The long serving parliamentarian and former Minister of the Interior has been convicted for “hate speech” under a section of the Finnish criminal code titled “war crimes and crimes against humanity”. The medical doctor and grandmother of twelve was tried in early 2022 and again in 2023 for expressing her beliefs in a 2019 tweet, which included a Bible verse, in addition to a 2019 radio debate and 2004 church booklet.
After the prosecutor appealed for the second time, the Supreme Court, which heard the case in October 2025, has now ruled on two of the three original charges: concerning the tweet and the church booklet. The Supreme Court was not asked to rule on the radio debate as the prosecution did not appeal it, so Räsänen’s acquittal for the debate stands.
“I am shocked and profoundly disappointed that the court has failed to recognize my basic human right to freedom of expression. I stand by the teachings of my Christian faith, and will continue to defend my and every person’s right to share their convictions in the public square.” stated Päivi Räsänen after receiving the judgment.
“I am taking legal advice on a possible appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. This is not about my free speech alone, but that of every person in Finland. A positive ruling would help to prevent other innocent people from experiencing the same ordeal for simply sharing their beliefs,” added Räsänen.
This is one profound example of how far the so called Christian Europe has deviated from its roots and how orthodox Christianity has become that speech which is no longer tolerated. So much for freedom.
3 comments:
There is no such thing as “hate speech,” only speech those in power hate.
While this Finnish Supreme Court decision may result in LCMS leadership issuing some sternly-worded letter, perhaps In their daily prayers Lutheran laity might include this paraphrase of Martin Luther's imprecatory prayer::
We pray that the Finland's prosecutors and the Finnish Supreme Court majority be converted and reverse the persecution and conviction of Dr. Päivi Räsänen, Rev. Dr. Juhana Pohjola, and their Christian teaching, and if not, that the doing and wickedness of the prosecutors and Finnish justices be overturned and fail and have no success and that these prosecutors and officials perish rather than the Gospel and the kingdom of Christ.
So we, too, pray for our angry enemy, not that God protect and strengthen these Finland prosecutors and Supreme Court justices in their ways, as we pray for Christians, or that He help them, but that they be converted, if they can be; or, if they refuse, that God oppose them, stop them and end the game to their harm and misfortune.
This conviction points out exactly what Our Lord warned, and reaffirms the real experiences of persecuted believers throughout the history of the church. Most astute observers here and abroad saw the tension between Biblical truth and secular humanism building, and eventually reaching the courts only to pronounce deeply held religious convictions deemed “hate speech.” It has become illegal in parts of the West to follow the Bible and God’s word on morality. What are we as Christians to do when our society, our legal system, our laws and courts consider our faith a form of criminality? Well, Our Lord, “when He was reviled, did not revile in return.” 1Peter 2:23. And in 1Peter3, we are told how to react by “not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing you were called to this.” “Called to this,?” We protest! Yes. We are called to contend for the faith in love, and not to retaliate, having strived for a higher standard of conscience and faith. “But what about the laws that are supposed to protect religious freedom?” Such laws are meaningless when society has become corrupted, and judges themselves have become more evil in their unrighteousness. Legal decisions are lately often based on cultural axioms, and interpretations of statues contrived to advance ideological positions. Yet, the word of God is unchangeable and fixed, and though it may potentially cause us to be viewed as criminals in our own lands, it may be that we are “called to this.” Perhaps, many of us wrongly felt this journey of faith would be easier? Soli Deo Gloria.
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