THE Moderator of the Free Church of Scotland has spoken out in defence of new BBC Breakfast presenter Dan Walker.

Questions about the suitability of the devout Christian sports presenter’s suitability to tackle some of the subjects tackled on the programme emerged last week.

Mr Walker, the son of a Baptist minister from Sheffield, is a Creationist whose followers believe that God created Earth in seven days and refuses to work on Sundays so he can practice his faith.

But the Reverend David Robertson of the Free Church of Scotland said he had been hounded over his beliefs in “a classic example” of the intolerance faced by Bible-believing Christians in the public square, a Scottish church leader has said.

He said that social media abuse was “the 21st century equivalent of the 19th century mob”.

Writing on his blog, the Free Church Moderator said: “Why have so many newspapers run lengthy articles about Dan Walker?

“Is Dan the first Transgender presenter? Is he the secret love child of one of the Royals? No. It’s worse than that – he’s a Christian!

“It gets worse … apparently Dan Walker is a creationist! This shocking revelation is enough to have the liberal intelligentsia up in arms and so Mr Walker is being pilloried.”

The Dundee-based minister continued: “The mockery, faux pas outrage and inevitable social media abuse that follows this type of journalism is no joke. It is designed to intimidate and police the culture.

“Imagine what would happen if we all applied such small minded judgmentalism to our viewing? Should we stop watching Tom Cruise films because he is a Scientologist?

Should I stop watching Graham Norton because he disagrees with my views on sexuality?”

Mr Robertson concluded: “I don’t care two hoots what a presenter’s views are or their sexuality, or their taste in crisps – as long as it does not affect their job.”

Walker, who replaces Bill Turnbull, said on Friday: “I want to live in a world where you can be a Christian, you can be a Muslim, you can be a Jew, and you can have those beliefs and get on with life.”