Post-Atheism: An ex-Mormon's journey from Christian materialism to material spirituality

Why do I believe what I believe?  If I were to persist, unquestioningly, with the presumptions of my own culture, then in Germany 1939, I most certainly would have been a Nazi.  If born into the Ku Klux Klan, I most certainly would have been a racist.  On the other hand, if I were born into sainthood and conferred great value upon humanity, I would be accidental and therefore without merit.  At some point in my life I must examine my cultural and moral heritage ... at some point I must transcend the official message of my culture and identify those natural laws which influence my behavior and account for my beliefs.
 
Humorous perhaps, yet belief seems to be determined geographically. An Arab is Islamic. Yet he claims to have made his choice.  An Ecuadorian is Catholic.  He too claims to have made his choice.  If born in Provo, Utah, 1890, he is in all likelihood Mormon and not Shinto.  If born in Japan, 1890, he is with all certainty not Mormon. My own ancestors immigrated to Utah, then later to Arizona, then I found myself in a Mormon community in California, and I too claimed to have made my choice. Culture has been confused with belief to such a degree that I must admit the two as inseparable.
 
Consider how victory, defeat, and international trade have made the Japanese not only a cultural jigsaw puzzle, but a religious one as well -- an atheist in effect, who will nonetheless have a Christian wedding and a Buddhist's funeral, living his whole life with a Confucian fidelity to "one's superior."   And this atheist holds up a single fact, shining painfully into the eyes of our God-fearing theists: he has one of the lowest crime rates in the world.Can we face the question -- Is it our belief in God or our customs which account for our moral systems and their successes or failures? 
 
God or custom?