Why is Henry Ford, who invented assembly line manufacturing along with the first Ford automobiles, treated almost as a deity in the World State?

In the World State depicted in Huxley's novel, Henry Ford is treated like a deity or a prophet. His is name used in conversation much as a modern English speaker might use the name of God ("Oh Ford!"), and the making of "Our Ford's first T-Model" marks the beginning of the calendar of years. Instead of "AD," meaning "after the birth of Christ," the dating system "AF" is used, and we see the symbol of the "T" made in place of the symbol of the cross—"the Director made a sign of the T on his stomach." It is likely that Huxley chose Ford in part because his name rhymes with "Lord," which makes the analogy clearer—we even see the term "his fordship" (instead of "his lordship") used to mean an important person. However, in a wider sense, the making of the Model T Ford seems to mark the beginning of a new modern age for these people.
It is clear that the teachings believed by those in the World State have been slightly confused by the passage of time. "Whenever he spoke of psychological matters," "our Ford" became "Our Freud," indicating that the two figures, Ford and Sigmund Freud, have been conflated. The teachings of Freud are significant in the World State, as they "reveal the appalling dangers of family life." Freud's teachings seem to form some of the key tenets of this society; the fact that Freud and Henry Ford lived at roughly the same time suggests that the World State sees this as the era that birthed their current existence.
It is explained that the introduction of Ford's T Model was chosen as the birthdate of the new era because it marked a turning away from Christianity: "in an age of machines and the fixation of nitrogen—positively a crime against society." It is believed that "all crosses had their tops cut and became T's," as if the world, at some point in the twentieth century, had recognized the failure of Christianity in the industrial age and come to worship Henry Ford instead. Huxley's deft use of language shows how, through centuries of misunderstood texts and linguistic confusion (analogies and cognates imagined where they did not really exist), such a belief system could have come about, particularly in a society so advanced in terms of its machines.