{"id":2019324,"date":"2023-09-01T12:50:01","date_gmt":"2023-09-01T16:50:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/newest-nato-country-escalates-prosecution-of-christians-for-quoting-the-bible\/"},"modified":"2023-09-01T12:53:39","modified_gmt":"2023-09-01T16:53:39","slug":"newest-nato-country-escalates-prosecution-of-christians-for-quoting-the-bible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/newest-nato-country-escalates-prosecution-of-christians-for-quoting-the-bible\/","title":{"rendered":"New NATO member intensifies persecution of Bible-quoting Christians."},"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\">16<\/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%2Fnewest-nato-country-escalates-prosecution-of-christians-for-quoting-the-bible%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=2019324&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 class=\"article-content\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Helsinki \u2062Prosecutor Claims Quoting the Bible Violates \u200d&#8221;Hate Speech&#8221; \u200dLaw<\/h2>\n<p>In an appeals court Thursday, Helsinki\u2019s top prosecutor said publicly quoting the Bible and publishing a <a href=\"https:\/\/media.lhfmissions.org\/file\/lhf-missions\/pdfs\/English-Male-and-Female-He-Created-Them.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">booklet<\/a> about Christian sexual ethics violates Finland\u2019s \u201chate speech\u201d law. The appeal escalates this \u200bU.S. \u200cally\u2019s prosecution of \u2063dissidents from leftist politics, a \u2063marker of repressive regimes.<\/p>\n<p>The prosecutor has charged Member of Parliament Paivi Rasanen\u2063 and Bishop \u2063Juhana Pohjola for writing \u2063and publishing, respectively, a <a href=\"https:\/\/media.lhfmissions.org\/file\/lhf-missions\/pdfs\/English-Male-and-Female-He-Created-Them.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">booklet supporting natural marriage<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-501129485\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-77680ab0300337f296b37481beb8fbac fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-77680ab0300337f296b37481beb8fbac\"><\/div>\n<p>\u201cThis\u200d [case] \u2062is a God-given wake up call \u2062for\u2064 Christians and others worried about the direction \u200dour society is going,\u201d Pohjola said in a\u2063 post-court press conference Friday morning U.S. time. He\u200c noted convicting \u2064a religious leader for \u2064publishing theological\u200b documents would in effect criminalize Christianity in\u200c Finland and encourage similar oppression \u2064worldwide. Rasanen\u2062 is also criminally charged with \u2063posting a Bible verse to X (formerly Twitter) and stating Christian theology in a radio interview.\u2064 The prosecutor <a href=\"https:\/\/cne.news\/article\/3548-liveblog-paused-rasanen-in-court-of-appeal-for-bible-quotes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wants<\/a> \u200d all recordings of the radio interview taken down and the booklet to be unavailable online, and fines levied against\u2064 both Christians.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe content of my writings and\u200d my speeches represents the classical Christian view of marriage and sexuality, the same as the Churches have generally taught for two millennia,\u201d Rasanen said in a\u2062 statement. \u201cI do not condone insulting, threatening or slandering anyone, and my \u2063statements have not included \u2062content of such a nature. I consider this matter to be a theological \u200ddiscussion that should not be in a\u2064 courtroom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In court Thursday, prosecutor Anu Mantila disagreed, claiming, \u201cCondemning <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/father-james-martin-uses-boris-johnsons-catholic-wedding-to-push-same-sex-marriage\/\" title=\"Father James Martin Uses Boris Johnson\u2019s Catholic Wedding To Push Same-Sex Marriage\">homosexual acts<\/a> condemns homosexuals as human beings,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/cne.news\/article\/3549-thursdays-morning-summary-prosecutor-attacks-rasanen-sharper-than-before\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according<\/a> to English-language local reporting. Using\u2062 the Bible\u2019s word \u201csin\u201d\u200d to\u200d describe any non-marital sexual acts violates \u201csexual rights\u201d and\u200c is \u201cinsulting\u201d and\u2062 \u201cdegrading,\u201d \u200bMantila argued,\u2062 according to an Alliance Defending Freedom International (ADFI) <a href=\"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/trial-about-censorship-of-finnish-politicians-bible-tweet\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">account<\/a> from the courtroom.