Dr. Päivi Räsänen, a grandmother of twelve, a medical doctor, and a former Interior Minister of Finland, has now been labeled a convicted criminal under Finnish law. Her alleged crime? Publishing a church pamphlet in 2004 that outlined traditional Christian teachings on marriage and sexuality, as detailed in court documents from the Finnish Supreme Court.
According to the Finnish Supreme Court’s ruling this week in a narrow 3-2 decision, Räsänen and Lutheran Bishop Juhana Pohjola are guilty of ‘making available to the public opinions that insult homosexuals as a group.’ The court, as reported by Finnish media outlets, ordered them to pay thousands of euros in fines and demanded that the pamphlet be removed from public access and destroyed.
And think about what just happened here: a sitting member of parliament convicted for expressing Christian doctrine in a church publication from two decades ago. The same court that acquitted her for a 2019 Bible verse tweet — recognizing that citing Scripture is protected speech — still decided that a church teaching document crossed into criminal territory, according to legal experts familiar with the case.
The prosecutor in the trial was explicit about the precedent: ‘You can cite the Bible, but it is Räsänen’s interpretation and opinion about the Bible verses that are criminal,’ as quoted in court transcripts. This isn’t just about one case; it’s a theological document explaining the Christian view of marriage for members of her congregation, and yet Finland has classified it as a crime under the same section of their criminal code as war crimes and crimes against humanity, per the court’s own summary.
The court admitted the conduct was ‘not particularly serious’ in terms of the offense nature, yet they convicted her anyway. This is not about protecting anyone from harm but enforcing ideological conformity, as critics of the ruling have argued. Räsänen has announced she will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, and she should, because this case raises questions about whether Western democracies will protect the freedom to express religious convictions in the public square.
The chilling effect is the point: how many pastors will self-censor their sermons now? How many Christians will hesitate before sharing their faith publicly? That is exactly what laws like this are designed to accomplish, according to free speech advocates monitoring the situation.
Providence watches over the bold.
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