Hi Dave,
Whew. Thanks for the reply. Have to take this one at a time - there is just too much. I'm afraid you have lived much too sheltered a life.
Freedom of Religion - is very special, and it is not everywhere by any stretch of the imagination. Common across the world? Wow. Um... No. Iraq is falling apart due to a lack of this - people are killing each other over there in Sunni vs. Shiite violence. They are two sects of the Muslim religion, and everyone in Iraq thinks of themselves as Sunni or Shiite - not Iraqi. It is tearing them apart - to the brink of genocide. Look into it - please. The news media does a poor job of it.
Also look into the persecution of Muslim immigrants in France - they were rioting because they were not allowed to get jobs - by the government. Look into the IRA - Catholic vs. Protestant in Ireland. Killing each other with bombs and machine guns just for being of the 'wrong' religion. Look into the background of the Puritans having to leave England in the 1600s (yes it was a long time ago) - can you even conceive of the level of DESPERATION of a religious group to leave everything they own and have ever known to embark on ships to reach a new land they have never seen to maybe, god willing, survive the journey, just to have a chance to live in peace and practice their religion? I know I can't.
I use the examples above as France, England, Ireland seem very very close to what America is like. There are hundreds more examples all through history. I don't know - Crusades anyone?
Freedom of Religion is very rare - rarer than it seems growing up in the US. Not unique to the US, but rare. Unique may be that we actually codified it into Law - the very Constitution itself.
And no, I don't think American culture is this list of things - I think it is built on these things, like the foundation to a building. It is these basic things that helps make us different in the world, and allows us to do all the awesome things we do.