Finland’s Supreme Court Convicts Christians Of ‘Hate Speech’ For Saying Men And Women Are Different: In a Case with Global Implications, Finland’s High Court Rules Discussing What the Bible Says About Sexuality is ‘hate speech.’

Image courtesy ADF International

Finland’s Supreme Court Convicts Christians Of ‘Hate Speech’ For Saying Men And Women Are Different:

In a case with global implications, Finland’s high court rules discussing what the Bible says about sexuality is ‘hate speech.’

In a decision released this morning, Finland’s supreme court voted 3-2 to convict a bishop and a member of parliament for publishing a pamphlet explaining Christian theology about sexual differences. The decision could tacitly ban orthodox Christianity in Finland by banning Christians from speaking about what the Bible clearly says.

Bishop Juhana Pohjola and Member of Parliament Paivi Rasanen face thousands of euros in fines and their challenged Christian speech “removed from public access and destroyed,” the court ordered, unless they successfully appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. If they appeal, the case could affect speech and conscience rights worldwide.

“I am shocked and profoundly disappointed that the court has failed to recognize my basic human right to freedom of expression,” Rasanen said in a statement after the verdict was announced. “I stand by the teachings of my Christian faith, and will continue to defend my and every person’s right to share their convictions in the public square.”

The ruling is the latest in a growing pattern of anti-Christian speech repression spreading across formerly Christian European countries. England now jails more people per day for alleged speech crimes than Vladimir Putin’s Russia, according to a former U.S. ambassador, even imprisoning and prosecuting people for praying silently on public property.

Last year, British authorities arrested Irish comedian Graham Linehan for criticizing transgender policies. Glasgow, Scotland is prosecuting a grandmother for offering to talk with people outside a hospital. Sweden is prosecuting a family for “religious extremism” for attending church regularly and not allowing their teen to own a cell phone.

New internet censorship laws in Europe also effectively criminalize and ban Christian speech and any speech opposing identity politics. As The Federalist reported last year, “Last year the European Union, of which Finland is a member, implemented a Digital Services Act that imposes a vast web of internet censorship, potentially across the entire world, by regulating social media monopolies. The act could subject Europeans to even more fines, raids, and imprisonment for posts that observe men and women are different.” The Federalist is a specific, named target of European censorship, which also controls what Americans can read online.

Numerous U.S. states and cities have passed similar “hate speech” laws and regulations that apply similar legal prejudices to Christians and any citizen who questions identity politics. New teacher licensing requirements in Minnesota, for example, effectively ban faithful Christians from teaching in state-run schools.

Rasanen wrote the banned booklet judged to violate Finnish “hate speech” laws in 2004, seven years before the law being used to criminalize it was passed. Pohjola published the booklet online and in print as part of a theological education series. Finland’s top prosecutor began to prosecute them in 2019, after Rasanen tweeted a Bible verse to publicly rebuke Finland’s state church for sponsoring a queer parade.

#kirkko on ilmoittanut olevansa #seta n #Pride2019 virallinen partneri. Miten kirkon oppiperusta, #raamattu sopii yhteen sen kanssa, että häpeä ja synti nostetaan ylpeyden aiheeksi? pic.twitter.com/cnjAQCrOc2

— Päivi Räsänen (@PaiviRasanen) June 17, 2019

The tweet led to a government investigation into Rasanen’s writings and speech spanning her three decades as a public official. The investigation included 13 hours of police interrogating her. It also uncovered the booklet Rasanen wrote and Pohjola published. It is titled, “Male and Female He Created Them.”

The case is known as “the Bible trial” in Europe. In its judgment out Thursday morning U.S. time, Finland’s Supreme Court unanimously acquitted Rasanen of one charge, based on her tweeting a Bible verse, while judging her and Pohjola criminally liable for producing “Male and Female He Created Them.” That booklet title is a quote from the Bible’s first chapter, in the book of Genesis.

According to Alliance Defending Freedom International, which has provided legal support in the case, “The Court found Räsänen and the Bishop guilty for having ‘made available to the public and kept available to the public opinions that insult homosexuals as a group on the basis of their sexual orientation.’ It held that: ‘it must be taken into account that the text forming the basis for the conviction did not contain incitement to violence or comparable threat-like fomenting of hatred. The conduct is therefore not particularly serious in terms of the nature of the offense.'”

Rasanen and her lawyers have maintained throughout her seven-year prosecution that she supports freedom of speech for all people and believes that all are equal before God regardless of what group they identify with. Rasanen, a medical doctor and pastor’s wife, has steadfastly argued that speaking the truth as God defines it is an act of love, not hatred. --->READ MORE HERE

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