Visitor of religions

I had a brief conversation with a friend recently about participating in the observation of religions one doesn't follow. At the time we were sitting in an Indian restaurant, listening to Indian music and looking at Indian tapestries, and I asked her what she would do if she was given the opportunity to worship in a Hindu temple.

She said she wouldn't try to worship as she finds it disrespectful to pretend to worship a god you don't believe in. Me, I can't wrap the concept around my head. Then again, she is an atheist, so she doesn't really know how to believe in a god as she doesn't in the first place.

"Believing" in a god, at least for me, is not the same thing as believing in evolution or believing the earth is a sphere. I believe in the latter notions because there is overwhelming evidence that supports them, while there is no hard evidence at all for or against the physical existence of any god.

And in any case, does it really matter whether or not God physically exists? It seems to be that gods exist as ideas within the minds of people, not as actual people, and that is good enough for me. Since I don't attach any details to the concept of god, it can take different forms. I can worship YHWH, Allah, Shiva, or a pagan goddess and still be worshiping the same basic concept.

I guess this was the idea the prophet Mohammed was touching upon when he created Islam. As in Islam, God is less of a person and more of a concept, with no form except for the ideas in the Qur'an, or idols of any kind. Islam was based on the ideas of Judaism and Christianity, you know.

But does this mean that I am an actively religous person? No, not really, as religon is not what I live for. I just know how to believe in a god, any god.