The Finnish Supreme Court has convicted parliamentarian Päivi Räsänen on one charge related to her expression of her Christian beliefs on marriage and sexual ethics.
In the 3-2 decision, the court said Räsänen’s criminal conviction over the distribution of a 2004 pamphlet alongside her Lutheran Bishop Juhana Pohjola was for “making and keeping available to the public a text that insults a group” under a section of the Finnish criminal code titled “War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity.”
“I am shocked and profoundly disappointed that the court has failed to recognize my basic human right to freedom of expression,” Räsänen said in a March 26 press release from Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International. “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 court acquitted Räsänen of charges related to the 2019 Bible verse tweet that sparked the parliamentarian’s legal battle.
In it, she quoted Romans 1:24–27 and questioned how the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland could sponsor an LGBT Pride event, asking how what Scripture calls “shame and sin” could be presented as “a matter of pride.”
Räsänen said she is looking into appealing her case to the European Court of Human Rights.
“This is not about my free speech alone but that of every person in Finland. A positive ruling would help to prevent other innocent people from experiencing the same ordeal for simply sharing their beliefs,” she said in a statement.
The latest decision comes after Räsänen was previously acquitted on all charges by two lower courts in early 2022 and 2023 over the tweet, pamphlet, and a 2019 radio debate.
The Supreme Court heard Räsänen’s case again in October 2025 following a third appeal by the prosecution regarding the tweet and pamphlet, delivering its latest decision on March 26. The prosecution did not appeal the radio debate.
Social media reactions
ADF Senior Legal Counsel Sean Nelson described the Finnish Court’s decision as “Truly Year Zero, Orwellian thinking” in a March 26 social media post.
“I can’t express how enraging and unjust this decision is,” he said. “No one ever filed a complaint about her pamphlet written 20 years ago. The prosecutors only found out because of a witch hunt after her Bible tweet, dredging anything they could up.”
Rep. Riley Moore, R-West Virginia, reacted to the news on social media, describing the conviction as “part of a broader trend I’ve been warning about where Western countries are prosecuting Christians.”
“As a Christian country, the U.S. cannot stand idly by and watch as the Christian foundations of the West are destroyed,” he said.
Father Benedict Kiely, founder of Nazarean.org, also weighed in on the decision, writing that Räsänen “is the canary in the coal mine for freedom of expression and religious freedom in Europe.”
“And now the canary — and the Bible — have been found guilty,” he said.
