Religion: Why the idea of reincarnation bugs me?

In the abstract, we can come up with a number of scenarios for the afterlife.
(1) There isn't one!
(2) There is the immortality of the soul but the destruction of the body... think Star Wars.
(3) There is the transmigration of the soul into a different body which is the reincarnation idea.
(4) There is the immortality of the soul and the renewal of the body which is the resurrection idea.

"Scientifically" I don't know if any of these ideas are "provable" in any strong sense.

I suppose if an immortal soul can come back and visit us, like in Star Wars when Luke would see Yoda, Ben Kenobi and his father and if such an interaction could be recored for others to see, I think that would constitute some kind of proof.

As for transmigration of the soul, if a person living today were to somehow know in great detail the life of a prior person (in a previous incarnation) without having ever researched that person's life that would be a measure of proof. I suppose the Dalai Lama would be an example of the reincarnation idea at work.

The resurrection idea would be "provable" if someone who got resurrected visited people in that new body. The Christian faith makes that claim. Alas, Jesus didn't live in an era of video cameras and such! Does the eyewitness testimony of his followers and their transformed life constitute "proof?" For some yes, for others it isn't enough.

But back to the title of this post: why the idea of reincarnation bugs me?

I've always felt uneasy about the idea. I really didn't know why but it just didn't sit well with me.

Well, thanks to Skye Puppy I now have a reason for that discomfort. She heard Dennis Prager who is Jewish talking on the radio about the reincarnation idea which is the basis of most Eastern religious traditions and why he is troubled by it. See the item here. Excerpt:

One caller said his position is that even the "bad" stuff that happens is, in fact, good. So Dennis offered him a hypothetical. "Let's say a family is burned to death in their home by some monster of a human being, that would be good?"

The guy said, "Yes, because they pay in this life for their sins of their previous life." He believes in reincarnation.

Dennis suggested that this perspective would prevent people from being sympathetic to human suffering ...

This guy's point of view is, as Prager said, an excuse for a lack of compassion. We can look the other way when people suffer, because it's forging better things for their future, and the more they suffer now, the better off they'll be in the long run.

Theology matters in this case!

Sometimes, theology seems like nothing more than figuring out how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. But in this case, a foundational idea has incredible consequences!

Here in the USA, Christian and Jewish organizations set up hospitals, schools, orphanages and other social services.

Would a society built entirely around reincarnation have the motivation to do such things?