A Finnish court ruled in favor of the free speech of a member of Parliament and a Lutheran bishop on Tuesday morning, affirming they’ve the legal right to say that homosexual acts are sin and marriage must be between a person and a girl.
The ruling was unanimous, upholding a lower court decision for last 12 months, which was also unanimous.
“I’m overjoyed,” said Päivi Räsänen, a Christian Democrat who has served in Parliament for 28 years. “This is an amazing victory for us but in addition for everybody concerned with the protection of fundamental freedoms. … No one must be punished for peacefully expressing their faith.”
Juhana Pohjola, bishop of the conservative and confessional Evangelical Lutheran Mission church, said he and his family stopped and browse Psalm 103 once they received the decision: “Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his advantages” (vv. 1–2).
Pohjola was charged with hate speech for publication of Räsänen’s 23-page booklet, Male and Female He Created Them, in 2004. The text was a part of the church’s catechetical series of Christian teachings on vital issues.
Räsänen was charged under the criminal hate crime statute for the booklet in addition to for a tweet condemning the mainline Lutheran church’s support for a Pride event in 2019 and a follow-up radio interview where she said that, in accordance with the Bible, “homosexual acts” are “sin and shame.”
According to prosecutors, these statements weren’t only offensive but prone to incite hate and violence against LGBT people.
The Office of the Prosecutor General argued such speech just isn’t protected since it causes “intolerance, contempt, and hatred” and thus endangers lives.
More than 70 percent of Finns support same-sex marriage, which has been legal within the country since 2017. A majority of the members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, the mainstream church that Pohjola’s denomination broke from within the early 2000s, also hold that position. The church doesn’t currently perform same-sex marriages, but 54 percent would really like that to vary.
Many in Finland see protection of LGBT people as probably the most critical civil rights issue of the day.
Prosecutor Anu Mantila ran for office on the promise to do more to guard LGBT people. Her case against Räsänen and Pohjola has received a number of national attention and wide support from Finns.
“Offensive speech has a harmful effect on people,” she argued before the court. “If you set all of the statements together, it is evident that they’re derogatory towards homosexuals. Condemning homosexual acts condemns homosexuals as human beings.”
Mantila argued religious freedom—which is enshrined in Finnish law and international law, which Finland recognizes—doesn’t protect every reading of the Bible. Some interpretations, in accordance with the prosecutor, must be punishable by law.
“You can’t say anything under the guise of faith,” Mantila said. “You can cite the Bible, nevertheless it is Räsänen’s interpretation and opinion in regards to the Bible verses which are criminal.”
All three judges rejected her arguments.
“There should be an overriding social reason for interfering with and restricting freedom of expression,” the court said. “There is not any reason to change the end result of the District Court’s judgment.”
In 2022 the lower court ruled that “it just isn’t for the District Court to interpret biblical concepts.”
The legal team defending Räsenän and Pohjola said in a web-based press conference that they were celebrating “the unbelievable verdict.”
Paul Coleman, the chief director of Alliance Defending Freedom International, described the ruling as a monumental victory.
“In a free and democratic society, all must be allowed to share their beliefs without fear of censorship,” he said. “Criminalizing speech through so-called ‘hate-speech’ laws shuts down vital public debates and poses a grave threat to our democracies. We are relieved to see courts implement the rule of law when state authorities overstep by searching for to penalize and censor statements that they dislike.”
Räsänen and Pohjola each said they didn’t seek this legal conflict but were committed to seeing it to the tip.
“I is not going to apologize for what apostle Paul has stated within the Book of Romans,” Räsänen said. “I made a decision whatever comes, regardless of the conclusion or the result can be, I is not going to surrender.”
Pohjola said when he was first called into the local police station for questioning, officers told him the case would go away if he took Male and Female He Created Them off the web. But he refused.
“To me, this just isn’t only a cultural and legal battle but a spiritual battle,” he said. “This is my calling as a Christian, as a pastor: to protect the religion and teach it publicly and carry the cross.”
Many within the Evangelical Lutheran Mission were relieved by the ruling, though. Pohjola said ministers texted him once they learned of the ruling on the news, with messages like, “We are so completely satisfied that our bishop just isn’t labeled as a criminal.”
There was an actual fear, he explained, that the small Lutheran denomination is likely to be branded “a criminal group, with a criminal agenda.” They’ve been reminded that speaking publicly can come at a value.
“We cannot take freedom of speech and religion with no consideration. We must defend it and use it,” Pohjola said.
The case is probably not over, nevertheless. Government prosecutors can file an appeal with the Supreme Court. The top court in Finland takes, on average, about 6 percent of cases.
