{"id":1410170,"date":"2022-03-30T13:00:35","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T17:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1410170"},"modified":"2022-03-30T13:01:28","modified_gmt":"2022-03-30T17:01:28","slug":"finnish-court-rebukes-state-prosecution-of-christians-for-saying-god-made-men-and-women-different","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/finnish-court-rebukes-state-prosecution-of-christians-for-saying-god-made-men-and-women-different\/","title":{"rendered":"Finnish Court Rebukes State Prosecution Of Christians For Saying God Made Men And Women Different"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffinnish-court-rebukes-state-prosecution-of-christians-for-saying-god-made-men-and-women-different%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1410170&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p>Prayers from around the world were answered joyfully today when a Finnish court ruled unanimously in favor of two Christians the government prosecuted for publicly stating the Bible\u2019s teachings about sex.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf this kind of questioning of free speech is possible in a country like Finland, which has a reputation regarding free speech internationally, the same is possible anywhere,\u201d said Member of Parliament Paivi Rasanen during a livestreamed press conference this morning U.S. time.<\/p>\n<p>Rasanen and Lutheran Bishop Juhana Pohjola were acquitted of all four \u201chate crimes\u201d charges against them for speaking the Bible\u2019s teachings that sex is rightly reserved for lifelong marriage between one man and one woman. The three-judge court not only cleared the two Christians but ordered the prosecution to pay their legal costs, ruling that in a free country courts have no place deciding permissible religious views.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am grateful for having had this chance to stand up for freedom of speech, which is an essential right in a democratic country,\u201d Rasanen said. \u201cThis has been my honor. \u2026 I hope that this ruling will prevent others from having to go through the same ordeal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rasanen, Pohjola, and their legal team also expressed concern that the prosecutor who pursued these charges against the police\u2019s recommendation might appeal the case. The prosecutor has seven days to appeal or let the decision stand.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we had lost the case, there would be no way that we could publicly proclaim the law of God and the forgiving gospel of Jesus Christ,\u201d Pohjola emphasized in the press conference. \u201cThat would have radically changed the whole atmosphere in our church body as Christians in Finland.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>The Prosecution Is the Punishment<\/h2>\n<p>Pohjola said of course he and Rasanen would have continued to proclaim their faith if the court had agreed to effectively criminalize free speech and Christianity in Finland. The possibility of an appeal means Christianity and free speech are still at risk in the Western country ranked No. 3 for its commitment to the rule of law.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryone should be free to share their beliefs without censorship, and we see the great threat that can come from these hate speech laws, which often shut down public debates and constitute not only a threat to freedom of speech and religion but also to democracy itself,\u201d said Paul Coleman, the executive director of Alliance Defending Freedom International, a legal nonprofit assisting with this case.<\/p>\n<p>Most European countries and many U.S. cities and states have \u201chate crimes\u201d laws similar to the one used in this case. This case went the farthest such laws have been used in the world to date, although many lawsuits have made it difficult for Christians to live according to their faith in public, such as the Masterpiece Cakeshop case in the United States.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlready, this three-year process with all the investigations and court sessions has in practice narrowed the freedom of speech by creating self-censorship,\u201d Rasanen said. \u201cPeople are afraid of the possible consequences when expressing their faith and their conviction in public.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Free speech and freedom of religion are fundamental human rights that benefit all citizens equally. That makes them more crucial to protect and more beneficial for more people than legal privileges distributed unequally according to differing sexual preferences, Coleman noted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryone\u2019s free speech benefits by this ruling, including the speech by those in the LGBT community. It\u2019s a good decision, and a good ruling for everyone who wants to live in a free and democratic society where ideas are debated and we have the freedom to share our deeply held beliefs without fear of censorship,\u201d Coleman said.<\/p>\n<p>The prosecutor argued that Christians could believe whatever they want but must keep politically incorrect ideas to themselves. Rasanen noted that when she was Finland\u2019s interior minister, Communist Chinese officials expressed to her this same stance toward religious freedom and free speech.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe real victory that we will see in Europe is when cases like this don\u2019t exist in the first place,\u201d Coleman said. \u201cAs long as so much time, energy, and effort is required to defend people in these cases we can never say it is a true victory for freedom of expression.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Is Talking about Christianity a Hate Crime? Court Says No<\/h2>\n<p>This case arose in 2019. That June, a pastor filed a \u201chate speech\u201d complaint against Rasanen after she posted Bible verses on Twitter to criticize the Finnish state church\u2019s decision to sponsor a Helsinki LGBT parade.