Päivi Räsänen Faces Second Trial over Her Biblical Views on Marriage

ChristianHeadlines.com reports: “Finnish Parliament member Päivi Räsänen is facing a second trial over her Christian beliefs on marriage and sexuality, her lawyers say.

Last year a three-judge panel of the Helsinki District Court acquitted Räsänen of hate speech charges. Bishop Juhana Pohjola of the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland was also acquitted of hate speech charges.

Both faced charges stemming from their 2004 pamphlet, Male and Female He Created Them: Homosexual Relationships Challenge the Christian Concept of Humanity.

Räsänen, the former leader of Finland’s Christian Democratic Party, faced further criminal charges for a 2019 tweet criticizing Finnish Lutheran Church leaders for supporting LGBT pride month, The Christian Post reports.

The judges ruled that ‘it is not for the district court to interpret biblical concepts.’

‘By continuing its campaign to censor peaceful beliefs, the prosecution is setting a dangerous precedent of intolerance against free speech,’ Räsänen said in a statement.

Lawyers say Räsänen still has to pay thousands of dollars in fines.

ADF International Executive Director Paul Coleman called the ordeal a ‘new low’ for European free speech…”

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