Avery I have never been to the USA but my perception is that it has really turned to fundamentalist Christianity in the last 20 years or so. This never seemed to be the case in the 90s... you never really saw it on tv or heard about it in music, but now it's everywhere. I'm sure people went to church, but now it seems to be a really huge, ingrained part of society. It influences your laws despite there supposedly being a seperation between church and state.
I might be wrong but my perception is that the USA is now at least as fundamentalist / religious as much of the middle east. Certainly a lot more than Australia or much of Western Europe.
All the more reason to tread your own path I would say! ;-)