I knew the Finnish Supreme Court was about to deliver its verdict in Päivi Räsänen’s case –
You remember … the Finnish politician with whom we’ve been standing for years now, dragged through years of investigations and trials simply for publicly expressing her Christian faith.
After everything she’s been through… I truly believed this would finally be over – that she would be fully acquitted.
And then I heard the news:
They unanimously acquitted her for the 2019 tweet, where she simply quoted a Bible verse and questioned her church’s support for a Pride event.
Thankfully, the court admitted this did not meet the threshold for “hate speech”.
But at the very same time, in a narrow 3–2 decision, Päivi was convicted by the Supreme Court for a church pamphlet she wrote back in 2004!
It was a text explaining traditional Christian teaching on marriage and sexuality.
She was convicted for this on the grounds that it “insulted” a particular group.
The court claims that by keeping this pamphlet available and sharing it again in recent years, it “insulted” a group, even though they acknowledge there was no incitement to violence.
Now Päivi faces heavy fines, and they’ve ordered the pamphlet removed.
It’s unreal!
Päivi, advised by ADF, who are leading her legal defence, is now considering an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. But this is no longer just about her.
It affects you. It affects me. It affects every Christian, every free thinker, every person who still believes that freedom of speech means something in Europe.
You and I have stood alongside Päivi from the very beginning. And if anything, this verdict only makes it clearer why that fight matters.
But today… I can’t stop thinking about what this really means today.
Because this isn’t only about Päivi.
This is about whether, in a democratic Europe, you and I can still speak openly about our faith… or whether our Christian beliefs can be turned into something punishable.
This is about whether Christians are still free to speak in the public square, or whether that space has been closed.
And it should worry you like it worries me.
That’s why I wanted to write to you today.
Not just to inform you but to remind you that what we’re defending here is something significant:
Your voice. My voice. Our freedom to speak the truth without fear.
So let’s stay close. Let’s stay strong. And let’s not back down.
Thank you for standing with Päivi all these years. It truly matters. We continue.
Sebastian and the entire CitizenGO team
The radical globalists and woke elites want to erase our values—but together, we stand strong. CitizenGO is a movement of millions around the world, fighting every day to defend life, family, and freedom against those who seek to undermine them. We are faithful, so we will never quit.
Finland’s Supreme Court Convicts Christians of ‘Hate Speech’ for Saying Men and Women Are Different
Friday, March 27, 2026
In a case with global implications, Finland’s high court rules discussing what the Bible says about sexuality is ‘hate speech.’
In a decision released this morning, Finland’s supreme court voted 3-2 to convict a bishop and a member of parliament for publishing a pamphlet explaining Christian theology about sexual differences. The decision could tacitly ban orthodox Christianity in Finland by banning Christians from speaking about what the Bible clearly says.
Bishop Juhana Pohjola and Member of Parliament Paivi Rasanen face thousands of euros in fines and their challenged Christian speech “removed from public access and destroyed,” the court ordered, unless they successfully appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. If they appeal, the case could affect speech and conscience rights worldwide.
“I am shocked and profoundly disappointed that the court has failed to recognize my basic human right to freedom of expression,” Rasanen said in a statement after the verdict was announced. “I stand by the teachings of my Christian faith, and will continue to defend my and every person’s right to share their convictions in the public square.”
The ruling is the latest in a growing pattern of anti-Christian speech repression spreading across formerly Christian European countries. England now jails more people per day for alleged speech crimes than Vladimir Putin’s Russia, according to a former U.S. ambassador, even imprisoning and prosecuting people for praying silently on public property.
Last year, British authorities arrested Irish comedian Graham Linehan for criticizing transgender policies. Glasgow, Scotland is prosecuting a grandmother for offering to talk with people outside a hospital. Sweden is prosecuting a family for “religious extremism” for attending church regularly and not allowing their teen to own a cell phone.
New internet censorship laws in Europe also effectively criminalize and ban Christian speech and any speech opposing identity politics. As The Federalist reported last year, “Last year the European Union, of which Finland is a member, implemented a Digital Services Act that imposes a vast web of internet censorship, potentially across the entire world, by regulating social media monopolies. The act could subject Europeans to even more fines, raids, and imprisonment for posts that observe men and women are different.” The Federalist is a specific, named target of European censorship, which also controls what Americans can read online.
