Quoting Bible Verse Puts Finnish Parliament Member On Trial
Sharing Bible verses on a social media post propelled a member of Finland’s parliament into legal hot water. Paivi Rasanen is a 62-year-old medical doctor as well as a political leader, and she now has a second court appearance over her quoting of scripture.
The grandmother of seven saw the first round of allegations against her dropped a year ago. The Helsinki District Court unanimously dismissed charges against Rasanen and Bishop Juhana Pohjola over their religious views concerning marriage.
But her persecution over “hate speech” allegations continues.
In a media statement, Rasanen charged she faced a four-year battle featuring false accusations, repeated questioning by police, court hearings and another appeal hearing. She declared she and her supporters are “ready to defend her freedom of expression in all necessary courts.”
The legal entanglement began when the parliament member questioned her church’s support of a LGBT “Pride” event in 2019.
Her tweet included a link to an Instagram post with an image of the text of Romans 1:24-27. That was all it took to get the nation’s legal machinery churning against the doctor.
Rasanen later wrote, “The content of my writings and my speeches represents the classical Christian view of marriage, the same as the Churches have taught for two millennia. I do not condone insulting, threatening or slandering anyone.”
The lawmaker noted the complaint’s 34 pages include attacks on “the core teachings of the Christian faith.” Shockingly, prosecutors earlier compared the Bible to Hitler’s Mein Kampf.
Finland’s state prosecutor publicly declared that the charges against Rasanen were due to her inciting intolerance, contempt and hatred toward the gay community. In her first trial that ended in acquittal, prosecutors chose random Bible verses as examples of “bad” speech.
They told the court that uttering the word “sin” may be harmful to others.
Rasanen countered that the trial sought to suppress “freedom of expression and religion.” She noted that a successful prosecution should worry Christians both in the Scandinavian country and internationally.
There are strong parallels to persecution by woke leftists in the U.S. of anyone who questions radical gender ideology. Fundamental Christian teachings are increasingly targeted as “hate speech,” and suppression of religious beliefs is openly sought by many radicals.
