It's a bit - but not entirely - a relic of the past,
but bigotry aside, it's quite amazing how much any con artist with a cross was treated as some sort of reverential figure in our political press for decades. And while it is somewhat a relic of the past, it'll return just as strongly as soon as President Pence puts on the blessed tiara of power, because there's nothing the Sabbath Gasbags love talking about more than Jesus and politics.