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Ask An Atheist: Reincarnation, not God
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What if I don’t believe in God but I believe in reincarnation?
This one pops up every so often, and my view hasn’t changed.
Though I doubt reincarnation occurs, the idea that this could be part of the natural universe is independent from whether or not any god(s) are operating behind or through it. The issue here would be whether there’s any incorporeal spirit that can exist after death, to be reincarnated, as well as how that could possibly operate.
It is the case though that reincarnation notions tend to relate to particular theological positions (not occurring at all in the God of Abraham club, but coming with the orientation package for Hinduism and Buddhism), which means that I suppose I’ll continue to get this question now and then.
Have a happy next life (if there is one).
Jim Downard is a Spokane native (with a sojourn in Southern California back in the early 1960s) who was raised in a secular family, so says had no personal faith to lose. He’s always been a history and science buff (getting a bachelor’s in the former area at what was then Eastern Washington University in the early 1970s).
