Nicola Sturgeon has said the candidates standing to succeed her as First Minister have "to expect scrutiny of their views".
It follows a storm over comments made by Kate Forbes on issues including same-sex marriage and children born out of wedlock.
Humza Yousaf, the frontrunner to become the next SNP leader, has also faced questions over why he missed the final vote on the legislation that legalised gay weddings in 2014.
Sturgeon, who will stand down by the end of next month, has not endorsed anyone in her party's first open leadership race in almost 20 years.
Briefly speaking to reporters today in the Scottish Parliament, she was asked if holding Christian views barred you from holding high office in Scotland.
The First Minister said: "Holding Christian views doesn't bar you from holding high office, my Deputy First Minister who is standing next to me is a man of deep Christian faith.
"But people will have many different views on the issues that are under discussion just now but anybody - and I include all of the candidates to succeed me in this, standing to be First Minister, has to expect scrutiny of their views."
Yousaf has already secured the endorsement of several senior SNP figures including education secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville and net zero secretary Michael Matheson.
But several former supporters of Forbes' candidacy have distanced themselves from the finance secretary after she made a round of broadcast interviews on Monday and Tuesday to launch her campaign.
Forbes, a committed member of the Free Church of Scotland, revealed she would have voted against same-sex marriage if she had been an MSP when the legislation went through Holyrood.
She went on to say that having a child outside of marriage is “wrong” according to her religious beliefs as a member of the Free Church of Scotland.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney said yesterday that SNP members would have to make a "judgment about those views and whether they think those views are appropriate for someone to hold if they are leader of the SNP and first minister".
Yousaf and Regan – who will formally launch her campaign on Friday – have declared their support for same-sex marriage in light of Forbes’s comments.
Regan said she is "proud" same-sex marriage is legal in Scotland, while Yousaf has insisted he would not use his Muslim faith as a basis for legislation.
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