A former minister in Finland, Päivi Räsänen, is being prosecuted for quoting the apostle St Paul and his teachings on homosexuality on Twitter.
Newsroom (17/02/2022 15:27, Gaudium Press) Finnish authorities have launched an investigation regarding a 2019 tweet, where the former minister questioned whether her evangelical Lutheran church could partner with an LGBT organization for the pride parade in her home country. In it, she quoted and posted an image from St Paul’s first letter to the Romans, verses 24-27 showing the sinful nature of homosexual acts:
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the degrading of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error.
In April 2021, the attorney general of Finland filed criminal charges against Räsänen.
The development of the trial drew attention because of the deep religious content of the charges and the questioning carried out by magistrates regarding the Bible in general, and the content of the Letter of St Paul.
Last Monday, the second session of the trial against the MP took place at the Helsinki Court. Prosecutor Anu Mantila said that although Räsänen has freedom of religion, this does not exclude her responsibility in using the Bible.
According to the prosecutor, everyone can think whatever they want, but faith-related expressions can be restricted: “I emphasise that freedom of thought and conscience is unrestricted. This court does not deal with religious views on the Bible and homosexuality. It is about the expression of those views.”
Prosecutor Mantila further stated that in judging the acts of a homosexual, the identity of the homosexual is also judged.
Räsänen’s lawyer, Matti Sankamo, countered that to defame and insult, one must intend to offend and make unfounded accusations. This is not the case in Rasanen’s statement.
Furthermore, to fall under the criminal category, disseminating information, opinions, or other messages should convey violence or discrimination as desirable; people being compared to animals or minorities to parasites is generally considered criminal. “It is quite clear that this was not the case in Räsänen’s writings,” the lawyer noted.
Pursuing this kind of debate, the lawyer continued, “would lead to a silencing effect, which is a danger to an open society and a democratic order.”
Banning Christianity
Besides Räsänen, Lutheran Bishop Juhana Pohjola is also prosecuted. His lawyer stated that “one should have the right to express his opinion based on the Bible. That is religious freedom.”
“The distinction between man and his deeds is a universal norm and a basic Christian teaching on creation and redemption,” he stated.
“Through her interpretations, the prosecutor intends to silence and criminalise the biblical teaching of the accused and the general sexual ethics of Christianity.”
“Accepting the prosecutor’s interpretation would lead to the criminalization of the public confession of Christianity. It is not possible to impose such a profound restriction on the central sphere of religious practice,” the lawyer concluded.
A ruling is expected for March 30.
With information from Infocatólica.
Compiled by Gustavo Kralj