<\/p>\n<p>Friday morning, Mantila <a href=\"https:\/\/cne.news\/article\/3548-liveblog-helsinki-awaits-second-day-of-hearing-in-rasanen-case\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">argued<\/a> hate speech \u2064laws criminalize \u201cinsults\u201d\u2063 and parts\u200d of the Bible: \u201cThere is material in the Bible that \u200dcontradicts principles in our\u2064 society. This is why the\u2063 interpretation \u200cof the law \u2064against discrimination must be applied effectively.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Hate Speech Laws Criminalize Christianity<\/h2>\n<p>In interviews, Rasanen and Pohjola emphasized Christianity has\u200d always taught that every human is guilty\u2063 of transgressing against God\u2019s commands and that God unleashed His just punishment \u200cfor \u2062every one of those sins upon His Son, Jesus Christ. This means every person \u200bis beloved and can \u200bbe forgiven by \u2062God no matter what that person has ever done\u2063 wrong.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe prosecutor sees traditional Christianity as containing hatred and discrimination,\u201d Pohjola <a href=\"https:\/\/cne.news\/article\/3548-liveblog-paused-rasanen-in-court-of-appeal-for-bible-quotes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told<\/a> \u200ca local reporter after Thursday\u2019s court session. \u201cNo value is given to the Biblical revelation that all people have\u2063 intrinsic value as God\u2019s creation.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Searching for Hate Crimes<\/h2>\n<p>Finnish and European media call Rasanen\u2019s human \u200brights case \u200b\u201cthe Bible trial.\u201d\u2063 A lower\u2064 court unanimously cleared Rasanen and Pohjola in March 2022. The two Christians have \u200dbeen in court now for more \u200bthan four\u200b years.<\/p>\n<p>In 2019, during a debate about whether Finland\u2019s state church should sponsor\u200b anti-heterosexual parades, Rasanen\u2063 tweeted a picture of a Bible \u200dverse condemning homosexual acts. Due to the tweet, the Helsinki prosecutor began investigating Rasanen\u2019s nearly 30 years of\u200b public statements.<\/p>\n<p>Rasanen didn\u2019t\u2064 know she was \u2062being investigated until \u200cthat \u2064fact was published in the newspaper. At first she didn\u2019t believe it, so she called the police \u2062and they \u2062then confirmed it to her, she said in a press conference Friday.<\/p>\n<p>That investigation unearthed <a href=\"https:\/\/media.lhfmissions.org\/file\/lhf-missions\/pdfs\/English-Male-and-Female-He-Created-Them.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a 2004 booklet<\/a>, \u201cMale \u2062and Female He Created Them.\u201d \u200cRasanen wrote and Pohjola published it\u2063 seven years before Finland added \u201chate speech\u201d \u2064provisions to its \u201cwar crimes\u201d code.\u200b Mantila\u2064 charged \u200cthem as criminals for writing and\u2063 publishing the book. During\u200d this \u2062investigation, police interrogated Rasanen \u2064about \u200bChristian theology and\u200b its political implications three times for a total of more \u2062than 13 hours.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf writings based on biblical teachings were to be condemned, that would mean a serious restriction of freedom of religion,\u201d Rasanen noted in her statement.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">U.S.\u2063 Ally Punishes Speech \u200band Religion with Criminal Trials<\/h2>\n<p>Rasanen has\u200d also\u200c been minister of the\u200c interior for the country \u2062just granted U.S. military protection with Finland\u2019s recent entrance to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Finland just <a href=\"https:\/\/www.express.co.uk\/news\/world\/1798454\/finland-US-military-deal-NATO-M270A2-MLRS\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">signed<\/a> a $395 million deal with the United\u200c States for advanced \u2062rocket systems.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. lawmakers called for the Biden administration\u200c to use the United\u2063 States\u2019s considerable leverage to urge Finland to stop prosecuting religious exercise and free speech, two natural human rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution and international treaties.