In "By the Waters of Babylon", how is John's civilization different spiritually than the one that preceded it?

John's society seems to be one that is more in tune with nature and intuition than The Place of the Gods. John's people live in the middle of natural elements, not in a large city like New York. Thus, spiritually, their beliefs seem to be modeled after those of Native Americans, rather than modern day man. They seem to worship nature instead science. They have priests who perform chants, spells and do some healing. They have taboos and fear demons and spirits. Those "spirits" may be the bodies of those killed in what they remember as "the great burning." Having a tribal memory of some kind of great destruction that they don't fully understand, they are more superstitious than the "gods" of newyork. Yet, it is John's intuition that tells him to seek the truth about "The Place of the Gods" and his curiosity makes him vulnerable to thinking he can handle the knowledge of the "gods' as long as they don't take in the knowledge too quickly.