Päivi Räsäsen puhe Wienin ADF International symposiumissa 30.4.2022
Ladies and gentlemen, dear Arete Delegates,
I was delighted to be invited to this wonderful conference in the beautiful city of Vienna. I have always thought that it is highly necessary to have these kinds of conferences which aim to equip the future leaders. I must say I feel very encouraged to see so many talented young people here.
I have been a Member of the Finnish Parliament for 27 years. I am the chair of the Christian Democratic Parliamentary Group. From 2004 to 2015, I was the chair of the Finnish Christian Democrats. From 2011 to 2015, I was the Minister of the Interior of Finland. My husband is also here in Vienna with me, and he is the Principal of the Finnish Lutheran Mission Bible College. We have five grown-up children and 10 grandchildren. I am also a member of City Council and Church council.
I studied medicine at the University of Helsinki and worked as a medical doctor until 1995 when I was elected to the Parliament of Finland. During my university years, I led the missionary work among the university students, and we went from door to door talking about Jesus to other students. As a physician, the ethical questions I came across, especially related to abortions, aroused my interest in politics. Already as medical student I decided not to end a life though abortion. Defending the life of unborn children has been my top priority as an MP. It was the reason I went to politics. I also wanted to influence the reasons behind social problems. In the 90’s, mental disorders and divorces were increasing because of high rates of unemployment and economic distress.
I remember all the impressive moments at the Sunday school from my childhood and me praying that Jesus would enter my heart and take me as his own. Jesus heard my prayer and has been faithful. For all my long career as an MP, I have been open and honest about my Christian faith. The last couple of years have been surprising. In 2021, the Prosecutor General of Finland brought three separate charges against me, and I have been in the Helsinki District court twice this year.
The starting point of this process was a tweet that I published in June 2019. In the tweet, I questioned the Evangelical Lutheran Church's official affiliation with the Helsinki LGBT Pride 2019 event and accompanied my post with a photo of a Bible passage, from the Book of Romans, verses 1:24-27. The aim of my criticism was the leadership of my own church, not any minority. According to the Church Act, approved by our Parliament, “all doctrine must be examined and evaluated according to God’s Holy Word”.
I had a deep concern about the church teaching against its own confession, and that this will undermine people’s trust on God’s word. The question would then not be any more about marriage, but of salvation. A citizen made a criminal complaint against me, and the police started a criminal investigation about the tweet. The second charge is about an old pamphlet I had written already in 2004 "Male and female He created them - Homosexual relationships challenge the Christian concept of humanity”. It takes a stand on sexuality and marriage from a Christian perspective. Also, Bishop Pohjola was prosecuted because he is responsible for publishing the pamphlet. Earlier, the police released a decision that my pamphlet gave no cause for criminal investigation and noted: “If any of the viewpoints contained in the Bible would be considered sufficient to fulfil the criteria for the crime, then the distribution of the Bible or rendering it available would be considered a crime and thus punishable.” The third charge is about my views presented in one humorous radio interview.
In these two latter cases, the Prosecutor General ordered the investigation against the police ‘s recommendation. The filing of the charges was preceded by 1,5 years of police investigation and several long police interrogations. The police asked if I agree to delete within two weeks my writings. I answered no, and that I stand behind these teachings of the Bible, whatever the consequences are.
On 30th March, the Helsinki District Court acquitted me of all the three charges. The ruling of the court was unanimous. I am relieved, happy and grateful to God and to all the people and organizations that have supported me, especially ADF. The ruling was what I expected – not for a second did I believe that I had committed anything illegal in my writings and statements.
I had hoped that the prosecutors would have settled for this ruling, but the prosecutors very quickly announced that they will appeal to the Court of Appeal. Just yesterday, on the very last day it was possible within the legal time frame, I was informed that the prosecutors have sent the official appeal to the court. I am ready to defend freedom of speech and religion in all necessary courts, also in the European court of human rights.
The high international interest in this case rises from the concern that if this kind of questioning of free speech is possible in a country like Finland, which has a good reputation regarding free speech internationally, the same is possible anywhere. In the latest Rule of Law Index. Finland ranked 3rd. It is alarming that in a country that ranked so high in the Rule of Law Index, I have been criminally charged for voicing my deeply held beliefs that are based on classical Christianity.
Although the prosecutor at first assured that the trial would not be an inquisition, she surprisingly targeted the core doctrine of Christianity. She claimed that my views are known as” fundamentalist” doctrine, which she summarized as “love the sinner, hate the sin”. This doctrine she regarded as insulting and defaming, because according to her, you cannot make a distinction between the person’s identity and his or her action. If you condemn the act, you also condemn the human being and regard him or her as inferior.
