Kerby Anderson

Two years ago, I wrote about Päivi Räsänen, a member of the Finnish Parliament who was on trial. At the time, I argued that it was really the Bible that was on trial.

Seven years ago, she tweeted Romans 1:24-27 to question her church’s decision to sponsor a “pride parade.” She asked how that decision aligned with Scripture, specifically those verses. Instead of a civil debate and a reasonable response, she was slapped with criminal prosecution.

In the process of discovery, the government officials found a church pamphlet she wrote on marriage and sexuality. The government charged her and the other author of the pamphlet (a Lutheran bishop) with “agitation against a minority group” based on a war-crimes statute in Finnish law.

On March 26, the two of them were criminally convicted under a “war crimes and crimes against humanity” law in the Finnish criminal code. The Finnish Supreme Court upheld a previous acquittal for the tweet, but then convicted on them their pamphlet.

Her case reminded me of the Swedish pastor Åke Green, who preached a sermon based on Romans 1 arguing that “sexual perversions” are harmful to society. His case was prosecuted and he was convicted in the local courts. Eventually his case went all the way to the Swedish Supreme Court. The justices ruled that he violated Swedish law but that his freedom of religion was protected by the European Convention on Human Rights.

This so-called “Bible trial” in Finland illustrates both the danger of hate crimes and the growing hostility to biblical morality. I believe the public reaction in that country will determine whether free speech and religious liberty will be allowed in this country and in other European countries.