Julia Gillard says she has great respect for religion, even though she is a non-believer.
But the new prime minister, who has described herself as a non-practising Baptist, told ABC Radio she was not worried about the risk of losing the Christian vote drawn by her predecessors Kevin Rudd and John Howard.
Mr Rudd is a regular churchgoer, and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is a devout Catholic.
Ms Gillard explained she was raised in the Baptist tradition - even winning prizes for remembering Bible verses - but as an adult she had formed different views.
"I'm not going to pretend a faith I don't feel," she said.
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"For people of faith I think the greatest compliment I could pay to them is to respect their genuinely held beliefs and not to engage in some pretence about mine."
Ms Gillard said she never thought it was the right thing for her to go through religious rituals for the sake of appearance.
"I am what I am, and people will judge that."
"I'm worried about the national interest. About doing the right thing by Australians. And I'll allow people to form their own views about whatever is going to drive their views", she told the ABC.
"What I can say to Australians broadly of course is I believe you can be a person of strong principle and values from a variety of perspectives."
