Texts should be understood as a whole one message, taking into consideration the historical context at the time of revelation, and the accumulative evolutionary patterns in successive received texts.

Any one text or version of the message does not fit all humans at all times, because those versions were sent to specific societies in specific geographies at specific eras of human evolution. The last one (what we now call Islam) is no exception, as per verses 6:92 and 42:7. However, the accommulative message as a whole and the concepts and morals that can be extracted from it, is what works for all humans at all times.

A text that was intended to help resolve issues at specific times for a society with specific evolution level can’t be used to solve new issues for succeeding societies with higher evolutionary levels, let alone to live by! It did it’s job directly at the time, and now it can be used indirectly by inducing its basic abstract principles.

The Evolution of Law

Let’s now move to law and its development or evolution. Before we dig deeper into this, let’s again explore an analogy, this time derived from computer science.

A computer operating system or a software is updated periodically by releasing new versions that supersede previous ones. This doesn’t mean that older versions are canceled by newer ones. New versions offer more developed or evolved features to meet the needs of continuously evolving users.

Older versions were the best options at their release times. Later on, as new versions are released, older ones would still work perfectly at the job they were created for, but they will be limited by the technological development of their times, hence, they won’t offer all newly added features. There might come a time though, when very old versions become obsolete and can no longer survive.

Users who continuously update to newer versions keep opening up new possibilities for themselves. And there might come a time when the software is evolved enough to allow users to customize it on their own, or even better, users evolve to become experts and then build their own versions on top of existing open source code without the need for the original developers.

Similarly, law has evolved over multiple successive versions of messages (religions). Every newer version superseded the previous ones. According to the divine message, people are free to choose any version to follow in their own communities. This is clearly seen in verse 2:62 we mentioned earlier, which translates to: “Indeed, those who believed [speaking to what we now call Muslims], and Jews and Christians and Sabeans — those [among them] who believed in Allah and the Last Day and did righteousness — will have their reward by God, and no fear will there be concerning them, nor will they grieve.”

To connect this to the analogy I used, I think of God, or what I call the EI, as the initial developer, and humans as the continuously evolving intelligent users. When you follow the development of law in revelations over successive religions, you can notice that it’s all about continuous development, It was started by the EI as training models only to guide and train humans in their early beginnings until they are mature or evolved enough to develop their own in societies, cities, or countries!

That’s why at some point, revelation had to stop, ending religion-based laws and commencing the start of an era where mankind can legislate for themselves.

Applying the laws that religions have suggested hundreds of years ago to our time would be disastrous! The rules of that time have been designed to fit circumstances that have vanished and will never come back, because the evolution process can only go forwards, not backwards! The attempt to recreate a society that mimics the initial Muslim society is insane and would never work, humans have passed that phase and moved on to totally new challenges.

In that sense, I disagree with Dr. Sharur’s opinion that “Prohibitions or restrictions can only come from God, and since revelation has stopped, those can’t be changed”. I think restrictions in the last version of revelation are but a component in the successive versions for us to learn from when we develop our own, they could be analyzed and even challenged to find the reasoning behind them, and then eliminate them based on humans’ collective wisdom of good and bad for their own societies or even as individuals.

An example would be the prohibition of Pork in Quran. This could be just a signal to suggest that even meat, that God himself mentioned as a grace he offered us to eat, can be restricted or avoided if needed! We now see that in self-restricting vegetarians and vegans who decided on their own to avoid eating all meat.

Humans have already found ways to create and develop their own laws and regulations through parliaments and non-profit activist organizations that pushes for new legislations. Humans have also went beyond their own societies by creating international counsels to set rules and regulations between countries.

The Evolution of Moral Values

Moral values and ethics had a slightly different path. It evolved cumulatively as a result of human interactions with each other and with nature based on needs and mutual benefits. Divine messages might have played a role in mentoring humans while they built their own moral systems.

Now, these values have been engraved in the collective human mind and they won’t be lost if we let go religion commandments, or even let go the belief in God’s existence.

Humans have evolved even more than what religions have suggested. We have created code of conduct in personal and professional environments and international organizations to guarantee human rights globally regardless of religion, ethnicity or nationality.

