CTL, I don’t usually think you’re wrong (and I’m not usually foolish enough to argue with a lawyer) but this time I think you’re wrong.
The description “non-observant” is not pejorative. When we call someone a non-observant Jew, we are (obviously) not saying he’s not a Jew; we’re defining what type of Jew he is.
There are many types of Jews. There’s only one unchangeable Torah, the laws of which are immutable.
An observant Jew might not observe all 613 Mitzvos of the Torah perfectly. Today in galus we can’t can come close to performing 613, and even b’zman Bais Mamikdashl any one person couldn’t perform every Mitzvah. However, an observant Jews makes an attempt to perform, as perfectly as he is able, all the Mitzvos that apply to him. A Jew who abandons his heritage by disregarding the Torah’s laws is not observant. Whether circumstances make him a better or worse person than his neighbor who makes Kiddush Friday night, puts on tefillin every morning and learns with his children every evening is not for us to judge and we have no way of knowing. But non-observant he certainly is.
