It's utterly bizarre, as if they can't imagine the whole world isn't a reflection of US society.

Another downside of this sort of simplistic pigeon-holing is that it's giving many people in the UK the mistaken impression that the religious right in the US is "a reflection of US society" as a whole. Which it isn't. I'm from the US, but I relate much more to the GC UK women on mumsnet, Twitter and other platforms than I do to US Bible-thumpers. Even the US conservatives and Republicans I know tend to be secular, tolerant of different sexualities, in favor of women's rights and pretty neutral on abortion - they're nothing like the dogmatic, homophobic religious reactionaries epitomized by organizations like Westboro and many evangelical sects and the most traditional Mormons.

I despair when I read threads on Mumsnet AIBU that portray all/most Americans as right-wing religious nuts.