Is God blessing America?

It seems that in American politics the presence of God is always neccessary. I noticed that American patriotism is to a large extent connected to a religious aspect. Basically, God blessed America.

While I have been aware of this connection for quite some time, yesterday I gave special thought to this issue. I watched a documentary about the "new religious right" which formed in the US in the late 1970s and gained great impact on the presidencies of Mr. Reagan and Mr. Bush, sen. Of course, the notorious issue of abortion was addressed in this film. This was fairly interesting, but it was merely the starting point from were my thoughts took off.

We all know of the WASP phenomenon. For decades (if not centuries) there has been one requirement every American politican had to fulfill in order to have a great career: He had to be a White Anglo Saxon Protestant. JFK was the first and only non-protestant President of the US. Well, he was catholic.
It seems to me that today the denonination is not that important anymore. But in order to be successful, one still needs to portray the image of piety. Hence all kinds of Christian rhetoric is found in political speeches.

This is extremely interesting because of the fact that in no other western democracy state and church are so clearly seperated institutionally. I mean, there are no religion classes in school, for example. The tolerance of other religions is much greater than overhere in Germany. An Organisation like Scientology is considered a sect here, in America it is a church.

So despite of this obvious freedom of religion, every politician needs to address God and Christian belief. Whenever the feeling of patriotism needs to be addressed you won't have to wait for a long time until God's blessing will be mentioned. Even on dollar bills Amercia portrays its christianity: In God we trust.
Generally, there seems to be a feeling that America is God's own country.

Why?

Actually, the bible says that the Jews are God's chosen people. Well, Jesus was a Jew. It seems logical from that point of view. Why America? Probably because of the founding fathers. Every school kid in the US learns how they came to this country in order to live in freedom. That they came to America because of the intolerance in England.
My HIS 212 (American Culture) prof at WMU put it differently. They came over the Atlantic because THEY were intolerant. They came because they were christian fanatics.

Maybe this explains why patriotism has been connected to religion in the US from early on. At least the founding fathers were the first WASPs.

In times of war, God seems to be referred to even more often than usual. Clearly, God wants Hussein to be removed from power. Does he?

Is America God's tool to create and preserve world peace? Is war the Christian way to achieve such things?
The pope disagrees. In the middle ages it was the papacy who called for crusades. Now it is calling for peace.

This war in Iraq is clearly not motivated by religion (at least for the coalition troops). Still there is this Christian rhetoric. Why does America want God as an ally in this war?
Pacifists are not taken seriously, these days. They are seen as naive idealists, far away from the brutal reality of the world.
That may be true. However, Jesus was a pacifist. How can any Christian believe that God could justify war? Apparently, more bible study groups are neccessary, especially in the White House.