In "By the Waters of Babylon," how do the narrator's beliefs affect what he says about the Place of Gods?

What is key to realise about this excellent story is the
way that point of view impacts everything. The first person point of view means that we
only see the action from the perspective of John, the narrator. Of course, as the story
progresses, we begin to see what a partial and unreliable view his perspective is, as he
represents a future descendant of humanity that has lost memory of what our age today
looks like. Thus it is that given the various taboos and lack of knowledge of John's
society, he is frightened and scared of the Place of Gods. Consider the following
paragraph:

It
felt like ground underfoot; it did not burn me. It is not true what some of the tales
say, that the ground there burns forever, for I have been there. Here and there were the
marks and stains of the Great Burning, on the ruins, that is true. But they were old
marks and old stains. it is not true either, what some of our priests say, that it is an
island covered with fogs and enchantments. It is not. It is a great Dead Place--greater
than any Dead Place we know. Everwhere in it there are god-roads, though most are
cracked and broken. Everywhere there are tehruins of the high towers of the
gods.

Thus what John sees as
being a "Dead Place," we can recognise as being the remnants of New York. What John
describes as being "god-roads," we see as being former highways. John's beliefs and
world view automatically dictates the way in which he looks at the sights around him,
and help him to interpret what he sees. The point of view helps relate that to
us.