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is abundantly clear \u2013\u200d the process \u2063is the punishment. The selective \u2063targeting of these <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-epstein-madam-wouldnt-help-find-tapes-of-bill-clinton-because-it-would-hurt-hillarys-2016-run\/\" title=\"Report: Epstein Madam Wouldn\u2019t Help Find Tapes Of Bill Clinton Because It Would Hurt Hillary\u2019s 2016 Run\">high-profile individuals<\/a> is designed\u2062 to systematically chill others\u2019 speech under the threat of legal harassment and social stigmatism,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/finnish-christian-officials-face-charges-for-lgbt-criticisms-as-biden-admin-asked-to-step-in?intcmp=tw_pols\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote<\/a> 16 House Republicans led by Rep. Chip Roy of Texas on Aug. 8 to the U.S. ambassador to Finland\u2063 and the United \u200cStates\u2019 ambassador at large. \u201cThis case will have worldwide \u2063ramifications.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/saraklfy\/status\/1697241958018904297\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a> 500 Hungarians rallied outside their country\u2019s Finnish embassy to show support for Rasanen and\u2064 Pohjola on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>For decades in Finland, Rasanen has publicly represented Christian moral stances the left has politicized, such as\u2064 pro-life and natural marriage. That has \u200cmade her a\u2062 target for LGBT activists. Those include the Helsinki prosecutor, now possibly determined to keep the Christians in court up\u2064 to the European Court of Human Rights, proceedings that \u2063likely would take more than a \u2063decade.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn all my career I have been known as a Christian and\u200b as a\u2063 biblical Christian who doesn\u2019t accept abortion and homosexual acts and so on. \u2062And I think that perhaps it \u200dis \u2064the\u2063 reason why the prosecutor has targeted me,\u201d Rasanen <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/15\/prosecuting-paivi-rasanen-for-quoting-the-bible-is-making-her-an-international-star\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told\u200d The Federalist last summer<\/a> at an \u201cIssues, Etc.\u201d conference in Chicago.<\/p>\n<p>Finland maintains a state-supported Lutheran church, of which 70 percent of \u2063the population are technically \u200bmembers. Pohjola was kicked out of that church \u2063in 2014\u2062 for <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/11\/23\/in-case-with-global-implications-finland-puts-christians-on-trial-for-their-faith\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">upholding<\/a> the Bible\u2019s commands\u2064 concerning differences between men\u200c and women. He is now bishop of an independent Lutheran church body in the country. The Federalist <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/11\/23\/in-case-with-global-implications-finland-puts-christians-on-trial-for-their-faith\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">interviewed \u200chim<\/a> in person in 2021, including <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/videos\/punished-for-his-faith-bishop-juhana-pohjola-on-federalist-radio-hour\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">for The Federalist Radio Hour<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/third-degree-murder-charge-against-ex-cop-derek-chauvin-reinstated-by-appeals-court\/\" title=\"Third-Degree Murder Charge Against Ex-Cop Derek Chauvin Reinstated By Appeals Court\">appeals court decision<\/a> is expected in one to three months, Rasanen said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a recent appeals court session, Helsinki&#8217;s chief prosecutor argued that citing the Bible and distributing a booklet on Christian sexual ethics goes against Finland&#8217;s &#8220;hate speech&#8221; legislation. This move by a U.S. ally highlights a concerning trend of prosecuting dissidents with opposing political views, reminiscent of oppressive regimes. MP Paivi Rasanen and Bishop Juhana face charges in this case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":519,"featured_media":2019325,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2019324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019324","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=2019324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2019325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2019324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2019324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2019324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}