In response to:
I am an atheist, which firmly puts me out of the "social conservative" circle.
But I am an adherent to Constitutional authority as any fundamentalist. Human actions are, by definition, based upon physics. What choices we make are not constrained by a religious edict or a socialist edict. Yes, I can play the "indoctrination comparison" game myself.
I don't doubt that the country was founded on freedom of religion. If Jews, conservatives, Muslims, and Buddhists can be equally "socially conservative," why should atheists be considered any less conservative?
I do get your point, though. Structure of peaceful human conduct MUST be taught. What cannot be tolerated is the assignment of actions based upon religious (or lack of) adherence.
For some years now, we have been told about a major division within American conservatism: fiscal conservatives vs. social conservatives.
This division is hurting conservatism and hurting America -- because the survival of American values depends on both fiscal and social conservatism. Furthermore, the division is logically and morally untenable. A conservative conserves all American values, not just economic ones.
By "social conservatism," I am referring to the second and third components of what I call the American Trinity -- liberty, "In God We Trust" and "E Pluribus Unum."
It is worth noting that a similar bifurcation does not exist on the left. One...
Absent a belief in the True God, and His moral precepts, we simply have moral chaos, with each person doing what is right in his own eyes, which leads ultimately to tyranny and slavery (the direction this society is heading)