Although Hinduism is our dominant religion, we are also a land of diverse religions/cultures and are secular enough to accept that people of varied faiths exist who are permitted to embrace the religious practices of their beliefs and choices.
That said, we still need to identify ourselves as a part of some religion as a society and also in Government documents.
Iam a Hindu and I identify myself through my religion because that is how the system works here in India.
Birth certificates, School and College applications, job applications, all have religion as a mandatory column.
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Personally though, I can do anything I want.
I can be an agnostic.
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I can be a theist and follow all religious practices.
I can be a theist, yet not follow any religious rituals.
I can be a theist, yet follow some rituals that I find convenient to follow and reject those I find strenuous. I fall under this category.
I can be a theist and follow all those practices that aren't blindly superstitious to the extent of discriminating people from other faiths. Or superstitious beliefs where one is asked to walk over fire, harm their own body parts, stay naked for days or harm animals/birds.
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I can be an atheist and not follow any rituals.
I can be an atheist and visit temples, consume their offerings and revel in their temple architecture.
I can be an atheist and follow certain rituals just to satisfy my family. Like performing simple poojas and conducting birthday, marriage and death ceremonies in a ritualistic way.
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As long as you are personally aware of your belief systems, you can continue to perform or not perform rituals based on your circumstances and the understanding of your family/relatives/surroundings - depending on how important they are to you.
So each person can customize their practices as per their preference and it is totally acceptable.
Just because you do something to keep peace and maintain relations with your family and society doesn't mean that you are going against your belief systems.
There are a few fortunate ones who can afford to be explicitly courageous enough to not follow any societal norms. Such people must already have their separate community with mutual belief systems or they are powerful people in the society who can decide what they want to follow, where nobody dare question them.
But not possible for an average person.
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