Greetings and Blessings ! Lovely conversation!

"You got to try bacon, you got to touch all types of boobs!" lmao! Even crazier is the American-Jewish experience. So many of us are secular and a good chunk of us are atheist, so we'll often be raised around the religious traditions while *simultaneously* not doing any of the hard stuff like kosher. So I got to eat all types of ham as a kid, now I'm clean, and I didn't even have to convert to anything. I wonder now that you're living in Turkiye if you're seeing any of the same casualness. I had a foreign exchange friend from Dubai who strongly identified as Muslim, but also would regularly admit that he was super bad about following the laws. Like he literally told me about when he was a little kid and he would sneak into the basement during Mosque and playing Smash Bros. Melee. People who are born into the religion often have it harder, but often are less zealous, because it's more of a cultural identifier than a religious one. Whereas you're from Minnesota. Not exactly Pakistan. The fact you converted is enough to tell me you MEAN IT (although plenty else tells me that too). But there are people in places like Ireland or Germany who, without hesitation, identify as Catholic, and also, without hesitation, admit they don't believe in G-d. Because it's pseudo-ethnic at this point for a lot of people.