A Christian Labour shadow minister has criticised Kate Forbes for her "old fashioned" views on sexuality and the family.
Shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said he did not feel sorry for SNP leadership hopeful Forbes after she came under scrutiny for her views on gay marriage and having children outside of wedlock.
He said that "the core bit of Christianity is how we should treat each other" and that conservative views on social issues are "detrimental to both faith and politics".
Forbes' leadership campaign got off to a rocky start after she said she would have voted against gay marriage if she had been an MSP at the time and that she believed having children outside of marriage is "wrong".
Forbes said she would not roll back on laws which are in place but several leading SNP figures signed a letter expressing concern that LGBTQ+ rights could be rolled back.
When asked if he felt bad for Forbes, Reynolds told The House magazine: “I don’t to be honest. I don’t think politicians are the victims in any of this."
He added: “You can’t expect any of you to be popular as a politician and you can’t just say, well, it’s a faith-based view… I mean, really, if you are a Christian, you understand that the core bit of Christianity is how we should treat each other, the love we should have for each other, the care and regard we should have for each other.
"I wish more people in the UK saw that side of faith and politics and social issues because I think there’s a very strong theological case I could make to you that some of those views are quite old fashioned in terms of sexuality and family – and people then associate faith in politics with that, and it is detrimental to both faith and to politics.”
Reynolds is chair of the movement Christians on the Left.
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