The US has always had religion, or specifically christianity, deeply rooted within government and education. This is a very puritanical country. Everything is cyclical. Right now, the religious right is on an upswing. The fear of terrorism is being used by many to support a return of "moral values" which basically means everyone needs to be a God fearing Christian.
But this won't last forever. Each generation of children swings a different way, and eventually conservative America will lose it's iron grip. You can look at the Cold War as a perfect example. In the 50's, American society was afraid of the A-bomb and anything different than the norm. The 60's brought about social change and protests over the war on communism. By the 70's, society looked completely different than the 50's.
Anyways, considering all this stuff is cyclical, I just figure we should be as tolerant as we can. That way, in 20 years, you can look back and say "I wasn't a **** to people."