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And many of those roots were as a result of old-world religious persecution of Protestant faithful

Excuse me, are you kidding. The so called protestant faithful came running over to this land discovered by Catholics because they were being persecuted by that fat King Henry the VIII and his nasty looking daughter Elizabeth I. Henry VIII took over all of our Catholic Cathedrals and Colleges in England. They couldn't even build their own stuff. Give us our stuff back!

“Excuse me, are you kidding. The so called protestant faithful came running over to this land discovered by Catholics because they were being persecuted by that fat King Henry the VIII and his nasty looking daughter Elizabeth I. Henry VIII took over all of our Catholic Cathedrals and Colleges in England. They couldn’t even build their own stuff. Give us our stuff back!”

Here I thought that WASP’s had something to do with America - now come to find out it was everybody ELSE who built it, and WASP’s are the interlopers.

Boy, I almost feel guilty now.

The delicious irony of the British government declaring an official religion and persecuting Catholics is that 500 years later, their "national church" is falling apart (half the U.S. branch broke away with the ordaining of the openly gay bishop), and hardly any baptized members of the "church of England" attend mass anymore. There are more Catholics going to church every week in England than Anglicans, even though Anglicans outnumber Catholics 6-to-1 in raw membership thanks to 500 years of oppressing the Catholic church.

I guess starting a new Christian denomination for the sole purpose of getting a new wife didn't work out that well over the centuries.

And again, most of the founding fathers of the U.S. were Anglican/Episcopalian, due to the influence of the "mother country" of England at that time. Since Anglicianism is 90% similar to Catholicism (same doctrines, sacraments, understanding of Christ, etc.), the religious culture of the U.S. has always maintained Catholic traditions much more than most of western Europe. (today Anglicians are only 1.5% of the population, due to their members defecting in droves) Protestants as a whole might be 50% of the population in the U.S., but the only thing they agree on is Catholics suck. As a result, the largest Christian faith in the United States, Catholicism, dominates religious thought in the U.S., aided by protestant churches that agree with Catholic doctrines (Lutherans, Episcopalians) or Catholic moral values (baptists).