arijitmitter wrote: Whether you believe in soul or not does not add or subtract from your goal.
Yes, it substract from the one's goal, if the one's goal is Nibbana.
arijitmitter wrote:So an individual Buddhist may believe in soul; there are no doctrinal challenges to it.
Yes, there is.
There is no soul in/out of form, feeling, perception, mental formation, consciousness.
With ignorance as condition there is craving, with craving as condition there is consciousness, with consciousness as condition there is mentality-materiality, with mentality-maeriality as condition there is consciousness etc.
Ignorance is about not seeng or understanding 4 Noble Truth, and not seeng/understanding impermanence, suffering, and not-self of fenomena. These three are actualy the same through different point of examination.
Sabbe sankhara anicca
Sabbe sankhara dukkha
Sabbe dhamma anatta