The human being is a composite of a body and a spirit. The body is that with which we have in common with the animals, and the spirit is that with which we have in common with the angels and with God. Death is the spirit leaving the body.

Society can be said to have a similar dynamic. Christianity is the spirit of Western Civilization, and America is an extension of Western Civilization via England. The body would be analogous to the people or the nation of America, but the spirit is that of Jesus Christ and Christianity and the Christian spirit including the morals, theology, philosophy. If the Christian spirit were to leave America by mass apostacy, then the nation will die, just as the human spirit leaving the human body leads to death.