Religious Practices

Saying "bless you" when someone sneezes, "crossing yourself" or even "touching wood" for luck - these are the trappings of archaic superstition, of weak minds clinging to what is false and imaginary, rather than what is true and beautiful. Free yourself from the meaningless moralising inherited from an ancient civilisation, enforced through fear of some fiery apocalypse, and embrace your true humanity - that to be kind, and to be caring of others, is to foster the true human spirit in our communities.

— The True Utopia of Man, Aristotelis Svenson, philosopher and leader of the anti-religion movement in the Scandinavian block

When the Scandinavian block banned religious practices following the religious wars of the New Templar movement and the Egypto-Chinese war, the rest of the the world gradually acquiesced. Eventually, there was a world-wide ban on religious practices.
During this period, different cultures reexamined their beliefs and practices, and attempted to extricate religious superstition from the fabric of their cultures. Aristotelis Svenson was one of several philosophers who attempted to rewrite the emotional and moral structures of society, based on Humanism, a rational philosophy informed by science, inspired by art, and motivated by compassion.
Some behaviours remained longer than others, however. From parables and sayings, to the ritual "spitting" to turn the evil eye in Greece, to the selective eating practices of certain religions, to the modesty sensibilities of others, it took several generations until these behaviours fell out of common practice.
Nowadays, modern education gives children a thorough grounding in the Svenson Humanitarian texts, as well as others, to develop their own morality. Religion is still studied by historical anthropologists, and religious buildings and texts are preserved where possible as artifacts of our past, but practice is forbidden.

Hook

Rumour has it that there are several underground churches practising in Twilight City. Some of these are harmless, but others link these rumours to the mutilated bodies which have recently turned up in the lower city.

Tradition: a tradition or behaviour considered old fashioned