The topic of reincarnation was brought up by jimi yesterday. He is an atheist or seems to be yet believes in reincarnation. So far, a few atheists have said it's not a big deal because as long as a "GOD" is not involved, then it does not violate the rules of atheism:the belief there is no "GOD". They use Buddhism as an example: an atheist religion.
I have surfed the net and found this has been mentioned at a number of sites. I would say the majority of atheists would say while no "GOD" is involved, it does require supernatural events to occur at the moment of death. Now if an atheist is going to believe in supernatural powers , then that throws out their argument against a "GOD". It also appeared that most equated reincarnation with a belief in ghosts, the paranormal in general, and a belief in a soul.
Now if a soul is required for reincarnation, and atheists have said there is no soul as that would be a religious concept, then Buddhism and other religions of reincarnation are indeed NOT atheistic.
Since the 'evidence' for reincarnation is all anecdotal: stories of past memories, that deja vu feeling, sessions with doctors, etc.. then it would follow that religious people having moments of "GOD" intervening in their lives would have the same weight on their claim of there being a "GOD".
In Buddhism, the point of existence to to follow the 8 proper paths of enlightenment so the soul or consciousness can reside in Nirvana at the end of it's physical existence. If one follows them correctly, they reach the top level or the Buddha level. Only the Buddha level enters into Nirvana.
This parallels the followers of a "GOD" based relgion as thoses who follow the path laid out in their religious text also enter into Nirvana, or Heaven in the Christian religion and Paradise in Islam.
Now this has caused myself and a few other religious people to question how an athiest could believe in reincarnation. Since they require scientific proof of a "GOD" and have laughed at the propects of ghosts, and the only evidence for this is peronal experiences, forbidden as the proof of "GOD", how does an atheist make this rather supernatural, no evidenced based, assumption?