- guardian.co.uk, Thursday 22 April 2010 14.55 BST
Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the leader of Scotland's Catholic church. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA
Scotland's Catholic bishops have entered the election campaign by urging voters to back candidates that oppose gay adoption and marriage, embryo research, abortion and assisted suicide.
Today, the bishops issued a statement to all 500 Catholic parishes in Scotland suggesting worshippers press their local candidates to answer a questionnaire on these issues. Catholics will be asked to consider "which candidate will best respect and protect your religious freedom and your freedom of conscience?"
Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the morally conservative and outspoken president of the bishops' conference, who released their joint statement, insisted today he is not endorsing one party over another.
"It is crucially important that apathy is not allowed to win in this election, I hope Catholic voters will make the cross count by quizzing their candidates on the important moral matters which affect us," he said.
However, the majority of policies under attack are ones introduced or supported by the UK government, although Labour ministers agree with Catholic leaders on the need to scrap the bar on Catholics marrying a monarch or being crowned, and also on tackling poverty.
O'Brien has repeatedly clashed with Labour, accusing the party of betraying core Christian values by supporting gay adoptions, genetic research on embryos and by refusing to restrict abortions. Bishop Joseph Devine, the bishop of Motherwell, has accused Labour of "violating moral law".
In a statement issued today, the bishops' claim these policies are alien to Catholics, and argue our parents and grandparents "would never have voted for candidates who were clearly hostile to the values they held dear".
It adds: "As Catholics, we know the importance of protecting every human life and of the value that married family life gives to society.
"These values were once widely shared, but times have changed. Many of those standing for election, of whatever party, do not share our basic principles and values.
"That is why we say to you: when you vote, make your faith count. Vote with your faith to protect human life; to support marriage and the family; to protect religious freedom; to protect Catholic education.
"Vote with your faith, and uphold the right of conscience and religious freedom."
The bishops' stance puts Jim Murphy, the Scottish secretary, in an awkward position and opens up the Catholic church to charges of favouring other parties. Murphy, a practising Catholic who routinely invites O'Brien to government functions in Scotland, has struggled to placate O'Brien.
But with the Catholic vote seen as critical in some Labour-held constituencies, the Scottish National party has meanwhile been carefully courting the cardinal.
It emerged last year that the SNP government in Edinburgh had secretly lobbied UK ministers to drop plans to make it illegal for an adoption agency – including Catholic organisations – from allowing same sex couples to adopt or foster. Alex Salmond, the first minister, also supports lowering the time limit for abortions.
On a campaign visit in Edinburgh North and Leith this morning, Murphy suggested voters would have much wider concerns than the specific issues raised by the bishops. O'Brien agreed that voters were entitled to think for themselves, he said.
"I welcome the fact that the cardinal is trying to encourage debate about the election, and the big issues of the election are moral issues, economic issues and international issues. But individuals make their own minds up about what's important for them, their values, their life experiences, their family and their country," he said.
All the main parties, with the exception of the Tories, are thought to have allowed their candidates to respond.
Frank Roy, Labour's campaign manager, said the survey was already being circulated to all its candidates and added that on many of these issues, there had been free votes in the Commons.
"We've forwarded the survey but it's up to candidates how to respond," he said. "These are important issues for many people in the election; there's no disputing that."