THE progressive views held by New Zealand’s new Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern gained her rapid popularity and it was these same principles that prompted her to leave behind the Mormon faith she grew up with.

Ardern is a self-described social democrat and progressive who is a strong advocate for LGBTI rights and at 37 years old is the nation’s youngest leader in over 150 years.

She was raised in a Mormon family but as she got older she couldn’t ignore the fact that the church’s conservative views on homosexuality clashed with her own beliefs.

“For a lot of years, I put it to the back of my mind. I think it was too unsettling. If something like religion is part of your foundation, and then suddenly you start questioning that — it’s quite a confronting thing to deal with,” she told the New Zealand Herald.

“Even before the Civil Union Bill came up, I lived in a flat with three gay friends and I was still going to church every so often and I just remember thinking, ‘This is really inconsistent — I’m either doing a disservice to the church or my friends.’”

“Because how could I subscribe to a religion that just didn’t account for them?”

She eventually left the church in her early 20s and now states she couldn’t see herself “being a member of an organised religion again”.

“It was one of the issues that became a real flashpoint. You drift along a bit, there are always going to be things you can’t reconcile, but I could never reconcile what I saw as discrimination in a religion that was otherwise very focused on tolerance and kindness,” she said.

While Arden made the decision to renounce her Mormon faith and describes herself as agnostic — someone who believes the existence of God is unknowable — she still respects people who choose to have religion as a foundation in their lives.

“I just think people should be free to have their personal beliefs and not be persecuted for it, whether they be atheist or staunch church members,” she said.

Although she did add that she felt in some instances people were being taken advantage of, particularly in churches that require “tithing”, where members are expected to give one-tenth of their income to the church.

She told the New Zealand Herald that her family have been “fantastic” about her decision to leave the church.

Ardern became a politician in 2008 and was elected Prime Minister just 80 days after she was appointed as leader of the Labour opposition.

Throughout her time in parliament she has not been shy about her progressive views, making waves when she shut down a radio presenter who asked her about baby plans just six hours after she was elected as the leader of the Labour Party.