Strangely it was 17th century religious dissenters persecuted in England that went over to the 'new' country America. The upheaval in this country spawned the puritanical movement that resulted in Quakers and other groups, all approaching 'their' god differently. The paradox of the Quakers with their view of a simple life, resulted in them making money - entreprenurial skills and religion making an alliance, the exporting of religious dissent in Europe has made Americe what it is today....
At the heart of the argument lies the fact that religion has always been a part of history, creationism is a present manifestation of a simplistic viewpoint, you can no more shout it out of its corner, (it will eventually move) than you can knock down every Anglican church in England - we need belief, in whatever shape it comes even though it is manifestly untrue to others.
Dawkin is too strident for me, Darwin had some of the answers, but why is the human race always striving to find an answer - at Cern trying to find the absolute beginning of the universe...
Me I'm in the camp that says humans are an organism (got to big for our boots) amongst others, part of a living environment that is symbiotically dependent on each other.....