>Why do people these days not know how to act in their self interest compared to the past?

Who said people knew how to act in their self interest in the past? People just have more options now, whereas in the past it was much more taboo to openly reject religion. There's a lot more freedom to do a lot of things

>The whole country constantly talks about god.

Hard disagree. I don't know what tv shows you're watching but I can't remember the last time a popular piece of media had religion as an important feature. Most shows are pretty secular, as is other media