Actually, many in the asian world prefer to speak this way.

"Religion" - if you look closely at the way it's been used for centuries - barely even applies to Judaism or Islam.

To be a' member" of the Islamic faith, declaring that you are a Muslim is enough. No churches to belong to, no baptism or rituals. Judaism is more complicated than that, but far less so than Christianity, which really merits the term "religion" to the extent it is so institutionalized.

On the other hand, the word "Hinduism" - though now used widely throughout India, was an invention of outsiders in the 1400s.

The Dharma (whether nowadays you're considered Hindu or Buddhist) is not really translatable as spiritual or religious - which is what the author was talking about. Christian and Jewish mystics, as well as Sufis (islamic mystic) practice the dharma, but many if not most in Asia do not "belong" to a religion exclusively the way Westerners do.

When you see so many Koreans joining a Christian church, it is often rather institutionalized, but even now in Korea, Japan and China, much like the modern "spiritual but not religious," it is not at all rare to find someone doing Qigong, practicing Taoist and Buddhist meditations, and perhaps engaging in some Tantric rituals.

people think "spiritual but not religious" was born in the last 20 years, but there are statements from Indian philosophic texts over 2000 years ago to the effect that "He who is Siva, who is the Divine Mother, who is Vishnu, the Buddha, etc" is One Reality.

Sounds almost like Jordan Peterson:>))