Why does Holden think it spoils a conversation if someone asks what religion he is in The Catcher in the Rye?You can find the information from...

Holden Caufield and his author J. D. Salinger both had
parents of different religious faiths, so they are sensitive to religious phoniness and
stereotyping.  Salinger had one parent who was Catholic and one who was Jewish, so there
was some religious identity issues and confusion.  The same it is with Holden: he says
his father was a Catholic once, but now he is an
atheist.

In Chapter 15, however, Holden loves the fact that
the nuns (who outwardly show their Catholic faith by wearing the habit) do not ask him
if he's Catholic.  He says:

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That's why I was glad those two nuns didn't ask
me if I was a Catholic. It wouldn't have spoiled the conversation if they had, but it
would've been different, probably. I'm not saying I blame Catholics. I don't. I'd be the
same way, probably, if I was a Catholic. It's just like those suitcases I was telling
you about, in a way. All I'm saying is that it's no good for a nice conversation. That's
all I'm saying.

Instead, the
nuns discuss Mercutio, who--like Holden--refused to pick sides between the warring
families.  Rather, Mercutio cursed both houses.  The same it is for Holden: he curses
groups (religious or otherwise) who cluster together and have a mass identity.  Notice
that Holden doesn't have to lie to the nuns; he engages them honestly because they're
not phony.  He even gives them money.

Holden is an
individual who aggressively asserts his own religious free agency and refuses to commit
to the mass phoniness of the watered-down religion, prep-school "good old boy" network,
or the materialistic consumer culture of the 1950s.  Instead, he enjoys conversations
about literature with other book lovers who are not consumed with appearances, money, or
status.