Why I'm an atheist, and why I wish The President was one too

As a child, I attended a Lutheran private school for several years, congregating in chapel every Friday morning and reciting a prayer before each class began. This same school doubled as my church of worship, wherein I spent every Sunday singing in the choir, tending to the church candelabra as an acolyte, walking the crucifix through the congregation as a crucifer, and later in my adolescence, studying the good book for my confirmation. These activities were not forced upon me by a set of god fearing parents, nor were they performed under the pretense of duty to my creator. Rather, I was involved in the church because it meant something to me personally. Around my late teens, through no fault of the church or god or anyone else, I found myself more interested in the secular concerns of man than the ethereal ideals and boundaries offered by the church. Why should this little background story of my once pious life matter to anyone on this blog or even society as a whole? It does not, and it should not.
As my knowledge of world history expanded, I began to realize a frightening pattern in the long line of world conflicts. While nationalism, states of oppression and a wantonness for freedom, simple misunderstanding, and expansionism are all ascribable foundations for many of these conflicts, no motive for conflict has been invoked as often as the will of god(s) http://www.geocities.com/athens/rhodes/3991/GodWars.html . For me, it seems like a perfect justification for any conflict; after all, what man would dare oppose the will of god? I suppose the man who believes in a different god would present a viable opponent to such divine action. Thus, throughout history we have seen people challenge their neighbor based on their differences of faith, men of power maintain that power through the Divine Right of Kings, less established religions paganized by the well established, and so on and so forth.
Being a secularist (which is how I will describe myself in this thread to remove any religious undertone from my personal position) has allowed me to look at historic events and current events without the opaque lenses of religious presupposition. I don't claim to be more informed than my religious counterparts. What I do claim; however, is that I can look at the laws of man without the laws of god as my yardstick. I am an American. Not a Catholic American, Muslim American, Jewish American, Protestant American, etc; rather, a simple, uncodified American of indeterminate European ancestry, and that is the way I expect to be governed and represented by those in office. With my vote, I have entrusted the government with the duty to represent all of America, not just those who share their religious beliefs. When Bush invokes god at the podium, I immediately question whose laws he is upholding, man's or god's, because all too often, they are not one in the same. Opposition to stem cell research, anti-abortion legislation, gay marriage prohibition, prayer in school, creationism revisited, the Iraqi War, and the such all on the basis of "what god would want us to do" is an irresponsible position for a man whose sole responsibility is to uphold The Constitution and the laws that have been enacted under that precedent. When organizations and individuals attempt to combine the laws of man and god, such as displaying the Ten Commandments in court houses, the weight of the laws of man are in effect undermined. I believe the laws as listed in the Ten Commandments are well represented in the American legal system, the system we are all bound, as Americans, to govern ourselves and to be governed. But to display the two in unison takes away the established validation of our laws, as if to say that we are bound to a higher authority, outside of this court, to follow these Commandments. I don't find it particularly offensive personally, just belittling to the rules of law that have been set forth to govern our society.
If religion has helped to shape a person into who he or she is today, giving them a basis for self governing morality and a relationship to a higher power, I say, "good for them." But when this religious foundation permeates into how they govern, particularly when the good book takes precedent over The Constitution, I feel that I am being misrepresented, just as every Jew, Muslim, Pagan, etc. Must also feel misrepresented. I didn't cast my vote at church. I don't think of god when I think about what makes me an American. And it is my preference, and frankly, the duty of the office, that when President Bush addresses the nation behind the great presidential seal of the White House podium, he does not mistake it for a preacher's pulpit.