Finnish politician appeals conviction in religious freedom case

Finnish politician Päivi Räsänen appealed to Europe’s top human rights court on Friday, seeking a reversal of a criminal conviction in her home country. The Finnish Supreme Court previously convicted her of hate speech for a 20-year-old booklet called “Male and Female He Created Them: Homosexual relationships challenge the Christian concept of humanity.” Finland’s court ruled that the book was insulting to homosexuals as a group and fined Räsänen and Lutheran Bishop Juhana Pohjola several thousand euros for producing it. The court also ordered parts of the publication to be censored. However, the court cleared Räsänen of charges for a tweet she sent years ago that included a Bible passage on homosexuality.

Räsänen’s Friday appeal to the European Court of Human Rights will mark the final legal juncture of a landmark case for freedom of speech, according to Alliance Defending Freedom International. The continent's top court must decide if European law will uphold the freedom to express one’s beliefs publicly, said ADF attorney Lorcán Price, who represents Räsänen. If booklets like this can be criminalized, then free and open debate in Europe is no more, Price said.

Why did Räsänen write the book to begin with? The book aimed to present a biblical understanding of marriage and sexuality, the Finnish member of parliament said in an email statement. Finland’s prosecutors claimed the book portrayed homosexual individuals as inferior, but Räsänen, trained as a medical doctor, said she repeatedly wrote that all people have equal value. The book’s material should be clearly protected by the European Convention on Human Rights regarding freedoms of expression and religion, she said. Her appeal will determine if these fundamental rights still stand across Europe, she added.

If authorities can censor and dictate religious teachings, then religion will become a tool of the state, Pohjola warned in a statement.

Didn’t the United Kingdom just impose restrictions on Räsänen? Earlier this month, the British government blocked her from entering the United Kingdom over her beliefs. It refused to grant her a travel pass because of her guilty conviction. A crisis of censorship has been occurring in Europe, ADF wrote in a statement.

Dig deeper: Read Elizabeth Black’s report on the British government's travel restrictions on Räsänen.