Numerous U.S. states and cities have passed similar “hate speech” laws and regulations that apply similar legal prejudices to Christians and any citizen who questions identity politics. New teacher licensing requirements in Minnesota, for example, effectively ban faithful Christians from teaching in state-run schools.
Rasanen wrote the banned booklet judged to violate Finnish “hate speech” laws in 2004, seven years before the law being used to criminalize it was passed. Pohjola published the booklet online and in print as part of a theological education series. Finland’s top prosecutor began to prosecute them in 2019, after Rasanen tweeted a Bible verse to publicly rebuke Finland’s state church for sponsoring a queer parade.
The tweet led to a government investigation into Rasanen’s writings and speech spanning her three decades as a public official. The investigation included 13 hours of police interrogating her. It also uncovered the booklet Rasanen wrote and Pohjola published. It is titled, “Male and Female He Created Them.”
The case is known as “the Bible trial” in Europe. In its judgment out Thursday morning U.S. time, Finland’s Supreme Court unanimously acquitted Rasanen of one charge, based on her tweeting a Bible verse, while judging her and Pohjola criminally liable for producing “Male and Female He Created Them.” That booklet title is a quote from the Bible’s first chapter, in the book of Genesis.
According to Alliance Defending Freedom International, which has provided legal support in the case, “The Court found Räsänen and the Bishop guilty for having ‘made available to the public and kept available to the public opinions that insult homosexuals as a group on the basis of their sexual orientation.’ It held that: ‘it must be taken into account that the text forming the basis for the conviction did not contain incitement to violence or comparable threat-like fomenting of hatred. The conduct is therefore not particularly serious in terms of the nature of the offense.’”
Rasanen and her lawyers have maintained throughout her seven-year prosecution that she supports freedom of speech for all people and believes that all are equal before God regardless of what group they identify with. Rasanen, a medical doctor and pastor’s wife, has steadfastly argued that speaking the truth as God defines it is an act of love, not hatred.
Finland’s hate crimes law is a part of its “war crimes and crimes against humanity” code. Its provisions protect people based on identity politics categories and are patterned after Soviet speech-crime laws, ADF counsel Paul Coleman told The Federalist in a previous interview. Two lower Finnish courts unanimously acquitted the pair on grounds of freedom of speech and religion.
In the ruling, the high court essentially accepted the argument Finnish prosecutor Anu Mantila made in a lower court: “You can cite the Bible, but it is Räsänen’s interpretation and opinion about the Bible verses that are criminal.”
The fact that men and women are different is at the heart of Christian teaching about marriage. If men and women are different, then two men or two women in a sexual relationship are not the same as a man and a woman. That confusion is at the heart of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch’s illogical and unconstitutional majority opinion in 2020’s Bostock v. Clayton County, which forces employers to treat men and women as interchangeable.
The Finnish Christians’ lawyers point out that even if their clients are ultimately acquitted — an uncertain prospect — their prosecution itself chills speech and religious freedom globally. Anyone who wants to voice non-state-approved ideas in Finland and across Europe, including Christian beliefs, is now on notice that doing so could mean years of investigation, prosecution, court appearances, legal costs, and punitive fines.
In 2014, Pohjola was ejected from Finland’s state-controlled church for adhering to orthodox Christian theology about male and female differences. Besides overseeing Finland’s non-state Lutheran church, Pohjola is the chairman of the International Lutheran Council, a missions organization of biblically based Lutheranism. Forty-five Lutheran church bodies across the world issued public letters of support for Pohjola and Rasanen “for expressing biblical views on human sexuality.”
“The vast majority of Christians in all nations, including Catholics and Eastern Orthodox, share these convictions,” the pastors noted. “… democratic societies worldwide guard religious freedom and freedom of expression as vitally important. Legal protection of these rights is founded on the inherent dignity of the human person who has the natural right to engage in public discourse on issues related to the meaning and purpose of society and human flourishing.”
Finland is the second-newest North Atlantic Treaty Organization member and recipient of immense U.S. financial and military benefits. As a senator, current U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio publicly stated Finland’s prosecution of Rasanen was “ridiculous.”
