war for peace

Stout argued:
"Judging solely by the texts and monographic writings on the meaning of America, any reader would come away with the strong impression that, for much of its colonial and national experience America has lived at peace with its neighbors, locally and globally." (Stout, 279)
"Virtually all of the main themes in American religious histories suppose , at least implicitly, an America at peace, leaving them free to confront internal demons, saviors, and central characters...  Despite the wide diversity of publishers and authors, American religious texts have tended to engage common themes that almost exclusively bypass war an geopolitics." (278)
Is the dimension of  war and its religious undertones more available for scholars than for the masses of the American people? or are the ideals of peace and democracy more ingrained in the common citizen as Stout proposes?