Idol worship

This coming Sunday is Flag Day. I will be in Montana rafting, so regrettably I won't be able to comment on it at the time.
One of the most peculiar things I can think of in my childhood when it comes to my parents trying to raise me to be a good Mormon was the high level of patriotism they instilled in me. The classic discussion in American culture and politics is always how much involvement religion should have in shaping who we are as the American people and the phrase "separation of Church and State" has always been the representation of this difference.
But over and above this my parents, and many of the parents in the communities I grew up in, instilled in their kids a kind of country worship. We were told to stand tall, not as believers, but as Americans. We were told to unite as patriots, not as Christians. We were told that the men who died for their country were heroes, and that those we fought were the enemy, but we were never told about those martyrs who died for Jesus.
I was raised to be much more of an American and a patriot that to be a Christian and a witness. But at some point, I realized that while Americanism is limited to those who live in a particular location at a specific time, I believed that true salvation and real truth was not limited in this fashion. if America is the greatest country on earth, what of those who lived before America was a nation, or those who unfortunately live in third world countries and are unable to improve their situations?
So I decided that my nationality was not as important to me as it is to other people. Furthermore, I decided that I wanted to stand by God much more than I wanted to stand by my country. In many instances throughout time, from the Romans to the NAZIs, true Christians have had to stand up against the state. Why should I pledge myself fully to a nation that is alterable according to the whims of the people who take power?
And then comes the idea of flag worship. In my house, the American flag as a holy artifact. It should never touch the ground, it should always be flown, it should never have rips or tears, and it should never be put in a situation that was disgraceful. When the flag goes by in a parade, we salute in reverence, as if it was Jesus himself. We all stand for the national anthem and face our banner. We all act as if that flag itself is the distributor of grace and the ultimate power that we have to answer to in this life.
This is what concerns me. It is isn't that our way of life is important to us. It isn't that we honor those who lead us and protect us. It is that we worship them. We adore our system so much we impose it on some and restrict it from others, all at our own whims. We worship the government and the military. We get tattoos of the flag and hang it from our houses. We love Amerigo Vespucci, the man from whom America gets its name, more than Jesus, for whom Christianity was named.

Civitas contra religionem

So many people laud the founding fathers' decision to establish a policy of separation of Church and state. But I have to ask: is this really the best thing for us?
A lot of the argument for the separation of Church and state lies in the fact that with a government tied with a church, there will be no freedom of religion. We have plenty of examples in the history of the world to draw from: England, Rome, Germany, France, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Lebanon, Iran, etc. Some countries have failed to allow religious diversity, but not all. England no longer does. Israel and Lebanon have always allowed religious freedom. None of these countries are considered disasters (though, to be fair, none of them are really driven by the Church anymore).
So what does separation do for us here in the states? First and foremost, anybody can join whatever faith they'd like, for better or worse (viz Heaven's Gate, David Koresh and Jim Jones). Furthermore, politics supposedly isn't influenced by religions (like Hell it's not). But if politics is supposed to be fair, and representative, why is it that the most dominant Christian religion in America (the Catholic Church) has only ever had one of its members become president?
But what I really get upset about is this: American Christianity is so often influenced by the state. What does this mean? How many churches today in America are predominantly war-like? How many good Christians are afraid to protest what they think is unjust? How many Christians view the Beattitudes as a higher standard than political practice? How many consider the command to love one's neighbor more important than the constitution? How many people consider Jesus to be a more important political figure than George Washington?
The problem is that we live in a world affected by World War I nationalism that we have never overcome. Christians, in word, proclaim a life that is independent of the state. Jesus proclaimed "My kingdom is not of this world." The early Christians suffered at the hands of the state, often to imprisonment and even death.
Now, we live in Kierkegaard's Christendom. We don't actually need to be Christ-like in order to be Christians in our world. We go to war, we impose taxes on the poor and increase the wealth of the poor. We turn against our neighbor and engage in unvirtuous enterprises. Christianity in America is like a new Rome. We have lost our sense of Christianity for our sense of politics. We worship the God of the state, the God whose name is printed on our money, not the God of Christianity.