It is a worrying fact that the right of Catholics, and indeed all Christians, to manifest their beliefs can’t be taken for granted these days. But freedom received a major boost this morning from, of all places, the Court of Appeal in Lutheran Finland. The background was an affair that has been simmering in the background for some time, and should have had a higher profile.
Päivi Räsänen is a veteran Finnish parliamentarian and previous home affairs minister, who also happens to be a doctor and a convinced Christian. In 2019, following news that the Lutheran church she followed had partnered with Pride, she tweeted a copy of Romans 1: 24-27, which lays down in the clearest terms the teaching of the church on sexual ethics, followed by the question: “How does the doctrine of the Church fit in with the fact that shame and sin are raised as a matter of pride?” Shortly afterwards she repeated the same views on a radio discussion programme.
For this interpretation of scripture, she found herself arrested, held in a cell for 13 hours, and prosecuted by the state for hate speech under a provision of the Finnish Criminal Code that criminalises the publicising of any “opinion or another message where a certain group is threatened, defamed or insulted on the basis of its race, colour, birth, national or ethnic origin, religion or belief, sexual orientation or disability.” For good measure, a bishop in her church was also haled into the dock with her on a charge of publishing a pamphlet she had written over 15 years earlier on the Church’s doctrine of the family.
The idea that a good faith citation of holy scripture in the course of an argument over church doctrine should amount to hate speech akin to fomenting racial hatred is pretty preposterous. The district court in effect said just that, and summarily dismissed the charges. In most countries that would have been an end of it: but not here. The prosecutor was clearly very determined to make a point, and took the case to the appeal court. This morning, much to her disappointment, three appeal judges unanimously sided with the lower court. There was, they pointed out, no indication whatever of any intent to insult or threaten anyone, nor any justification for the court to enter the fray on they had “no reason, on the basis of the evidence received at the main hearing, to assess the case in any respect differently from the District Court”, and that there therefore was no reason to alter its judgment.
There is much good news here, if only because any other result would have had terrifying implications for people’s right to express their convictions in public. Moreover, the effects are likely to extend well outside Finland. We do not have the text of the appeal judgment, but it clearly was given with one eye on the free speech and religious freedom provisions in Articles 9 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which despite their deficiencies probably would be interpreted in favour of Päivi Räsänen in this case.
If so, prosecutors and police forces in all countries where the Convention applies will need to think very carefully about the guidance they provide on when it is justifiable to interfere with what believers tweet, write or preach in public. In the coming months, a murmur of “Päivi Räsänen” by any person threatened with trouble over their religious expression may well have considerable effect.
And trouble there may still be. Among the governing class in many European countries, including unfortunately the UK and other western European states, the ideology of equality and human rights is threatening quietly to morph into a kind of surrogate state religion, with the idea of freedom of conscience playing decidedly second fiddle. Indeed, despite what happened this morning, Finland may well be among them. The prosecutor’s approach to Päivi Räsänen was to say the least aggressive and at times overbearing. Besides repeatedly asking whether she was prepared to recant her beliefs, and suggesting that the word “sin” was itself insulting and therefore illegal, she went on to hector the court with these words: “You can cite the Bible, but it is Räsänen’s interpretation and opinion about the Bible verses that are criminal.” No wonder a member of her defence team commentedthat the trial had taken on many of the characteristics of a mediaevel heresy trial, save that the charge was blasphemy against the dominant orthodoxies of the day.
So we must still be vigilant. The prosecutor has two months to appeal in Mrs Räsänen’s case. We hope that she will leave it there and decently allow individual conscience to flourish. Unfortunately we can’t be certain. There’s no guarantee that this Caesar will not try to claw back even more of what ought to be God’s.
(Photo of Päivi Räsänen at press conference following the verdict courtesy of ADF International)
Areas of Catholic Herald business are still recovering post-pandemic.
However, we are reaching out to the Catholic community and readership, that has been so loyal to the Catholic Herald. Please join us on our 135 year mission by supporting us.
We are raising £250,000 to safeguard the Herald as a world-leading voice in Catholic journalism and teaching.
We have been a bold and influential voice in the church since 1888, standing up for traditional Catholic culture and values. Please consider donating.