Cultures circumscribe the human mind. The only Christians I know who are willing to accept the possibility of reincarnation are those who do not attend Church, and who are not interested in the dogma of the church. Cultural bias is also insidious.
It creeps into your baggage of beliefs by a form of emotional osmosis. You may not even be aware of that bias. Since scientists and scholars are human too, some will deny any bias, preferring to sail on a semantic sea with sceptical scenarios to fill their sails.
According to the Reader’s Digest article of May 2015 by Stacy Horn titled ‘The children who’ve lived before,’ “ … more than 75 million people in America – across all religions – believed in reincarnation.” Against that, one would expect every believer in the ‘forest’ religions of Asia would accept reincarnation as reality. This belief is a crucial component of these faiths; and, as said by a professor of religious studies quoted in the above article, “It’s a great improvement over the doctrine of eternal hell.”
It would be obvious to any open-minded person that, in a universe which manifests all manner of features not yet explained (or never to be explained), a belief in reincarnation is, like the belief in the reality of spirits and an Afterlife, just that. There is really no need to feel challenged. Why feel challenged?
All beliefs are just that. Proof or disproof is not possible. Why reject any reliable evidence available? In the absence of such evidence, can we deny someone’s belief simply because we do not like it? I have in mind a priest who claims that he talks to God every day!
RAJA ARASA RATNAM 