Am I a practicing Buddhist?

What is the definition of a practicing Buddhist? I keep hearing this term nowadays. While I didn’t seek clarification, I have a rough idea of what it means to be a practicing Buddhist.

I suppose it refers to the laypeople who have taken refuge, 5 precepts, and are working at upholding them. An additional level would be those who are also doing Buddhism practices of some sort, e.g. meditation, chanting, sutra discussion…

So am I a practicing Buddhist?

Let me go back to the basics. Is there a need to classify Buddhist (and here I use it as those who taken Three Refuge) into practicing and non-practicing ones? What is it that we are trying to prove? Is it not enough that they believe in the Buddha? Maybe they are not ready for more, (and we should reach out to them), but should we typecast them into a hole and give the impression that they are “less”?

What about those who pray to the Buddha and Bodhisattvas, who have not taken refuge. What are they than? Do they consider themselves Buddhist? Does other Buddhist consider them as one?

I am just wondering about the need for distinction. We are all humans in this samsaric world, striving to be happy. If even as Buddhist we categorize other Buddhist, by virtue of their practice (or non-existence of), by virtue of their tradition/school, by virtue of their cultural influences on their practices, how can we than be showing metta or equanimity? We are than not practicing what we “preach”. How than can we be even called Buddhist, much less practicing ones?