# Should "Reincarnated" people be allowed to continue their past lives? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 5, 2017, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-reincarnated-people-be-allowed-to-continue-their-past-lives/795576 "2017-09-05T18:50:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2017, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-reincarnated-people-be-allowed-to-continue-their-past-lives/795576/21 "2017-09-05T22:59:57Z")
Anyone claiming to be Napoleon gets a quick visit to Madame la Guillotine, as a traitor to the Revolution. Anyone claiming to be Cleopatra gets a quick bite by an venomous asp, as a traitor to Rome. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2017, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-reincarnated-people-be-allowed-to-continue-their-past-lives/795576/22 "2017-09-06T01:10:28Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > …Or suppose the child is the reincarnation of a prisoner who was ten years into a forty year sentence when they died. Do you put the child in prison to complete the remaining thirty years of their sentence?.. I once read a sci-fi short story were on the background events in the news was an attempt to put a young women in the Midwest on trial for genocide after she was found to be the reincarnation of Hitler. ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2017, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-reincarnated-people-be-allowed-to-continue-their-past-lives/795576/23 "2017-09-06T01:18:43Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Anyone claiming to be Cleopatra gets a quick bite by an venomous asp, as a traitor to Rome. No wait! let me see if she wants to go on a date 1st? If she says no, bring out the snake 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2017, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-reincarnated-people-be-allowed-to-continue-their-past-lives/795576/24 "2017-09-06T03:03:30Z")
> [@Contemplation](#): > > Should people who claim to be reincarnated and have facts that are verified, be allowed to continue their past lives? > As in live as the same person that they claimed they were before they died? In Tibetan Buddhism it’s believed that certain spiritual leaders called [tulku](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulku) carry on their work across multiple reincarnations. (The best-known tulku is the Dalai Lama, but there are others.) The current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is the 14th person to hold that title, and is recognized as both the successor and the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama. I don’t know much more about this than what it says in the Wikipedia article, but when a tulku dies the other Tibetan Buddhists don’t just wait around until someone claims to be the tulku’s reincarnation and then let them pick up where the previous tulku left off. The successor is identified by other religious leaders while still a small child and is trained from an early age to take over the previous tulku’s role. And this is in a culture where it is accepted that it is at least sometimes possible to identify someone as being the reincarnation of a specific, known individual. In the US you’re free to _believe_ that you’re the reincarnation of some specific individual, but while IANAL I don’t think there’s any room in our laws for someone to legally assume the identity of a deceased individual. All documentation of our legal identities is ultimately tied back to our physical being, and our laws do not concern themselves with what happens to the soul after the death of the body. (I don’t see how they _could_ without violating the First Amendment.) So even if Mary Jones could somehow produce conclusive proof that she was the reincarnation of the deceased Jim Smith, this would seem to be irrelevant as far as the law is concerned. Jim Smith as a legally recognized individual is still dead. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2017, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-reincarnated-people-be-allowed-to-continue-their-past-lives/795576/25 "2017-09-06T03:33:53Z")
> [@Evan\_Drake](#): > > I think that in India at least, where they are far in advance of primitive Western civilization, if needed prominent Brahmins can be found to verify a reincarnation, as also can Buddhist monks for their persuasion. AFAIK, even in India where reincarnation is a widespread religious belief and cultural concept, they have no truck whatsoever with allowing previous-life-identity claims any **legal** status. Legally speaking, you get the identity you’re born with and that’s it. ---
**Author:** ![Monimonika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@Monimonika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monimonika)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-reincarnated-people-be-allowed-to-continue-their-past-lives/795576/26 "2017-09-07T10:09:48Z")
Even assuming it can be proven that a person is indeed a reincarnation (with full memories of previous life), the very most that can be hoped for would be the same as when a presumed-dead person turned out to be alive. I am not going to spend time doing an in-depth search about the laws regarding presumed-dead-but-turned-out-to-alive people, but a cursory glance would rule out being sued for life-insurance fraud (since the person had indeed died in the previous life, the beneficiaries get to keep the life insurance payout). Not sure about debts. Also not sure about ownership of possessions that have been inherited by kin or been sold off. For simplicity’s sake, I would think that laws regarding reincarnation would draw a hard line at death and refuse to recognize any rights of reincarnated people to their past lives’s stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-reincarnated-people-be-allowed-to-continue-their-past-lives/795576/27 "2017-09-07T10:20:51Z")
