I couldn't pass this Newsweek story up, China bans reincarnation:
China has banned Buddhist monks in Tibet from reincarnating without government permission. According to a statement issued by the State Administration for Religious Affairs, the law, which goes into effect next month and strictly stipulates the procedures by which one is to reincarnate, is "an important move to institutionalize management of reincarnation."
But it's okay, the Dalai Lama refuses to "refuses to be reborn in Tibet so long as it's under Chinese control."
But inside the humor is a serious shocker:
According to a 2005 Gallup poll, 20 percent of all U.S. adults believe in reincarnation. Recent surveys by the Barna Group, a Christian research nonprofit, have found that a quarter of U.S. Christians, including 10 percent of all born-again Christians, embrace it as their favored end-of-life view.
20%? That sounds absurdly high to me. There's one question I've always wanted to ask someone who actually believes in reincarnation: how is our population increasing? World population has boomed in the last 500 years - where do the new souls come from? To me, reincarnation is among the more absurd theories of spirituality.
God bless,
Jay
