You often hear clichés and truisms contrasting the place of religion in America and Australia: 'The USA is a very Christian country, and Australia is very secular'; 'While Americans wear their religion on their sleeve, Australians have a natural aversion to public displays of religion, and to religion in politics.'
But in the Rudd/Obama era there are new parallels and convergences with regard to religion in the two countries.
First, to the political leaders who are pivotal in setting the tone for engagement between religion and politics. Both Rudd and Obama are publicly practising Christians, and acknowledge the place of Christianity in forming their centre-left political views. Rudd is the first Labor leader since the bitter split in the 1950s to eschew the party's aggressively secular tradition, and openly acknowledge the importance of Christianity in his thinking.
In a 2005 interview with ABC TV's Compass, Rudd, still in opposition, said this came at the risk of being seen by his Labor colleagues as 'some slightly besotted God botherer', but he didn't want God to become a 'wholly owned subsidiary of political conservatism in this country'.
Rudd described himself as a Christian socialist, and said it was important for 'Christians in politics not to cherry-pick the gospel, but to understand its complete dimension, including the social dimension'. He went on to say that 'given what's happening on the political right in this country, and in America, it's important that people on the centre-left of politics begin to argue a different perspective from within the Christian tradition'.
These words could easily have been uttered by Obama. He was brought up in a non-religious household, and it was only as a young adult community organiser in Chicago that he embraced Christianity, primarily because of its emphasis on social justice. 'I was drawn to the power of the African American religious tradition to spur social change,' he says in his book, Audacity of Hope.
Since taking office, he's been at pains to confirm the pluralist polity of America, and that Christianity does not have a privileged position. Raising the ire of conservative evangelicals, at a press conference on his recent visit to Turkey he said, 'We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values.'
Sentiments Kevin Rudd would heartily agree with.