A young man’s search for identity and purpose leads to mistakes.
These mistakes are, from a Christian perspective, classic sin.
The young man, Holden, never turns to God for answers.
Instead, the theme of the book is consistent with what the satanists try to teach us.
Holden did have some interest in religion but was turned off by hypocrisy and empty formalism. I think the point, though, is more that writers have to write their “Inferno” or “Purgatorio” before they can consider “Paradiso,” that is, they have to depict a godless world before they can move on to a religious vision. In Salinger’s case, though, that vision would be as much Hindu or Buddhist as Christian.