This is an egregious statement. It goes against the Christian view of man and common sense. The prosecutor tries to deny the core message of the Bible: the teaching of law and gospel. God has created all human beings as His own image and we all have equal value, but we all are also sinners. No-one’s human dignity decreases because of sin. God so loved all the people, that He gave His only Son to die on the cross to suffer the punishment that belonged to us because of our sins.
The thought that you could not make a distinction between the person’s deeds and his or her identity or human dignity is unfamiliar to life and to the rule of law. Even the most notorious criminals do not lose their human rights or human dignity if they get a punishment for their deeds. Especially in court this principle should be very clear.
In court, I appealed to the Constitution of Finland and to international conventions that guarantee freedom of speech and religion. The points of view for which I am accused do not deviate from so-called classical Christianity, nor does my view on marriage deviate from the official policy of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. The prosecution's interpretation would have a material impact on the narrowing of the scope of religious freedom in Finland – and is therefore highly damaging from the perspective of basic rights.
We are living at a time when the effect of Christian culture to the society is narrowing. The breaking of the Christian worldview is visible whether we think of the protection of life at the very beginning or at the end of life or defending marriage as a union between man and wife. The battle between values is largely fought with language, by capturing the concepts like love, freedom, equality and even rainbow into new interpretations.
These criminal procedures are attempts to restrict free speech and freedom of religion. The same kind of development is visible in the whole Europe. The rise of “cancel culture”, the idea of publicly defaming and thrusting a person who holds certain beliefs out of social media or professional circles, is a threat to any free society that claims to be tolerant and equal. We need to be alert and active regarding our rights.
It is strange that we have gone so far in Finland. It makes me think of Finlandization: we were once afraid to publicly criticize the Soviet Union. Nowadays it is politically incorrect to say anything negative about for example gender ideology. If someone would have asked how many genders a person has at the time when I started my career as an MP, people would have considered the questioner quite stupid.
This three-year process with all the investigations, interrogations and court sessions has in practice narrowed freedom of religion and free speech by creating self-censorship. Many young people have told me that they are afraid they are labelled as a Bible-believing Christian, and that it will hinder their career and social acceptance.
If we do not now use our right to speak freely, the space to use our rights will eventually get even smaller. The more we keep silent about the teachings of the Bible on the painful issues of our time, the more powerful is the rejection. We are especially called to stand firm in those parts of the Scriptures which challenge the current ethos and thinking. Christians should encourage their countries to adhere to their national and international commitments to protect the freedom of speech and be courageous in speaking according to their faith in the public.
I could sense the unease of the police when they asked me several times if, based on the Act on the Openness of Government Activities, I wanted to keep in secret all those points that showed by religious conviction in the preliminary investigation report. Well, no, I did not want that. The majority of the report would then have had to be concealed. This is very telling of the incoherence of the whole situation. At the same we are trying to protect religious conviction because it’s considered a private matter, we are severely challenging this right with judicial consequences.
The Prosecutor claimed in court that Räsänen can believe certain things in her own mind, but she cannot express her faith in this way. I encountered this same kind of limited understanding of religious freedom when I was the minister responsible for church affairs and had a discussion with the Chinese minister in charge of religious matters. He said that in China you can believe in your own mind whatever, but it is necessary to restrict the freedom to express your faith if it increases tensions in the society.
In public, the prosecutor general has stated that “although Räsänen was convicted, it does not mean that the Bibles should be removed from the libraries. You can refer to the Bible, Koran or Mein Kampf, because it is not forbidden to discuss about historical texts. But what is essential is that do you agree with it.”
Ultimately, the question here is about the core of Christian faith; how a person gets saved into unity with God and into everlasting life though the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus. I have repeatedly emphasized that all human beings are created in the image of God and have equal dignity and human rights.
A conviction based on the Christian faith is more than a surficial opinion. The early Christians did not renounce their faith in lions’ caves, why should I then renounce my faith in a court room. I believe it is my calling and honor to defend the foundational rights. I think this whole chain of events is part of my calling as a Christian influencer. I want to encourage you all to use your foundational rights and be bold. Our world needs leaders like you.
Queen Esther was encouraged to speak up and act on behalf of God’s people, the Jews, with the question: “And who knows, you may have been chosen to your royal position for just such a time as this.”. The same question can be asked from us today. We have not ourselves chosen the time in which we live. But exactly for such a time as this you were born to love your neighbors, to act when seeing injustice, and to hold up the Gospel. Thank you so much for your attention. I wish you all courage, wisdom, and blessing!
Päivi Räsänen 30.4.2022