Also, a Muslim who does not believe in the religion? Is usually called "an Arab", not a Muslim.
That is the sort of statement non-Arab Muslims and non-Muslim Arabs are likely to find very offensive. It's not even correct as a generalization. There are about 1.5 billion adherents of Islam in the world, and only about 280 million Arab Muslims (about 300 million Arabs, about 93% of those are Muslims). Most Muslims are not Arabs.
There aren't all that many practices that Muslims have that people who don't believe in the religion have... I don't think non-believing Muslims cling to Islam the way non-believing Jews cling to Judaism.
Muslims have holidays, traditional food, art, songs, religiously inspired literature and so on, the sort of cultural elements that "cultural Jews" claim can be separate from religion.
How can I express why that line of argument bothers me so much? Imagine someone saying this: "Man, I'm so glad I'm an atheist Jew. If I'd been raised in some other religion and later became an atheist / agnostic, I'd have to abandon the whole religious/cultural edifice. It's great the Judaism has the sort of cultural depth to it that other religions don't! Also, isn't it amazing that secular Jews are loyal to Judaism? It's as if members of other religions are merely bound to their religious culture by the lashes of dogma and doctrine."
I would argue that lbmango's statement "in most [other] religions, the part of the culture that is intwined [sic] with the religion is... minor" and your statement "non-believing Jews cling to Judaism [in a way that is distinct from non-believing members of other religions]" implicitly make the claims above.
no subject
That is the sort of statement non-Arab Muslims and non-Muslim Arabs are likely to find very offensive. It's not even correct as a generalization. There are about 1.5 billion adherents of Islam in the world, and only about 280 million Arab Muslims (about 300 million Arabs, about 93% of those are Muslims). Most Muslims are not Arabs.
There aren't all that many practices that Muslims have that people who don't believe in the religion have... I don't think non-believing Muslims cling to Islam the way non-believing Jews cling to Judaism.
Muslims have holidays, traditional food, art, songs, religiously inspired literature and so on, the sort of cultural elements that "cultural Jews" claim can be separate from religion.
How can I express why that line of argument bothers me so much? Imagine someone saying this: "Man, I'm so glad I'm an atheist Jew. If I'd been raised in some other religion and later became an atheist / agnostic, I'd have to abandon the whole religious/cultural edifice. It's great the Judaism has the sort of cultural depth to it that other religions don't! Also, isn't it amazing that secular Jews are loyal to Judaism? It's as if members of other religions are merely bound to their religious culture by the lashes of dogma and doctrine."
I would argue that