To put it more simply, he don't know jack. The US is by far and away the most secular country in the world.
Personal story: I spent my high school junior year at an oveseas British base school (one of only a handful of Yanks). In addition to mandatory chapel attendance once a week, there was also a mandatory religion class. (This class actually is a college board qualifying course for the Brits' O and A levels.)
Guess what the principal did when I returned to the States for my senior year? Yep, out went my credit for the religion class. Had to make up the units in addition to my normal senior course load.
You have put your finger on the problem. And Praeger ain't it.
Talk about not knowing jack!
The essence of "religiosity" is not stupid academic credits, it's how a culture expresses its real values.
Suffice to say that, judged on your superficial assessment of cultural and religious self assesment, the muslim world is the most religious and beneficent of all.
The extreme religious right is as much my enemy as the clueless "multiculturalists". I can tell the difference, and I can tell them apart.
Real religious and civilized cultural behavior is lived, not shouted.