Almost all politicians pander to people of faith. I believe there is only one openly admitted Atheist in Congress(Pete Stark -D- San Francisco). Since polls indicate that atheists compose somewhere around 12% of the US population, either we have an electoral process that weeds out Atheists, or we have politicians that are dishonest about their faith. Given the 88-12 split on an issue that will never come before them, I think almost every politician will fall in with the 88, unless they have the moral courage of a guy like Pete Stark.

__________________
“The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine.”

Senator Thad Cochran, Mississippi (R)
on McCain

“I decided I didn’t want this guy anywhere near a trigger.”
Senator Pete Domenici, New Mexico (R)
on McCain

“My anger did not help my campaign ... People don’t like angry candidates very much.”

McCain on McCain

Moral courage has no place in the packaging of political candidates unless such a claim has a soft target audience. Current administration successfully appealed to evangelicals, Catholics and other dogmatic Christian voters, strung them along on gay, abortion and patriotism issues, then abandoned those efforts after picking up their second term as a war administration. Current political hopefuls are casting a wide net with faith references in hopes of picking up some of those disillusioned voters without having to take a stance on particular issues important to those voters. It is early in the game.