There has always been, as the article suggests, a strong tendency to believe that the church had inherited the promises of God to Israel. Furthermore, there is a messianic streak in Americans in general, and I think many American churches have had the belief, state or unstated, that America was heir to these promises, sort-of an American version of British Israelism.
That is because in part because of our own, rather exceptional history, and also because prior to 1948, no one could imagine that Israel could ever come back to life. Without Israel, the biblical promises made no sense, unless someone else (us, for example) had somehow inherited those promises.
Of course, 1948 changed all that.
But I would say that, below the surface, many Americans still, in their gut, believe they are God's chosen people. Our politics and our daily discourse is soaked with the belief in our blessed uniqueness. The resurrection of Israel didn't change that, they just see Israel as their "fellow" chosen. Thus, the almost unbreakable loyalty toward Israel on the part of American Christians, including secular, unchurched Christians.
They didn't believe that God could pull off bringing Israel back to it's Abrahamic homeland. How shocked they were on May 14th, 1948! Now watch in amazement as God rebuilds His Temple, right on the Temple Mount, against "insurmountable" odds.