Reader's letter by Parish pastor Tom Friis' published in "Kristeligt Dagblad" the 10 november 2015.
When we can reconcile the doctrine of evolution with Christianity, it can of course also be possible to reconcile Christianity with the reincarnations idea, writes parish pastor Tom Friis
Loosely estimated 20 percent of Danes believe in reincarnation in one form or the other.
With just under 80 percent of Danes as members of the Church of Denmark there will among church members be somewhere between a half and one million followers of reincarnation.
Even though parish pastors preach that reincarnation and Christianity are incompatible, all of these lay members of the church have no problems unifying them.
It is, therefore, a significant part of the Church's members, who are being made homeless and strangers, if parish pastor Annette Berg from Vig in Odsherred is to be deemed out from the good company. They are seeking people who believe in God, and therefore it will in my opinion be an own goal of large dimensions, if these people are made strangers in the Church.
The pastors are talking about dogma and creed, while the Church's spiritual layers almost has developed an allergic reaction to all the dogma and perceive them as dogmatism. It is not intended to sound nice and does mean stiffened, outdated retention of old phrases that do not really make sense in our time.
Dogmatism is a bit of what we from the Christian side frequently accuse the Muslims of: Muslims need a reformation of Islam and a free space to interpret Scripture into the present.
There is, of course, another confessional and loyalty code for the Church's pastors, than for lay members. There is a reason for this, but it does not exempt the theologians from the work of constantly reflecting on the Bible and confessions in the light of our own time, if we do not want to stand out as a curious amish-like parallel society.
Most pastors cringe every time one of the so-called new atheists speak out about Christianity from great prejudice and total ignorance about religion and faith. I am convinced that many supporters of both Christ and reincarnation get the same cringing feeling when a theologian speaks about reincarnation, astrology and similar topics.
It is the same old prejudiced and not particularly insightful arguments that have been put on display for the past 20-30 years. Moreover, of course there is much to criticize in the direction of self centered narcissism! However, there is certainly a lot more to say about both reincarnation and astrology. There is plenty of literature on these topics, and people you can talk to.
As far as I can see, reincarnation is not a part of the Bible universe. The few scriptures that are often highlighted in support of reincarnation are not convincing. Although reincarnation is not a part of the Bible universe, it does naturally not mean that Christianity and reincarnation cannot be reconciled.
We have female pastors today, although it is not prescribed in the Bible. Tobacco smoking is not mentioned in the Bible, but was anyway previously regarded as an indispensable companion for the good theology. Urn funerals are hardly to be compatible with the resurrection of the flesh; at least we put the Almighty God, who shall assemble our atoms again, on extra work. The heliocentric worldview with the round globe was neither a part of the biblical worldview.
Darwin's evolutionary theories, as is the syllabus for any schoolchild, is absolutely not compatible with the Bible's creation account (except that the biblical order of creation is similar to that of the evolution doctrine), yet we have united them in Christianity in the slick way that they are placed in each their own room of interpretation and not to be mixed up with another. If it is feasible to reconcile the doctrine of evolution with Christianity, so it can of course also be possible to reconcile Christianity with the reincarnations idea.