oh i worked out how JEDD Mason’s religion-reading power worked. people wear their ideologies out in the open, so of course people will also wear their religions, but people will be careful not to notice the outward signs of religion, not be taught what they are, be careful not to learn what they mean and, above all, not to admit their existence
so JEDD just autistically notices you are wearing a deist hat and mentions it
…
the esoteric meaning of these scenes is pretty plain and its about the power of studying comparative religion (as palmer does), namely that here in 2022 AD with the right training you can identify the religious traditions that ostensibly post-religious people are operating under and gain insight into their motives