This will score me negative brownie points, but if popularity were my guiding beacon I wouldn’t be much of a Buddhist.
For what it’s worth, I didn’t feel that @Martin was trolling; being misunderstood is a terrible feeling. He asked questions that any rational (I’m assuming) Westerner will and should ask.
His first post…
…indicates he’s been kicking this one around since before the thread started.
In any case, nothing moved the OP: Buddhist doctrine includes a belief in rebirth. Whether one* believes in it is a different story.