Proof of membership.

THE TERM “card-carrying” is something one usually hears in connection with one’s political affiliation: “card-carrying conservative”, or “liberal”; “republican”; “democrat”. I suppose if one carried around an offical copy of their baptismal certificate every day, they could call themselves a card-carrying Christian. Now, there is a sort of “badge” one wears in lieu of official church paperwork, however. If your name is Henry Jenkins and you carry an Ohio driver’s license that proves you are indeed he, an observer might guess that you were a Christian. If your name is Leo Moskowitz and your New York driver’s license discloses that you are a Brooklyn resident, the same observer might rightly conclude that you were not Christian. And there’s one other tip-off: detectives refer to them as “personal effects.” Jewelry. A koran. A bible. Perhaps on Sunday morning, an envelope for the weekly offering. Now, the net effect of any or all of the above is that the individual has been properly labeled, but that doesn’t tell us much about what’s inside.

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