Religious liberty crashes in Finland

Well, it’s happened. After years of being told that no such thing would happen, a Finnish member of parliament has been convicted by that country’s Supreme Court of “inciting hatred” by identifying homosexuality as a “developmental disorder” in a published pamphlet. Christian Democrat MP Päivi Räsänen was fined 1,800 Euros and was convicted of a criminal act by posting the pamphlet she had written on Facebook in 2019. She had also published versions of the document in 2004, 2007, and 2020.

Media reports indicated that Räsänen’s conviction for a form of hate crime came only after two lower courts had exonerated her. The country’s chief prosecutor pressed the case until the Finnish Supreme Court ruled against the parliamentarian and former government minister. The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) defended Räsänen throughout the trials, asserting her right to free speech and religious liberty—both supposedly protected by Finland’s law and constitution.

A report from ADF revealed that Räsänen is the mother of five children and has twelve grandchildren, and that “her Christian faith is a large part of her life, including inspiring her to hold elected office.” She is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland.

The ADF statement also accused Finnish officials of “blatantly attacking free speech,” even as the nation claims to protect free expression and the right “to express, disseminate and receive information, opinions and other communications without prior prevention by anyone.”

Despite those claimed protections, the government investigated Räsänen under Finland’s War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity Law, which could include offenses such as spreading “an expression of opinion or another message where a certain group is threatened, defamed or insulted on the basis of its race, skin color, birth status, national or ethnic origin, religion or belief, sexual orientation or disability or a comparable basis.”

In response, Räsänen stated: “I cannot accept that voicing my religious beliefs could mean imprisonment. I do not consider myself guilty of threatening, slandering, or insulting anyone. My statements were all based on the Bible’s teachings on marriage and sexuality. I will defend my right to confess my faith, so that no one else would be deprived of their right to freedom of religion and speech.”

Finland’s minister of justice, Leena Meri, described the nation’s law in this case as “not sufficiently precise and especially not predictable as required by the principle of legality in the criminal code.” She went on to state the obvious truth: “It is very difficult for people to know what is prohibited and what is permitted.”

Responding to Päivi Räsänen’s conviction, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Riley Barnes stated forcefully: “Holding Christian convictions isn’t a hate crime. Finland’s ‘hate speech’ conviction of MP Päivi Räsänen—for simply writing a pamphlet defending the Bible—shows the tragic state of religious freedom in the West. The United States stands opposed to these ideological attacks against the Christian faith.”

The state of religious freedom in the West is indeed tragic, and the collision between Christian conviction and LGBTQ ideology is already clear on both sides of the Atlantic. Back in 2019, in an event billed as a CNN Equality Town Hall, contenders for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination revealed that the danger is very close. Don Lemon, then a CNN anchor, asked former Congressman Beto O’Rourke this question: “Do you think religious institutions like colleges, churches, charities, should they lose their tax-exempt status if they oppose same-sex marriage?”

O’Rourke responded, “yes,” and received loud applause from the audience. He went on to state: “There can be no reward, no benefit, no tax break for anyone or any institution, any organization in America that denies the full human rights and the full civil rights of every single one of us.”

Years ago, back as far as 2005, a major figure like attorney Chai Feldblum, who would hold a seat on the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), would state openly that religious liberty and what she called “identity liberty” would come into eventual collision, and that in such a collision, religious liberty would have to give way. Feldblum described the nature of the collision and then stated that a point would come when “an inevitable choice between liberties would come into play.” She stated her case succinctly and clearly: “In making that choice, I believe society must come down on the side of protecting the identity liberty of LGBT people.” Religious liberty just has to give way.

Dr. Päivi Räsänen has indicated that she will press her case for religious liberty to the European Court of Human Rights. It is also apparent that religious liberty is in real danger, not only in Finland and Scandinavia, but throughout Europe. I was with Dr. Räsänen last year at a meeting in Berlin. I can assure you that she is both kind and courageous in her convictions.

Christians everywhere must pay close attention to this case. There are many on the left who want the United States to adopt similar hate crime and hate speech legislation. Far too many Americans take comfort that such prosecutions can’t happen here. Christians in Finland have just been stripped of that comfort. Christians all over the world must see the danger clearly. At the same time, we have no choice but to stand on the authority of the Bible and speak the truth. It may well come with an increasing cost and even larger threats. Just ask Dr. Päivi Räsänen.

Disclosure: I am very proud to disclose that Assistant Secretary of State Riley Barnes, who responded for the U.S. State Department, is my son-in-law.