Thank you for sharing your observations, Zucadragon.
Americans have a tendency to think of themselves at the extreme: either the best or the worst in the world. It's cultural narcissism born of geographical isolation. The result is a cultural self-image distorted by the classic Virgin-Whore dichotomy. In thinking their society the embodiment of good in the world or the embodiment of evil, Americans tend to assume that others think the same way. It never occurs to them that in any respect the rest of the world might view them as merely ordinary.
In support of your observations, here are a few BBC stories about creationism as an issue in UK education. The articles carry links that can take anyone further who wants to explore this.
2002
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/1979840.stm
h2g2 - Creationism in the UK - Edited Entry
Choice quote: 'British readers may be reading about Creationism and smugly thinking 'Only in America'. Well, don't be so sure.'
2006
BBC NEWS | UK | Education | Creationism 'no place in schools'
A complicating factor for educators in Europe is the presence in many countries of Muslims as a large minority. Muslims have their own biblical literalists. Like other biblical literalists, they tend to be YECs who misunderstand and distrust science.
There's another reason Europeans don't laugh as hard as the author of our OP imagines: they know the history. If the New World is disproportionately populated today by people who take religion very, very seriously, it is because European monarchs once took it seriously enough to imprison and kill their ancestors for theirs.
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