It’s worth noting here that prophets were moral idols in their own societies and at the time when they lived. It’s not fair to consider them as moral idols now because human morals have evolved. The actions of the most ethical person a thousand years ago won’t be ethically accepted now, and the same will be true a thousand years in the future from now.

In section: “What’s Included In This Agreement?” I mentioned few points to come back to. For instance, we’re expected to do good deeds, but good is relative! Well, good is relative to the norms of the society you live in is relative to the point of time on the evolution access you and your society are at. For example, slavery was ethically accepted at some point, but now it’s not. And because ethics are accumulative, people won’t allow slavery to be back except if the whole human ethical system collapses.

So it’s not fair to compare what we now consider “The right thing to do”, with what used to be right hundreds of years ago, every era should be treated or judged separately based on their own state of morel evolution. This was actually stated in verse 2:134 which translates to: “That was a nation which has passed on. It will have [the consequence of] what it has done, and you will have what you have done. And you will not be asked about what they used to do.”

The Evolution of Meditation

I think of religious rituals as early versions of meditation techniques for self-reflection or for spiritual recreation. It used to represent a way to connect with God via an ablation, pilgrimage, ritual prayers and then just words as humans developed more and more abstract concepts and understandings of the relationship between them and God!

It’s worth mentioning that all kinds of such rituals started (as per the Quran and historical records) as individual actions but they were done in groups for people to learn from each other, then it became a norm to do prayers together, and then people made it part of the religion!

Moreover in Quran, there were no details of how to pray. I think this was done by design. It was left to people to decide how to perform it individually. People just took the easiest path and imitated the way the prophet used to pray, which I think is not an obligation for everyone else.

The Afterlife Concept

Going back to section: “What’s Included In This Agreement?” again, we’re expected to believe that we will be brought back from death someday. Well, in light of the current technological development in software, I do find this theoretically possible!

There is an ongoing research now to enable us to upload and preserve one’s consciousness after death. And there is a hypothetical debate on who will actually exist in that preserved consciousness: Is it the actual person themselves or just a copy of them? I find this debate fascinating, and I think if there is an EI out there he would also think of keeping a copy of our consciousness somewhere when the current physical form we have (the body) completely dissolve by death.

We’re also expected to believe that if we’re brought back, there will be “Heaven” for those who believed in God and “Hell” for those who didn’t. It still does not sound fair to me to punish someone just for not believing in God even if they did good, relative to the moral values of their own times!

The only way this makes sense to me is if Heaven and Hell are metaphoric expressions to describe a new world in which our preserved consciousness will be installed. Those who did not believe, will be left alone in a harsh environment where they will suffer on their own to survive, while those who believed will be taken to a softer environment where they get special support from that EI.

Conclusion

As a conclusion, I think the continuous evolution of human moral framework will lead us to a future society where people are either theists or atheists. Both live peacefully in a society that is purely individualistic when it comes to religious beliefs.

Group or mass worship rituals and prayers will disappear and be replaced by personal individual ones. New churches and mosques will not be built anymore, and existing ones will turn into touristic attractions. With this, the authority, influence and even role of rabbis, priests, and sheikhs/Imams will totally vanish.

In such a society, religion will have no legislative influence of any kind. The society will be led by a set of moral and legal frameworks that will continuously change and evolve through democracy or any other form we invent in the future. Personal individual freedom of belief will be protected by law, and even parents can’t force or influence their children to adopt a specific belief.

And I think because countries are now more open to give citizenship to new immigrants, the concept of a country will totally change in the next few generations. Tribes were formed based of family relations, towns and cities were formed based on proximity, and countries were formed based on languages or nationalities. But this is currently changing, countries are now based on a set of man-made moral and legal frameworks, and anyone can join any country if they accept to live within these frameworks.

These frameworks are continuously evolving through elections and legislation houses or parliaments, and together (moral and legal) form the culture of a country or even a city. People are free to choose what culture they feel closer to, and then move to the city/country where they belong culturally.

The content of this article is my own personal understanding of religion and the “divine” text. I am not a scholar, or a researcher, or a preacher, or even an activist. I am just a human sharing what goes into my mind, hoping to get some constructive feedback and to learn more by intellectually interacting with others.