Why do Americans have such hang-ups about religion?

I am an American. I have no religion. All world leaders are filled with corruption seeking only to feed their own greed. When people preach to me i just smile and point out points they have made that contradict what they have just said :-) I just can't help myself. It don't bother me to hear them. Heck i might even learn something. To me politics and religion are alike in the sense that they both tell you what you want to hear in order to keep you under control but that's just my opinion.

Although the Constitution of the US is clear, there are still 7 states where atheists cannot hold a public office in the USA according to these states constitutions. These articles are never applied today, but it is weird to see that they are still there...

We got a LOT of hang ups, lol. Seriously though, the idea was to prevent oppression from any angle, including religion. Nothing has been more oppressive to people in human history than religion. This was the reason for keeping it out of our government when we formed it. Our society is predominantly Christian, so I assume this would be the reason why. We've also just not had much of anyone of other faiths run for the job with a very few exceptions. You've got Sanders who is running now and Lieberman back in 2004 who are both Jews. If Sanders gets the Dems nomination he could probably win the general election. But it will have nothing to do with his faith.

Interesting. I've yet to see a president that I would consider a "devout Christian," but you are of course, entitled to your opinion.

Not all Americans have a religion.. and i am one of them unless i call myself one. I do not agree with the government does but i am only one person and it takes knowing someone higher up plus money to change things..something i don't have.

Though the constitution is secular, the American Right has a very strong fundamentalist Christian bias and few US candidates would get far without their votes. A non-religious candidate can run for presidency but the voters would not put him or her in. A candidate declaring themselves atheistic would face vilification from the rather biased religious Right.

I think you're right. In the US there are High chances for a Christian to be the president but as for atheists and Muslims, chances for them are so minimal

I wonder though, had Henry VIII not broken away from the Catholic Church, would the UK have such freedom of religion as it does now? I am so tired of this whole "if you are not christian you are not crap" thing that is going on over here in the States. As far as I am concerned the Politicians and Government leaders over here are no more Christian than they are intelligent.

Christianity as an organized entity (NOT individual Christians, mind you) has followed the paganism before it in using force to convert people. And it really hasn't mattered what particular denomination: when the persecuted minority Christians in the 3rd century became the majority the first thing they did was put their foot down (figuratively and literally) on other religions. In England Queen Elizabeth I ushered in the persecution of Catholics. When the "persecuted" religious left England for America and became the majority in the colonies they began to do exactly what had been done to them. There was talk during JFK's run for president that there was "no way" a Catholic would be elected president. Additionally, a lot of Christians believe they belong to the "one true church," and everyone else is going to hell unless they join that "one true church." (There are at least half a dozen denominations that have it in their catechism that they are the "one true church," and they can't all be right!) Personally, I like the Jewish approach. If you go to a rabbi and tell him you want to become a Jew, he'll send you away. If you come back, he'll send you away again. He wants to make sure you're sincere, not that you're doing it because Madonna read the Kabbala or whatever. Maybe Christians should take that approach: live their lives in a manner that makes people want to come to them and ask, instead of waking someone up out of their afternoon nap by banging on their door and hawking their religion.