Christian Speech a Hate Crime? Politician Endures Police Interrogation for Posting Bible Verse
HELSINKI, Finland - A Christian politician from Finland was recently interrogated at police headquarters in a hate speech investigation for sharing a Bible passage on social media.
Päivi Räsänen is a member of the Finnish Parliament, and she's under investigation for committing a so-called hate crime after she posted a Bible verse aimed at Finland's state church for promoting the homosexual lifestyle.
"In my tweet, I directly cited Romans first chapter and verses 24 to 27 and posted the picture of the passages from the Bible," she told CBN News.
That passage condemns homosexual relations. She said her purpose was to wake up the church in Finland.
"And and when praying, I got convinced that it is not my time now to jump out of the sinking boat as a parable of the church, but to try to wake up the sleeping ones in the church in that boat. And that's why I decided to write to social media," Räsänen said.
Leif Nummela, editor of a Christian newspaper called Uusitie and a TV host in Finland, told us he was very surprised to hear Räsänen was under investigation.
"I thought that this couldn't happen... it was unbelievable. It was a real surprise. And the first thought was, are they really going this far?" he said.
If convicted, Räsänen could face a fine or even jail time. But it's the precedent from this case that could affect every believer in Finland.
"I'm worried that this case, the criminal investigation, might frighten some Christians to hide and to keep silent," she said.
Finland's attorney general has now opened a second investigation concerning a 24 page pamphlet that Päivi wrote 15 years ago about Biblical Christian marriage, called "Man and woman He created them".
A bishop in Finland's state Lutheran church that while he found this new charge against Räsänen "worrying", he said, "I regard the writings of Päivi Räsänen wrong, harmful and contrary to Christian charity."
