Omar:

You use the term cultural Muslim, whatever it means, as if it were
a bad word. I think it probably means different things to different
people. From the point of view of converts it may appear to have
negative connotations. From the perspective of lapsed or skeptical
Muslims it may signify a wish to maintain a special affiliation with
a community, it may signify that one has grown up in a world
suffused with Islamic beliefs, rituals and influences that one has
outgrown but which are part of a personal history. There are
various levels of engagment. The conversion to skepticism or
disbelief doesn’t necessarily entail a complete erasure of one’s
cumulative muti-layered identity. It’s not so much an experience
of being reborn into a ‘‘cultural’‘ Muslim as it is an evolution into
something more. That something more is plural. The disbelief of
a Tariq Ali who is an adamant critic of empire, for instance, is quite
distinct from the position of Ayan Hirsi which seems to stem
exclusively, and I would saw single-mindedly from her rage at
social practices. Try to see that perspective. Try to also envision
that there are many people in Muslim majority countries who are
deeply concerned for the fate of their countries and working to
obliterate harmful social customs such as female gential mutiliation, and so forth who are not believers but view themselves
as part of a secular alternative. These people may be your allies
in certain respects or at least share common goals. Many non-
believers share your goal of using scientific advances for good
purposes and not the destruction of others.

Secondly, while it may be true in some cases that social problems
and the maltreatment of women causes many to believe, it is
important to recognize the intellectual work that goes into disbelief.
It’s not just a matter of reacting to social problems but of finding
religious beliefs hard to defend on intellectual and philosophical
grounds.

Finally, the Qur’an is not the only thing that puts the ‘‘soul’‘-
whatever that means in the mood to solve problems. I think I
detect what is a recurring motif of believer’s moral hubris. By
that I mean the practically unquestioned assumption that one
is in need of revealed religion to lead a life of service to others,
to have a life with a meaning beyond the selfish aims of the
individual. well the list of non-believers who have selflessly served
humanity is long. Right now I think of Russel, of Helen Endicott, of
Chomsky, Edward Said and many many more. The other needn’t
always exclude the non-believer, that stubborn other who hasn’t
yet been accorded moral and intellectual respect even in the most
enlightened Muslim circles.

Ginan

Ginan, The reason converts as a whole find the term "cultural Muslim" ridiculous is because it's a ridiculous term. One who submits…Uhh, to their culture, I guess. I don't hate people from traditionally Muslim cultures who dont practice Islam; but I find it impossible to take all these hand-wringing disingenuous "cultural muslims" seriously. Hey, we decided we don't believe in god but we still want to dictate theology and how you run the masjid. It's bullshit. Tariq Ali, you'll note, does not call himself a "cultural Muslim", he simply comes out and says that he isn't a Muslim. Which is one reason a lot of Muslims respect him even though he's an atheist. He's honest and not playing verbal hopscotch all the time.

 Your list of selfless humanitarians was good for a laugh at least. Yeah, a bunch of people with lucretive acedemic and writing careers who get paid big money from their normal gigs and the lecture circuit to ruminate about politics. THEY are on the front lines. When Noam Chomsky gets rich pushing his warmed-over commie bullshit, I know I sleep better at night. 

Omar:

Well that may be true about Ali but hey he still views himself
as a product of that culture and there are many like him.Perhaps
many more would come out and say they are agnostics or atheist if
they weren’t so afraid of being smeared as commies or dissed as
kafirs. You seem to think that Hirsi identifies as a cultural muslim.
You may be wrong. Her latest book contains infidel in the title.

Well yes Chomsky does have an academic career. why shouldn’t he?
he is a brilliant linguist. But my understanding is that when he speaks about political issues he doesn’t have a speakers fee. Incidentally, he is not a commie, a convenient term that is thrown
around whenever detractors want to conduct a personal smear campaign rather than engage ideas. so far most of what Chomsky and others like him predicted about our increasingly dangerous and
destructive policy in Iraq has turned out to be much more accurate
than the lies spun by those folks at those enterprise think tanks.
I think we could all sleep better at night if the neo-conservatives gave us a break or at least if there were a semblance of real debate,
let’s say, with a Chomsky on matters of collective security in the
mainstream media. Many other conservatives including senator Hagel
take an equally critical view of who is or isn’t allowing us to sleep at
night. Surely, as a graduate student you would welcome such serious intellectuals debates rather than the usual smear campaigns that
do little to educate the public about important policy issues.

The reason a lot of people respect Tariq Ali as well is that he actually
cares about the fate of suffering people. that is to say, he retains an
organic link to his community. The same can be said for Edward Said
who was all his life an open secular humanist and always respected
for his solidarity and organic link to people deprived of a voice. Yeah
he had an academic career. why shouldn’t he? he was a brilliant critic
and he used his position not to turn on his people but to highlight
their plight. He was harassed. His office was bombed. No
such thing, will probably be said of the Irshad Manjis, the Wafa Sultans, the Ibn Warraqa and Hirsi types who show unmitigated hostility towards the downtrodden.

Ginan

Science and Islam are not incompatible.

Science is merely the study of the material world through the scientific method (observation and quantifying phenomenon).

Many aspects of Islam are reaffirmed via scientific study and inquiry.

All religions, including Islam, are tainted with the culture of origin where they came from or primarily developed from. Islam is tainted by "cultural Arab hegemony" while Christianity is tainted by "European" cultural mores and norms.

I disagree with Umar Lee's dichotomy between Islam and the West, Islam is a product of Western civilization, it is the heir of the Roman Empire and preserver of Classical antiquity which was reawakened in the Italian Renaissance, without Muslim diligence to preserve the knowledge of the Greco-Roman world, think of such Persian scholars like Avicenna.