Dear Avram,
Exactly! It is not that your relatives want to believe in sainted humans as atzmus haguf, or they want to speculate endlessly on what is above, or even that they struggle with the terms used to describe God in TaNaCH. It is simply that belief does not mean much to them. Whether that belief is dead-center, borderline, or out-of-bounds. Instead of fighting about what is proper belief like a bunch of simpletons, we would do better to discuss the benefits of an unshakable conviction in the ultimate divine powers. However they may be properly defined.
It is not what you believe. It is how much weight you put on your beliefs.