The Story: A member of Finland’s parliament faces a second “hate speech” trial over a Twitter post quoting the Bible.
The Background: A trial in Finland recently concluded before the Helsinki Court of Appeal where Päivi Räsänen, a longstanding parliamentarian and former government minister, stood accused of “hate speech” on account of three expressions of her Christian faith. The charges were based on a tweet, a 2004 church pamphlet, and a 2019 radio interview. The state prosecutor made the final case to criminalize “insulting” Christian speech.
The trial began on August 31, 2023 with the state prosecutor arguing that Räsänen’s interpretation and publication of Bible verses is “criminal.” In 2019 Räsänen criticized Finland’s largest church body’s announcement to become an official partner of Helsinki Pride 2019, asking, “How can the…
