Separating "American" from "Christian"

I am American, and naturally that says something about my identity beyond simply where I was born.  My nationality is apparent in the way I eat, speak, walk, dress, and interact with others.  Even if I wanted to, I couldn't hide my "American-ness."  But I always thought I knew where it ended. I thought that I could separate out parts of myself and still be left with what makes me essentially me.  Because of several events occurring over the last few weeks, I have come to realize that I couldn't be more wrong.  Even worse, I'm not sure I can separate my Christianity from my American-ness.  

While reading Karl the Great's "Saxon Laws,"I was deeply disturbed.  Sure, the death penalty for those crimes involving murder make sense to me, but death for eating meat during lent and fines for delaying baptism? What about religious fre... oh... wait... that's American.  But this certainly can't be supported scripturally, can it? Except for that whole old testament law thing...  Punishing people for not accepting Christianity feels so un-Christian to me.  And maybe I could argue that some how through scripture, but even if I can, I have to admit, on this one, I confused being a Christian with being an American, and that is unsettling to me.   

On the other hand, This did give me a completely new perspective on the way past cultures must have felt.  They weren't Roman/Greek/Anglo-Saxon because of the way they thought and behaved, they thought and behaved the way they did because they were Roman, etc.  Even if they adopted Christianity and were truly saved, those traditions and mindsets remained.  Moral dilemmas (that do need to be thought out) aside, I was born American, but I became a Christian.  I'm not entirely sure how they are supposed to mix (there will be further study, trust me), but I maybe instead of doing away with my many identities (American, Southern, Daughter, Sister, Aunt, etc) He is repurposing them... The temple isn't being destroyed, just the idols. 

Note: I apologize if this was difficult to follow, but please comment if you have a thought. I am really trying to make sense of this. 

P.S. Commented on Tyler's "A Blast From the Past"