Finnish Christian politician Päivi Räsänen formally charged for hate crime against homosexuals

[mountaineer]

Finnish Christian politician Päivi Räsänen formally charged for hate crime against homosexuals
The Finnish General Prosecutor announces charges against the former Interior Minister for social media posts, a booklet and statements in a talk show. “I do not consider myself guilty. These are all based on the Bible’s teachings on marriage and sexuality”.
HELSINKI · 29 APRIL 2021 · 16:34 CET

A Christian politician in Finland will face a court process for speaking openly about her views on homosexuality and the Bible.

Päivi Räsänen, a medical doctor who was Finland’s Interior Minister between 2011 and 2014 and a leader of the Christian Democrats, has been charged with three hate crimes against homosexuals.

The General Prosecutor of Finland has confirmed that, after an investigation of nearly 2 years, enough evidence was collected to open a penal process. Since 2019, Räsänen has been interrogated by the police in three different occasions.

The politician will have to defend herself in courts for social media posts in which she quoted Roman 1:24-27 to criticise the participation of the Finnish Lutheran Church (of which she is a member) in the 2019 LGBT Pride festivals, for the content of a booklet about Bible and sexuality titled “Male and Female He  Created them” published in 2004, and her words in a radio talk show in the Finnish Public Broadcasting System, where she was invited to speak about the issue “What would Jesus think about homosexuals?”. ...

According to the Finnish news website YLE, the Prosecutor General said the statements were “derogatory and discriminatory against homosexuals” and “violate their equality and dignity”. Therefore, they would “overstep the boundaries of freedom of speech and religion and are likely to fuel intolerance, contempt and hatred”.

A conviction could lead to a fine or up to two years of prison, as well as a ban on the contents deemed as hateful. ...

Full story

Coming to America?

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Coming to a federal court near you

[goatprairie]

As the saying by Voltaire goes, to find out who rules over you, find out who you are not allowed criticize.
Coming to our shores in the near future.

[PeteS in CA]

The second largest Lutheran denomination in the US was founded by people who left Germany because of government forcing compromises on congregations in the state church. The Finland situation is far more extreme, in terms of the doctrinal compromise, but it's an example of why state churches are injurious to the members thereof.