Since I don’t have a religion, it would be kind of hard to lie about it.
But what is really behind a question like this is the issue of loyalty. Are you loyal to us, or not? The way we test loyalty is to see if you believe what we believe. If I’m loyal, then I conform to the test they use. If I’m not loyal, then I better not get caught. I might try to lie, mostly because there is no faith I need to be loyal to. Why not say I am a believer even though I am not? If it saves my life, I’m in favor of it.
I’m not going to die for science. Science won’t care. I’m not going to die for my people, because if my people cared about science, they wouldn’t be asking me for a loyalty test. If they are stupid enough to need an affirmation of faith (and to believe it), then they clearly don’t need any principled stand. They just need me to mouth words so they feel better. Fine.