How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Monkey was the basis of much thought with us. On the sideboard, on the Turkestan runner, with their eyes, ears, and mouth covered, we had see-no-evil, speak-no-evil, hear-no-evil, a lower trinity of the house. The advantage of lesser gods is that you can take their names any way you like. (1.24)
Augie is Jewish, but neither Judaism nor any other formal religion plays much of a role in his life. We wonder if he could commit to a faith if he tried. By the way, he's referring here to the image of the three monkeys: Hear no evil, see no evil, and speak no evil—you might recognize them as these three emojis.
Quote #2
But although she never went to the synagogue, ate bread on Passover, sent Mama to the pork butcher where meat was cheaper, loved canned lobster and other forbidden food, she was not an atheist and free-thinker. (1.28)
Religion for Grandma Lausch is more of a general moral code than an obligatory set of beliefs and practices. It ties in with her desire to see the March boys become gentlemen. It's a religion of respectability rather than piety. Aretha would be proud.
Quote #3
What had made him an atheist was the massacre of Jews in his town. From the cellar where he was hidden he saw a laborer pissing on the body of his wife's dead brother, just killed. "So don't talk to me about God," he said. But it was he that talked about God, all the time. (1.28)
Augie doesn't delve much into his own religious beliefs, if he has any. The idea of God doesn't seem to mean all that much to him. If anything, it's an academic concept, but one that fascinates him, if only for the ironies. Augie is amused by the atheist who talks obsessively about God.