If you were, say, a successful, experienced doctor in your past life, will you be forced to go through medical school again in your new one if you want to keep on practicing? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-reincarnated-people-be-allowed-to-continue-their-past-lives/795576/28 "2017-09-07T10:25:15Z")
If reincarnated me can remember the passwords to my retirement accounts, he’s welcome to them. ---
**Author:** ![coffeecat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coffeecat/32/3405_2.png) [@coffeecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coffeecat)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-reincarnated-people-be-allowed-to-continue-their-past-lives/795576/29 "2017-09-07T11:52:44Z")
_I_ can’t remember the passwords to all my accounts. That’s what my phone is for. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-reincarnated-people-be-allowed-to-continue-their-past-lives/795576/30 "2017-09-07T12:11:13Z")
Biblically God declared that man should not live forever giving the conditions we live in (Gen 3), and also found that man became evil if allowed to live hundreds of years (Gen 6). From my understanding there is great wisdom and compassion in not allowing such long lives in this current world (meaning with so much evil that man is capable of committing). Death allows new people and ideas to be able to grow and prosper and prevent people in power from holding on to it and preventing much oppression. And I do see this in our world and do agree with that wisdom, so no I would not support any legal standing of someone resuming their former life. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-reincarnated-people-be-allowed-to-continue-their-past-lives/795576/31 "2017-09-07T13:04:26Z")
If you die in prison, do you have to make up for the time you still owe in your new life? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-reincarnated-people-be-allowed-to-continue-their-past-lives/795576/32 "2017-09-07T13:31:31Z")
If you’re murdered, can you legally testify against your killer? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-reincarnated-people-be-allowed-to-continue-their-past-lives/795576/33 "2017-09-07T15:47:57Z")
> [@Contemplation](#): > > Reincarnation has never been scientifically proven, and it never can be. But if someone who believes it knows enough information shouldn’t they be allowed to continue who they claim to use to be? 1. on what basis are you claiming the reincarnation is not subject to scientific testing? 2. If two(or more) people claim to be the same ex-[del]parrot[/del]person, which person gets the claim: a person who thinks he is that former person and reveals some private details, or the con-artist who does extensive research and reveals even more private details? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-reincarnated-people-be-allowed-to-continue-their-past-lives/795576/34 "2017-09-07T15:54:24Z")
Should the police be able to convict someone of a crime if they think that person has enough knowledge and/or shows enough personal traits to cause them to believe that that person is the reincarnation of a dead criminal? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-reincarnated-people-be-allowed-to-continue-their-past-lives/795576/35 "2017-09-07T16:43:06Z")
> [@Contemplation](#): > > Reincarnation has never been scientifically proven, Rectify that shortcoming and we can talk. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-reincarnated-people-be-allowed-to-continue-their-past-lives/795576/36 "2017-09-07T18:17:14Z")
I’m not comfortable with driving on the same roads as children who claim they passed the driver’s exam in a previous life. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-reincarnated-people-be-allowed-to-continue-their-past-lives/795576/37 "2017-09-07T18:24:37Z")
> [@Contemplation](#): > > Should people who claim to be reincarnated and have facts that are verified, be allowed to continue their past lives? > As in live as the same person that they claimed they were before they died? > > Lets say the person who makes the reincarnation claim knows facts that can be verified and even knows the occupation of the other “past person” and including details like their SSN, email accounts, friends, family, etc. > > Reincarnation has never been scientifically proven, and it never can be. But if someone who believes it knows enough information shouldn’t they be allowed to continue who they claim to use to be? You are allowed to be anyone you wish to be. If you want to be napoleon, and strongly believe that you are napoleon, then that is fine. No one will stop you. If you then try to invade russia, you may run into some issues. That is in the US, anyway. China has specifically outlawed reincarnation, I believe, so if you make the claim, and they believe you, then they will arrest you for reincarnating without permission. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-reincarnated-people-be-allowed-to-continue-their-past-lives/795576/38 "2017-09-07T22:34:26Z")
Just for the sake of argument, if reincarnation is a fact, isn’t there considerable disagreement on how it works? The most prevalent view is that each soul’s moves forward in time as it goes through its lives. However, aren’t there those who believe as a soul incarnates from one body to another, it can go backward in time or even coexist with a past or future incarnation? That would make things a lot more complicated. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-reincarnated-people-be-allowed-to-continue-their-past-lives/795576.md?page=1)