I stumbled across this image while visiting my friend’s apartment in the Bronx. I found this image particularly compelling because of its use of a percentage to signify ones degree of “religiousness”. The image also made me question just how many religions are represented in this area and how would the practitioners of these religions respond to such a sign. It also made me question whether or not it would be appropriate to have a similar sign but to perhaps be 50% of one religion and 50% of another. This notion brought me back to Kerouac’s Dharma Bums and his adoption of Buddhist practices. What would Kerouac’s sign look like? He never entirely denounces his catholic views, yet appropriates these Buddhist ideals. I wonder how Kerouac would respond to such a proclamation. Would he go with the 50/50 route here or would he denounce one entirely and go 100% on one side? Personally I do not think Keroac would even answer the question, being that he strives for a certain state of enlightenment through his Buddhist appropriation, he might go off on a tangent about the immateriality of things and refuse to event think of such a thing. He might view it as a way for those outside of his enlightenment to judge his “religious-ness” or spirituality, something he probably would not agree with.

It would be interesting to see this implemented in the post-war period as a way of extending the notion of the hierarchal version of the catholic church. By quantifying the degree of “religiousness” (faith?), it can help bishops further categorize their hierarchy. They may say something along the lines as, “we bishops are 100% catholic and therefore need to be at the head of the church, but you too can increase your percentage by embodying Christ’s teachings.”

I think a person like Jerry Fallwell would love for this type of quantifiable religious measurement system be in place. I think that Fallwells fundamentalist views and teachings would benefit from this notion because it would really break down a persons devotion. He would literally be able to assign a degree to his followers and could use it as a means for motivating them towards his cause, much like the previous example.

I found it interesting to convey religion, in this case Catholicism specifically, in such a quantifiable way. What if churches were able to assign a level of measurement that determined (by their standards obviously) just how devout you were? I wonder what Dorothy Days number would be. Would she too be 100% catholic like the sticker on this door proclaims that my friend and his family are? I wonder how Leila Ahmed would view her “religious percentage” . Would she split it into sub categories with gender being an underlying factor?