When Päivi Räsänen, a Christian member of Finland’s Parliament who was convicted of “hate speech” for a pamphlet citing the Bible, booked flights with a layover in London, the United Kingdom rejected her visa application.
Räsänen told the Daily Signal in an interview Thursday that the U.K. initially approved her application, but days before her flight, the government notified her it had been canceled.
The rules for Electronic Travel Authorization state that entry clearance or permission “must be refused” when an applicant “has committed a criminal offence, or offences, which caused serious harm.”
Räsänen told the Daily Signal that the crime of which she had been convicted “is in a section of war crimes and crimes against humanity.” She had booked tickets from the U.S. back to Helsinki, Finland’s capital city, with a layover in London.
The Finnish member of Parliament says she is a member of the Finnish Parliament’s “friendship group” with the UK Parliament. In August, she plans to speak in Northern Ireland at a conference about freedom of speech.
‘Hate Speech’ Charges for a Bible Verse Tweet
Räsänen’s case dates back to 2019, when she criticized the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland for supporting an LGBTQ+ Pride event.
“How does the doctrine of the church, the Bible, fit together with the fact that shame and sin are raised as a matter of ‘pride’?” she tweeted.
Her tweet included a photo of the 2004 pamphlet titled “As Man and Woman He Created Them,” explaining the Bible’s position on sexuality and marriage. The photo cites Romans 1:24-27, which reads, “women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones” and “men committed shameful acts with other men.”
Prosecutors charged her with “hate speech.” The Helsinki District Court acquitted her in March 2022, and the appeals court similarly acquitted her in November 2023, but prosecutors kept appealing.
The prosecution claimed that the court failed to “fully perceive and understand” the “degrading and dehumanizing” message against “homosexuals.”
“In order to protect the dignity and equality of homosexuals, it is necessary to exclude Räsänen’s statements from freedom of expression by interpreting them as punishable hate speech directed at them [homosexuals],” the prosecution wrote.
Convicted of ‘Hate Speech’
In March, Finland’s Supreme Court upheld the acquittal for the Bible verse tweet, but a 3-2 majority convicted her, along with Lutheran Bishop Juhana Pohjola, of hate speech for expressing their beliefs on Christianity and sexuality in the 2004 church pamphlet. The two Finns are appealing the decision at the European Court of Human Rights, represented by Alliance Defending Freedom International.
“It is about, I’d say, a very classical Christian view of marriage and gender,” Räsänen told the Daily Signal.
The pamphlet said that “homosexuality is a deviation from the original, God-created sexuality.”
“The Supreme Court said that it is illegal to say that,” Räsänen recalled. “You should say that it is a normal variation, not a deviation.”
“I understand that they may argue against my views,” the Christian legislator said. “Now, many people in Finland are afraid because they do not know what is legal and what is illegal to say.”
She noted that “thousands of pastors” have delivered sermons with such statements, and that similar language appears in the Finnish translation of the Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church. “I’m sure that the prosecutor will not attack or target the Roman Catholic Church,” she said.
The LGBTQ group SETA celebrated Räsänen’s conviction, and expressed hope that it would lead to more reporting of “hate speech against rainbow people,” that prosecutors would bring more charges, and that they would be taken seriously in court.
“There are people who are afraid of what would happen to them,” the Christian legislator told the Daily Signal. She said SETA pledged to “screen different kinds of writings and find similar views.”
When asked whether prosecutors have brought similar charges against other Christians, she said, “Not yet.”
Räsänen, who has spent 31 years in Parliament, plans to run for reelection next year. It will be her first race as a “convicted criminal.”
‘Hostility’ to Christianity
She blamed “hostility” to Christianity and a misunderstanding of sin for the prosecution against her.
“They have argued that if you say that homosexual relationships are sinful, then you think that these people are inferior to other people, even though I have said very clearly that all people are equal, we all are created as the image of God,” the Christian legislator said.
“I have said it many times in court that I am also a sinner,” Räsänen explained. “We are all sinners, and we are in need of grace in Jesus, in his atonement on the cross.”
She argued that the “post-Christian West” has neglected the Christian faith, and forgotten the “core message of the Bible.”
While it is no picnic to face criminal charges for her faith, the legislator said the prosecution has given her an opportunity to share the gospel.
She recalled a message from a young man last year. When he heard about Räsänen’s case in 2019, he identified as an atheist and homosexual, and was angry with her. When he reached out back then, she engaged with him, and shared the gospel.
“He said that after his conversation with me, he has found Christ, and he has found a way to eternal life,” the legislator recalled.
“I understood that this is not in vain,” she said. “It is not in vain to defend these freedoms. It is not in vain to share the message of the Bible.”