Quote Originally Posted by 120mm View Post
... I think it has more to do with American society's radical move to atheism, while the military isn't moving that direction quite as fast.
America's radical move to Atheism? I've traveled fairly widely across the country the last few years and can't recall anyplace without a healthy number of places of worship: church, cathedral, storefront, mosque, synagogue, commune, Buddhist temple, you name it. I also read about Wiccan, Druid, and assorted New Age meeting places. That polygamous Mormon compound in Texas currently in the news just serves to show you that there is SOME theistic association, no matter what floats your boat.

Theism, of whatever form and denomination, seems firmly rooted in the USA. This is probably because of our lack of a state sponsored religion, which has proven quite detrimental for theism in other places.

I have co-workers and inlaws who throw out the term "atheism" as a shorthand word for any group which is NOT characterized by a Protestant Christian, fundamentalist, Evangelical, premillenial dispensationalism approach to God.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premillennialism
But this is mainly because they believe that if you don't bring this kind of theistic approach, you are doomed to roast in eternal hellfire. Obviously this would include atheists. But a fiery eternity also awaits other theists, who just don't have the right theological answers.