To wonder why MIL needs to mention a friend's religion every time she speaks of her?

[DrSeuss]

MIL's book club friend is a Muslim. MIL ALWAYS refers to this when speaking of her, even in contexts where it's just not relevant. She doesn't mention the faith of anyone else in any context, even her sister who is a church warden. We live in a town with a large Muslim population, she lives in a small town which is almost exclusively white, which may be a factor, I suppose. However, the constant referencing of this woman's religion when no one else's rates a mention just seems odd to me. DH thinks not but then he never thinks anything his family do is odd!

YANBU

YANBU. Have you ever asked her why she does it? In an ever so innocent tone, of course.

She's proud of her "tolerance".

No, because I was never sure if it was just me.

probably how she defines her.

She probably finds it a little bit exciting if she lives in a very white area and maybe she thinks it adds to her "street cred".

We live in an area like that and someone complained to me recently that, from something that was said, she thought she and her husband had been invited to one event because the hostess thought they were a bit exotic. They are Jewish!

Maybe she does define her that way but how come she doesn't define others in the same way? I have never met this woman but would expect her to have other defining features. Why not just X at my book club? I reference religion when it's relevant eg so and so is coming to tea so it's chicken burgers not beef as they are Hindu.

Reminds me of "Japanese margaret" in Gavin and Stacey...

Because she wasn't to show off what a multi-cultural circle of friends she has got to make herself appear more urbane and sophisticated.