Israel was founded on the idea that God is King. Idolatry is the first sin listed in the Ten Commandments. Likewise, there is no punishment for idolatry as there is for things like adultery and being a disgrace to one's parents etc.
Idolatry is hard to avoid. One thing that makes it hard to avoid is the ambiguity of the word. What IS idolatry? How does any government enforce such a statute when man is so prone to dishonesty, both public and even to its own individual hearts where no one can see? One of the prophets made a famous observation "The heart is deceitful above all things. Who can know it?"
Thus, the law of the land that I and many other people live in --- the USA --- leaves mankind to decide between Christianity and/or idolatry. If mankind were universally honest in every facet of our lives, we could read The Word plainly and use The Bible as our law. But that has never worked for any nation. Israel never got the hang of it and Israel was established by Abraham's grandson Jacob. Abraham was chosen as the seed of God's people at a time when the population was so sparse that Abraham was married to his half sister due to lack of available mates to choose from and nations were not really a thing...maybe I'm wrong about that last bit. There is no reference of the nationality of Abraham prior to God calling him to leave his household and set up tent elsewhere. Sodom and Gomorrah are also not referenced by nation. But my point is that the people of Israel were nothing special. If anything, they were less than ordinary. They are known for being short people, which at that time was a huge deal it seems. It makes David's defeat of Goliath that much more astounding, assuming he was average height unlike his predecessor Saul. What people group has ever thought they could more successfully implement God's law? The only people who think they can are people who don't believe in a higher being than mankind and choose to believe that The Bible is a group of fairy tales.
The section of the First Amendment stating Freedom of religion did not cause this atheist phenomenon, as I once used to think. It does give atheists more freedom to influence other people who are weak in their standing with God. But where are the Christians who are called to do the same? They are where they always were. In the minority. Those whose standing is weak with God need to make a choice --- gain strength or give up. Many have chosen to give up, just as Adam & Eve chose to neglect God's counsel when tempted by the serpent in the garden of Eden. Were they ever really Christians if they have such weak standing with God that they choose to wrap themselves up in unabashed idolatry? Everybody has interests and/or hobbies. Even people whose life is their job that they hate still somewhere in their consciousness has something their living for, be it to provide for a loved one or to feel the pain of life (some people like pain for various reasons) or whatever...there's probably other motivations for those kinds of people that I can't imagine, at least not at the moment as I'm writing this.
Anyway...
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