It’s astonishing that the Päivi Räsänen case is still going through the courts. Her case was heard by the Finnish Supreme Court on 30th October. But it’s not just Päivi who is on trial. We’re all being put through a trial, a trial of our faith. Will we stand with her, or will we keep our heads down?
If you don’t know the case, it all began in June 2019, when — as a Member of Parliament, former Minister of the Interior and physician — Päivi Räsänen posted on social media a photograph of the Apostle Paul’s words: the verses from Romans 1:24-27, accompanied by a comment challenging her church’s sponsorship of the Helsinki Pride event.
What followed was startling: a full criminal investigation, multiple police interrogations — during which she was asked to walk through the Bible and explain its meaning in minute theological detail. Then in April 2021 formal charges were filed under the section of Finnish law dealing with “hate speech / incitement against a minority group” (indeed under a “war crimes and crimes against humanity” heading).
Two prior courts found that what she had done — tweeted a Bible verse, published a pamphlet, engaged in a radio interview — did not constitute illegal hate speech. Yet the prosecutors still will not drop it. They have hounded her all the way to the Supreme Court, which is hearing the case today.
Why does this matter? Because what is at stake is nothing less than the freedom of the church to publicly confess the Word of God. When a believer can be criminally charged for citing Scripture and reaffirming the historic Christian view of marriage and sexual ethics, we have entered a new and dangerous frontier.
The world is watching. The case has drawn international attention, with observers warning of a “chilling effect” on free religious speech across Europe. If Christians in one democracy are silenced or prosecuted simply for speaking biblical truth, then where will it stop? If we allow this precedent to stand unchallenged, we may soon see other nations and courts use “hate speech” laws to drive orthodox Christian convictions from public discourse.
We must therefore praise those who have stood with her: the legal-defence teams, the Christian organisations, the churches who have publicly affirmed her right to speak. They have done well.
But we must also criticise those who have remained silent — church leaders who have sat in quiet while the case dragged on, congregations who have lowered their gaze, Christians who have whispered but not spoken. Now is not the time for silence. Yes, we must be wise in how we speak — but keeping our heads down is not wisdom, it is cowardice.
To the church I say: Be bold. Let us not shrink back from proclaiming the Word of God in the public square. The biblical ethic is not merely a private matter to be kept behind closed doors — it is a witness to the world of the gospel and the created order.
As the oft-misattributed quote (sometimes wrongly ascribed to Martin Luther) rightly reminds us:
“If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.”
This case is our battle. May untold numbers of Christians in Finland and beyond stand firm so that the precedent of free speech, free religious exercise and faithful proclamation remains alive and uncorrupted. We stand with Päivi Räsänen. We stand with the Bible. And we stand for all who would speak His truth in love to a world that desperately needs it.
