Unfortunately this is most certainly true. Religion is considered like a tool rather than an true and valid faith in Battlemaster. I really wish the people who used it solely as a tool or specifically went around SAYING it's a tool would be 'bolted. -_-
Plenty of people do and did use in as a tool in RL. They just rarely say it outright (though some have).
People using religion as a tool, even viewing it primarily or only as such, is perfectly realistic. As I recall, Machiavelli, who is only just barely post-medieval, wrote on the uses of religion as a tool, just to give one example.
