In response to what Vanessa said, I think it's important to note that there's a big difference between being a country explicitly founded upon the foundation of a certain religion (Islamic Middle Eastern regimes) and a country being subtly and inherently linked to a religion because of its history, because of the ideaologies of its founders, etc...
In the US case, whether or not Americans choose to pride themselves on pure rationalism, it's very important to look to protestantism for a large part of the source of our cultural (and political) heritage. The book (I almost capitalized that and wrote "The Book", which would have been just as appropriate) contains a ton of examples of this. Even at present, debates over the interpretation of the constitution rage -- are we beholding to the ideas of white slaveholders who died hundreds of years ago? Or is the constitution an entity which can grow and change with the people whose rights it's meant to protect? A large body of people prefers the former interpretation.
The point is that, as far as I can tell, protestantism is both the cause and the embodiment of our "manifest destiny". The idea of expansion is linked to a playing out of Revelation, and the "protestant work ethic" itself is in no small way what ties our society together: the importance of productivity, of the mobilization of effort, of labor as an assurance of God's favor.
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I mentioned that in the context of the "protestant work ethic" as it was espoused by Calvin and Weber. (I keep coming back to this cause I think it's a really, really important part of this country's history and economic success). The idea, essentially, is that the fate of all men (salvation vs. damnation) is determined from birth, and only through "signs" of God's favor can one know his destiny. Economic success was understood to be one such sign(accumulation of capital means you're working hard and thus fulfilling God's will).
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