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Speaking from an outsider perspective, I think a lot of this is due to the fact that the United States has practically defined itself as a Christian nation. The words "one nation under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance only adds to this fact. There seems to be this idea that to be a "true American", one much be Christian, and those who do not fit that criterion are ostracized.

This becomes especially prevalent around this time of the year, during the holiday season, when the debate of religious freedom comes up on social media. Posts that say "It's NOT Happy Holidays, it's MERRY CHRISTMAS", and "This is AMERICA, and we celebrate CHRISTMAS here" appear all over Facebook, Twitter, and similar social networking sites in reaction to businesses telling their employees to address customers with the more inclusive holiday greeting. Christmas and Christianity become part of the American identity, and those who threaten this identity by trying to remain inclusive of all religions are attacked.

The lack of religious variety within the United States at first hand appears shocking when we think of how ethnically diverse the nation really is; where are the Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus that have established their lives in America? However, when we view the United States as an ethnically diverse nation we must not forget the popular metaphor of the nation being a "melting pot" of minority cultures blending together into the dominant American culture. I agree with acormier2 in terms of how Christianity has embedded itself into the United State's national identity, therefore it makes sense as to why religious minorities are scarcely visible. An example of how this "melting pot" works can be based of the statistics of religious intermarriages that are increasingly rising in the United States. The product of these intermarriages may result in either 1) assimilation to the American culture (therefore allowing religious minorities to be converted to the prominent religion of the nation) or 2) a link to the growth of the "Unaffiliated" religious group.

For some (semi) inside perspective, I live in Florida/Alabama two months out of the year during the summer, and have for the last ten years. Granted, the South is known as "Jesus Country," and tends to strongly believe in its traditional country values regardless of any social change or growing religious diversity. I have yet to meet anyone who considers themselves anything but a Catholic (or a branch of Catholicism such as Orthodox, Christian, Protestant, etc). From some of the more radical neighbors I've had, I've noticed that there is a rich tradition in America of viewing religious diversity in positive terms. However, many citizens still consider it a threat to democracy and an undermining of long-established American values. If you add to this the question as to whether increasing religious diversity will exacerbate the divide between those who think religion is important and those who don't, the answer will always be a largely uncomfortable "no." It is widely believed, as said above by Jenny Nicole, that the USA is a melting pot. It is not meant, nor does it stand for, the multiculturalism and equality of differences that are seen in Canada. Judging by the chart, the number of Christians only reveals how strong this idea of a full-bodies Christian nation is, and how the phrase "In God we Trust" has left a permanent mark on the religious diversity of the United States.

I'm not sure the U.S is known for being religiously diverse like it is ethnically diverse. Regardless, I think a major reason we see such a huge difference in the reputation from the actual data is because a lot of the focus is placed on cities like New York or Los Angeles, where cultural diversity is at its peak in the U.S. People tend to disregard the regions that don't reach the limelight in popular media, and so often forget about densely populated Christian areas, and smaller regions that add up to the large numbers as shown on the graph. Furthermore, we often fail to realize that, although ethnically diverse, a lot of these residents are Christian, or not affiliated with a specific religion.