And I'm not sure that's s good thing; for all I'm in favour of secularism I don't want to see a political landscape where having a faith is treated like a dirty little secret
In the USA it's exactly the opposite, though - you've zero chance of getting anywhere politically if you're an openly declared atheist, since atheists are the most distrusted group in American society. Even more so than Muslims - it seems that any religious belief of any kind will do, just as long as you're not an atheist. There have been a couple (no more) of political figures who have come out about being non-believers but only recently and well into (or even at the end of) a career in public life - Pete Stark, for example - when there's nothing left to lose.
That situation will not persist - the religious profile of the nation is already undergoing a sea change - but it'll be a while yet before you see a professed atheist in high office, and longer still before you see one in the highest office of all.