Finnish Lutherans convicted of ‘Hate Speech’

In 2023, the Rev. Dr. Juhana Pohjola, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland (ELMDF) — a partner church of the LCMS — and Dr. Päivi Räsänen, a medical doctor and member of the Finnish Parliament, spoke to the LCMS convention about their years-long experience of being prosecuted in the Finnish courts for confessing what the Bible teaches about creation. That prosecution stemmed from a 2019 social media post by Räsänen in which she shared a passage from Romans to question another Lutheran church body’s support of a “Pride” event.

The prosecution — and persecution — continued as a 2004 church pamphlet written by Räsänen and edited by Pohjola came under scrutiny for containing “hate speech.” The pamphlet, Male and Female He Created Them, was originally published in Finnish by Lutheran Heritage Foundation (they have since published it in both English and Spanish as well) and upholds a biblical view of marriage and sexuality. Although Räsänen and Pohjola were cleared of wrongdoing by a Helsinki district court in 2022, appeals by the Finnish government have kept them returning to court since then — first to the Helsinki Court of Appeal, where they were again acquitted, and, last year, to the Supreme Court of Finland.

Now, as the LCMS prepares for another convention, the nightmare has still not ended for Räsänen and Pohjola. In a 3–2 decision announced on March 26, the Finnish Supreme Court has found the two guilty of “inciting hatred” with the pamphlet. (The court acquitted Räsänen for the 2019 tweet and did not rule on a previous acquittal, which was not appealed, related to a radio appearance that Räsänen gave in 2019.) Both have been ordered to pay fines equivalent to 20 days of wages (amounting to thousands of dollars), as well as legal costs. Luther Foundation Finland, an organization that supports the ELMDF and that worked with Lutheran Heritage Foundation in the printing and publishing of the pamphlet in Finland, has also been fined 5,000 euros (1 euro = 1.15 U.S. dollars). In addition, the court has ordered that the pamphlet as written be permanently removed from public access.

In a press conference following the Supreme Court decision, Räsänen said she is considering appealing the ruling to the European Court of Human Rights. “It is not about my free speech alone but that of every person in Finland,” she said. “This case is not the end of the matter; it is part of a broader and ongoing discussion about the future of fundamental freedoms in Finland and across Europe.”