<\/p>\n<p>Police investigated, ultimately interrogating Rasanen more than 13 hours across three interviews about her religious beliefs. The police determined no crime had been committed, but a state prosecutor overrode their decision and began her own investigation of Rasanen\u2019s long public history. As a pastor\u2019s wife, longtime member of Finland\u2019s parliament, and former interior minister, Rasanen has been involved in public debates in Finland for decades.<\/p>\n<p>The prosecutor\u2019s investigation unearthed a theological booklet, \u201cMale and Female He Created Them,\u201d that Rasanen wrote and Pohjola published in 2004, long before Finland\u2019s \u201chate crimes\u201d law was passed. This booklet became one of the three criminal counts the prosecutor filed against Rasanen and the single count filed against Pohjola. The other two charges against Rasanen were the Bible verses she posted on Twitter and her discussion of state-recognized homosexual relationships in a radio interview.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot for a second did I believe that I had committed anything illegal in my writings and statements,\u201d Rasanen said on Wednesday, thanking Christians around the world for sending her \u201cthousands\u201d of notes of encouragement and her legal team for their support.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"PeF6YGJlB87VWjsuxc1tAd9Op2bSzgyvmXqwHEMNnIfk0R3ZaDLoh4iQTC5KU\"><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Court held the purpose of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PaiviRasanen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@PaiviRasanen<\/a>&#8216;s writings was to &#8220;defend the concept of family and marriage between a man and a woman&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Paul Coleman (@Paul_B_Coleman) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Paul_B_Coleman\/status\/1509121847618588685?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 30, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2>Jesus Loves Gay People So Much He Died to Give Them Eternal Life<\/h2>\n<p>Rasanen and Pohjola emphasized that their historic Christian beliefs about sexual morality extend directly from God\u2019s extreme love for all people, who are infinitely precious to Him and made in His sacred image. While the Bible clearly reserves sex for marriage between one man and one woman, it also states the equality of all human beings both in transgressing against God\u2019s commands and in being welcomed to His forgiveness.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe prosecutor tries to deny the core message the Bible, the teaching of law and gospel: God has created all human beings in his own image and we all have equal value, but we also are all sinners,\u201d Rasanen said on Wednesday. \u201cGod is the one who decides what thing is wrong. And God so loved all people that He gave His only Son to die on the cross to suffer the punishment that we all deserved because of our sins.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rasanen and Pohjola emphasized their love for those struggling with God\u2019s difficult sexual commands and God\u2019s desire to welcome such people, and all people, to the forgiveness of sins provided in Christian worship, which offers to all abiding peace and joy.<\/p>\n<h2>Ready to Keep Preaching the Gospel to the World<\/h2>\n<p>If the prosecutor does appeal this case to a higher court, Rasanen said, \u201cI am ready to defend freedom of speech and religion in all necessary courts, also in the European Court of Human Rights if needed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pohjola said that if the pair are called to continue preaching the Christian message across the world due to further prosecution in Finnish or even European courts, he and Rasanen will do so in confidence that God will strengthen and guide them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know as we approach the Easter time that victory has been won on the cross and Jesus Christ stands among His people. And He has promised that He will never depart from us. So no matter what comes, we are in His hands,\u201d Pohjola said.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">\n  Joy Pullmann is executive editor of The Federalist, a happy wife, and the mother of six children. <a href=\"https:\/\/forms.gle\/iX1dsZnedpJjPMoP7\">Sign up here to get early access<\/a> to her next ebook, &#8220;101 Strategies For Living Well Amid Inflation.&#8221; Her bestselling ebook is &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/payhip.com\/b\/R1JL\">Classic Books for Young Children<\/a>.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Pullmann identifies as native American and gender natural. She is also the author of &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Education-Invasion-Parents-Control-American\/dp\/1594038813\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&#038;qid=1486730068&#038;sr=8-1&#038;keywords=education+invasion\">The Education Invasion: How Common Core Fights Parents for Control of American Kids<\/a>,&#8221; from Encounter Books. In 2013-14 she won a Robert Novak journalism fellowship for in-depth reporting on Common Core national education mandates. <\/p>\n<p>Joy is a grateful graduate of the Hillsdale College honors and journalism programs.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prayers from around the world were answered joyfully today when a Finnish court ruled unanimously in favor of two Christians the government prosecuted for publicly stating the Bible\u2019s teachings about<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":519,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1410170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1410170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/519"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1410170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1410170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1410170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1410170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1410170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}