A Protestant bishop and a member of Finland’s parliament have been convicted under hate crimes laws for publishing a book that explains what the Bible teaches about men, women, and sex. Now they’re taking their fight to the European Court of Human Rights.
“It is really about the Christian view and Christianity that they are trying to prohibit and censor,” Paivi Rasanen, the Finnish MP and medical doctor, told The Federalist in an exclusive interview Saturday. “And now I think that many Christians and many pastors are in confusion. They do not know where’s the line. What can they teach?”
The Finnish Supreme Court’s 3-2 decision in March convicted Rasanen and Bishop Juhana Pohjola for writing and publishing theological content affirming that men and women are different and sexually complementary. This is basic Christian teaching shared by orthodox Muslims, Jews, and global majorities of Buddhism and Hinduism.
The court did acquit Rasanen on one charge related to posting a Bible verse on X. But the broader conviction sends a chilling message: Christians in Finland can quote Scripture, but they cannot discuss, explain, or teach what it actually means.
That distinction threatens everything from Sunday sermons to private conversations. It calls into question whether any faithful Christian church or community can exist at all under Finnish law.
Rasanen and Pohjola have endured more than seven years of prosecution for talking and writing about the Bible. Lower courts acquitted them twice, but Finnish prosecutors kept exercising an unusual legal option allowing re-prosecution after acquittal. They pushed forward until they secured a conviction.
The two know the ECHR may prove a difficult venue. But they feel compelled to appeal rather than accept what amounts to the European erasure of Christianity and the basic human rights protections it created, including freedom of speech itself.
Even if they ultimately win, their lawyers have noted the damage is already done. Years of legal battles have strongly discouraged free speech across Finland.
