Finland’s former interior minister, Päivi Räsänen, is again going to trial for allegedly violating the country’s laws on “hate speech” by tweeting a picture of a Bible verse.
Räsänen, 62, is a member of Finland’s right-leaning Christian Democrats party as well as a medical doctor and a grandmother.
Since 1995, she has served in the Finnish parliament and was interior minister from 2011 to 2015.
As Räsänen explained to The Daily Signal, “The whole case started when I criticized the leadership of the church because of its support for the ‘Pride’ event on Twitter.”
The 2019 tweet in question criticized her church for sponsoring the “pride” parade and questioned how they could do so when the Bible clearly condemns the sin of homosexuality.
“[My church] has announced that [it] is #seta’s #Pride2019 official partner. How does the doctrine of the church, [the Bible] fit together with the fact that shame and sin are raised as a matter of pride?” the translated tweet read.
Attached to the tweet was a Bible verse (Romans 1:24-27) contained in a 2004 pamphlet that she wrote. The scripture reads:
“Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
“For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.”
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Her tweet, along with the pamphlet and a radio appearance, resulted in her being charged with three counts of “agitation against a minority group,” The Federalist reported. Bishop Juhana Pohjola, who published the pamphlet, faced the same charges.
The two were acquitted in March 2022, with the Helsinki District Court stating in their decision that, “it is not for the district court to interpret biblical concepts,” according to the outlet.
Now, they are headed back to court for the second time for spreading “hate speech” after prosecutors appealed the decision. They claim Räsänen’s statements were discriminatory against homosexuals and violate their “right to dignity and self-determination.”
“In order to protect the dignity and equality of homosexuals, it is necessary to exclude Räsänen’s statements from freedom of expression by interpreting them as punishable hate speech directed at them,” prosecutors wrote, the Signal reported.
Earlier this month, over a dozen Republican members of Congress sent a letter to Rashad Hussain, U.S. Ambassador-At-Large for Religious Freedom and Douglas Hickey, U.S. ambassador to Finland, condemning Finland’s legal system for targeting Christians and urging the two ambassadors to publicly speak out against the legal harassment of Räsänen and Pohjola.
“For years, we and many others have raised the alarm that the West was experiencing a hostile takeover by radical secularists — guided by open hostility and rancid antagonism toward Christianity — and that one-day people of faith would face trial for merely living out their beliefs. In Finland, that day has come, and a guilty verdict will only expedite this disorders arrival in our courtrooms,” the letter states.
“Freedom of expression and freedom of religion are engrained in what it means to be an American,” they added. “As members of Congress, we stand shoulder to shoulder with all people of good faith in condemning the legal assault on MP Räsänen and Bishop Pohjola for merely being Christians.”
Räsänen and Pohjola’s next court appearance has been scheduled for August 31.
