"Diluted" Muslims

An email interaction with a correspondent who signs off as Jeff (England) introduced me to the term "diluted" Muslim. Jeff further explains this phrase thus:

I have called for encouragement of the creation of 'diluted' Muslims. A small minority young 2nd generation UK Muslims are already what I might call 'diluted'. I know a few. The likes of Hirsi Ali and Irshad Manji are examples of 'diluted' Muslims...Some are atheists, others barely are religious, some even practice other religions. By a diluted Muslim I mean a Muslim who was a practicing Muslim but no longer does in any significant way. I know a few personally so I can state for a fact they exist.

Jeff then equates "diluted" Muslims with "diluted" Christians and Jews. I think he's trying to call them cultural Muslims, since I believe we do have cultural Christians, those who don't necessarily practice the religion, but are content to live in and follow the mandates of a Christian society.

Still, I put Jeff to task by saying:

KPA: There is no telling that these so-called atheist Muslims/diluted Muslims (or cultural Muslims) will not at some point pick up the Koran at a moment of cultural alienation.

Jeff: ABSURD!

Well, if Jeff is going to lump the Irshad Manjis onto his list, as well as the plethora of "Westernized" Muslims who, according to Jeff are "Muslims who [were] practicing Muslims but no longer [do] in any significant way" [my emphasis] I think we have to think about his coining yet another term that ill-defines Muslims (moderate, radical, Islamofascists being the few that have stuck so far), which will not get us any closer to dismantling this huge problem.

Jeff's premise really is that we cannot get rid of the Muslim or Islam problem, and we should find allies amidst these diluted groups.

Here is another point I made to Jeff regarding the "diluted" ones:

KPA: Their agendas, like I pointed out above, will not be to participate in the Western culture, and to save it at a crucial moment, but to carve their own multicultural niche in the society they're living in.

Jeff: If anything, these ex-Muslims (a minority I acknowledge) are bigger supporters of the West than you or me. Ali Sina and Hirsi Ali, Wofa Sultan and others are risking their lives daily and have expressed their love for western culture time and time again. As has Brigitte Gabriel, a Lebanese Christian immigrant to the West who also opposes Islam. C'mon man, give these people some credit and respect even if you oppose Islam and Muslims coming to the West.

Besides erroneously calling the Arab Christian Brigitte Gabriel an ex-Muslim, and now confusing "ex" with "diluted", Jeff says:

Saving 'White Christian Civilization' is no longer a realistic option. America, the UK and the West are going to be multi-racial and multi-religious forever.

I put this scenario to Jeff, about his compromising position:

KPA: By the way, your set-in-stone assertion that we are now a full blown multicultural society with no going back can be disputed. Many Indians and Chinese, disappointed with life in Canada and the US, are going back. People travel back and forth much more now, and are beginning to see what they're missing living in alienated cultures. Many other factors, including native (not native Indian) Americans and Canadians beginning to see the light, especially in these difficult economic times, are turning things back - look at the H-1B visa debacle in the States.

If you give up, you cannot take advantage of moments like these. I think we are in the right, and "they" are in the wrong. That is surely a strong enough impetus to go on!

Jeff: Stop the 'giving up' bullshit label, it won't wash with me. Ditto the 'defeatist' label. I am a realist and am trying to deal with a complex 'battlefield' situation while too many of you 'traditionalist conservatives' want to live in fantasy land blogging away with your fantasy suggestions about what needs to be done....

Why is it that in the blogosphere, people you have never met, and never even corresponded with, take the liberty to use epithets at whim and will?

By the way, Jeff initiated the email, and I didn't buy his "diluted" Muslims, and I still call his attitude defeatist (dhimmi!) for giving up before even trying.