Journey Home episode on EWTN re Buddhism

The "Journey Home" is an excellent program on the EWTN Catholic television station that interviews people who have converted or reverted to Catholicism. This week's episode had Paul Williams, a professor of Buddhism, who was born a Christian but spent decades as a practicing Buddhist, and has now converted to Catholicism.

Watching the program I got another of my ideas about common misunderstandings and error in thinking that I could share. While it was not a large part of the discussion, as readers of mine know the error of belief in reincarnation is something that I address at every opportunity. This is because I have personally witnessed great harm caused by this erroneous belief. I am not going into one of my usual broad based platforms of analysis and discussion, but want to single out one small set of facts for consideration if there is anyone who still has delusions (especially the New Age sort) that God does not exist and that saints and holy people are all just mashed up in the same reincarnation machine with everyone else until they "evolve" out of it to nirvana or whatever.

Reincarnation believers think that humans and animals all share in reincarnation. The implication is that being reborn as an animal is punishment or "karma" for not such a high quality previous life. As soon as anyone with either a good education or moderate skills in logic hears this belief, one should have alarm bells go off and spot the error in this theory. (Yet I'm amazed when people swallow this one). First of all, it is understandable that thousands of years ago believers in animal reincarnation 1) did not have much grasp of biology and no knowledge of evolution, obviously 2) consider animals to be a "lower" form of life, even if "all life is sacred" and therefore 3) used this belief to threaten performers of bad deeds with the notion that they might "come back as an animal."

Let us look at the science of this first, then the faith. Today we all know about how animals, through evolution and natural selection, adapt to their environments in order to obtain food, water, shelter and the opportunity to reproduce, nurture young, and pass on their genes to the next generation. If "bad people" were being "reborn" into animals, how would that fit the "goodness" of survival of the fittest among animals? And by survival of the fitness I do not mean predators per se. I mean that animals eat food they can find, drink water they can find, bear the number of young they can nurture and support, and pass along the genes that were able to successfully do so. If people are "tagged" like "karma graffiti" LOL, how could animals have been serene and in existence for hundreds of millions of years if they are "populated" by "souls" that are being "downgraded" or "punished?" I would think it would have been the end of species rather than their thriving (until humans come along and hunt them into extinction of course). So the whole notion that "bad people" go into "animals" via reincarnation is scientifically ridiculous. I have giggles just thinking about the "bad starling" who is reincarnated and leads all the other starlings in the wrong direction during migration. (They would follow the bad starling since they are all reincarnated dummies and it is their fate). But gosh, then the genes of the stupid starlings who go in the wrong direction would die off. So where would the soul go next and why would a whole population of animals go in willful error because of their "karma?" Ha ha, it is so nutty that anyone with eyes can see that animals and nature are serene of any sort of nonsense.

The second observation about animals is that belief that they are populated by "down graded" or "bad karma" souls is that this is contrary to what is implicit through all the sacred scriptures of monotheistic faith in one God. The garden of Eden, and animals, were created before humans. Further, heaven itself is described as a garden, and in the Bible there is testimony by the prophets about animal beings in heaven. The gardens and animals were created perfect in the eyes of God. Animals are serene in their lack of knowledge of "good and evil." So how is it that reincarnation into animal form would be "punishment" or "downgrading" and how would it even be possible? God created animals first and they lived in peace for over a billion years. Humans are a recent addition. Why would God, or a God less universe as Buddhists apparently believe, suddenly start a system of bookkeeping and accounting where bad karma souls are sent into animals? It beggars belief that anyone modern would turn to this belief (it's one thing to be born into a society with this belief, but another thing for people who ought to know better to think there is anything logical in this and convert to that belief!)

So I was glad not only for this inspiring and enjoyable story on EWTN's episode of JH but also glad to have it generate an idea for a topic that I think might help people to be more rational in their faith and look at the facts before believing something ridiculous.