Hindus believe in the doctrine of reincarnation, right? Virtually every Hindu website that I can find says so.
However, similar to how most Catholics don't know, or care, about Catholic doctrine, only 40% of Hindus surveyed by Pew Research in India said that they believe in reincarnation.
Such are not only in a false religion, but aren't even consistent with the false religion that they operate under. What is the point of identifying with a religion whose core tenets you don't even believe in? Worse, why do these people, who don't care at all about Hindu doctrine, insist on raising their kids in a religion which clearly teaches something that they reject?
The main principles of Hinduism all depend on reincarnation. From reincarnation, Karma becomes meaningful, and so do all the prescriptive practices given in the Vedas, Upanishads, and other scriptures. Reincarnation and Karma are the basis and justification for the Caste System - a major historical part of Hinduism and Indian society. And, the entire goal of Hinduism itself is ultimately to escape the cycle of reincarnation (Samsara).
That's why this is such a logically bankrupt position to hold - affirming Hinduism, calling yourself a Hindu, and raising your kids Hindu, all the while totally rejecting what Hinduism actually teaches.
And, lest there be any doubt about whether Hinduism teaches reincarnation, what follows are quotes from the Ten Principal Upanishads - which are part of the Vedic corpus of texts which all Hindus supposedly accept - teaching exactly that:
Prashna Upanishad Section 6
Satyakama Shaibya asked: "Lord! Where does the man go after his life, if he meditates on Om all his life?" The Sage said: "Om is the conditioned and the unconditioned Spirit. The wise man with its help alone attains the one or the other.
If he meditates on the syllable A alone he is soon born again on this earth. If he has chanted the Rig Veda, he is born among men, a great, austere, self-controlled, God-fearing man.
Katha Upanishad Book 1 Section 3
The impure, self-willed, unsteady man misses the goal and is born again and again. The self-controlled, steady, pure man goes to that goal from which he never returns.
Katha Upanishad Book 2 Section 5
Everything owes life and movement to Spirit. Spirit strikes terror, hangs like a thunderbolt overhead; find it, find immortality. Through terror of God fire burns, sun shines, rain pours, wind blows, death speeds. Man, if he fail to find Him before the body falls, must take another body.
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Book 7 Section 1
When body grows weak through age or disease, the Self separates itself from the limbs, as a mango, a fig, a banyan fruit separates itself from the stalk; man hastens back to birth, goes, as before, from birth to birth.
As a caterpillar, having reached the end of a blade of grass, takes hold of another blade, then draws its body from the first, so the Self having reached the end of his body, takes hold of another body, then draws itself from the first.
And as a goldsmith takes the gold from an old piece of jewelry and shapes it into a more modern piece, so the Self forgets the old body, takes hold of another body, whether like that of the fathers, or of the celestial singers, or of the gods, or of the begetter, or of any other creature.
This Self is Spirit. He is knowledge, mind, life, sight, hearing, earth, water, wind, air, light, darkness, desire, absence of desire, anger, placability, right, wrong; He is everything; He is this and that. Whatever his conduct and character in one life, he has it in his next; if good in one, he is good in another; if a sinner in one, he is a sinner in another; his good karma makes him good, his sinful karma makes him sinful.
Hence they say that soul is full of desire. He wills according to his desire; he acts according to his will; he reaps what he sows. Here is my authority: "Self goes where man's mind goes. Whatever his actions in this world, he enjoys their reward in the next; that over, he returns for action's sake. I speak of a man with desire; but what is he who has no desire? He has no desire, because he has attained his desire; desire of Self is no desire. He does not die like others; he is of Spirit, he becomes Spirit."
Chandogya Upanishad Book 8 Section 6
There are a hundred and one arteries leading to the heart; one of them pierces the crown of the head. He who goes upwards through it, attains immortality; He who does not, is born again.
Prashna Upanishad Section 1
The year is the Creator. There are two paths, the southern and the northern. Those that are content with alms-giving and ritual preferring the life of the family, go to their ancestors by the southern path, attain the lunar world and are born again. All there is matter.
In light of the above, how can anyone conclude anything other than the fact that Hindus who reject reincarnation are either intellectually dishonest, apathetic, or some combination of the two?
Religious apathy is so frustrating, because a person's beliefs about religion affect everything that they do, and also affects their entire family, and society as a whole. I do not understand why anyone would identify with a religion whose core teaching they don't even believe.