an icepick through the keyhole

And therein is the paradox. America is simultaneously the most professedly Christian of the developed nations and the least Christian in its behavior.

I'm a little surprised that he seems to be surprised by this paradox. A great deal of what I observe in religious practice—any religious practice, including the somewhat weirder one to which I subscribe—has to do with things the person making the observances doesn't actually possess. And the less they have it, the more they profess it (example: most of my fellow Pagans are urban dwellers).