Should you be able to quote the Bible?

This used to be a silly question to ask in the Western world. Sure, Christianity the most persecuted religion in the world, but in what was once known as “Christendom,” it would be absurd to ask this question.

Not anymore. More and more news stories recount the persecution of Christians for their beliefs and their utterances. In Great Britain, multiple people have been arrested for praying silently.

In Finland, it gets even worse. Paivi Rasanen is a Member of the Finnish Parliament and the former Interior Secretary, is being persecuted–there is no other word in this case–for expressing her religious beliefs.

For quoting the Bible itself, because it has been classified as “hate speech.”

The international legal case that should alarm you @BillyHallowell https://t.co/RQ4JqBfzp1

— Higher Ground (@twthigherground) January 25, 2024

Imagine facing potential jail time or massive fines for sharing a Bible verse on social media. Likewise, take a moment to envision being criminally castigated for merely commenting on theology – or for codifying in a pamphlet your thoughts about biblical marriage.

These are just some of the acts at the center of Paivi Rasanen’s “1984”-esque nightmare. In a plot seemingly ripped from the pages of an Alfred Hitchcock script, Ms. Rasanen, a member of the Finnish parliament who previously served as the nation’s interior secretary, was brought up on “hate crimes” charges for simply expressing her Christian beliefs.

Rasanen ran afoul of the hate speech laws because she opposes the LGBTQIA+ agenda; worse, she thinks homosexuality is a sin.

I, too, think homosexuality is a sin, but then again, I think all sex outside marriage is a sin. I also believe that all of us are sinners, and I can tell you that when I go to confession, I have a list of sins for which I ask forgiveness and strength to reject. Believing something is a sin is not an expression of hate but of belief in what God wants for us. I have friends who are homosexuals and who have committed adultery and other sins.

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

Having or sharing this belief is not an expression of hate, although obviously some people do hate others for various reasons, and unless people act illegally, even the hateful should not be persecuted. They should be shunned.

Rasanen is being persecuted.

She reportedly tweeted a text from Romans 1:24-27 on June 17, 2019, which bizarrely sparked a criminal investigation. Those tweets were paired with a pamphlet she wrote on traditional marriage 20 years ago, adding fuel to the legal fire.
Even a media interview she conducted was enveloped in the case brought against her, with these basic acts of free speech and expression resulting in three hate speech charges, which put Ms. Rasanen at risk of two years behind bars.

Ms. Rasanen hasn’t backed down from defending her rights — and her grit has paid off so far. In November, the Helsinki Court of Appeal unanimously dismissed the charges against her, with the politician expressing relief at the time over what was seemingly the conclusion of an otherworldly case. That solace, though, was short-lived.

A rational person would expect the prosecution to be thoroughly humiliated after raising such preposterous charges — and twice losing — but just days before the deadline for appealing the case to Finland’s Supreme Court, Ms. Rasanen learned she may potentially be heading back to the courtroom to further defend her religious freedoms.

Ms. Rasanen told me earlier this month that she was shocked to learn the prosecutor was appealing the latest loss to the Finnish Supreme Court, detailing how clear the appeals court was about her innocence and the absurdity of the charges against her.

She has spent nearly half a decade fighting in court because a prosecutor is determined to put her behind bars for sharing a quote from the Bible.

Not too long ago, we were assured that this sort of thing wouldn’t happen. Hate crime laws were directed at suppressing Nazis, not religious people. Those of us who support free speech argued back the obvious fact that this is a slippery slope, and as is always the case, we were right.

Slippery slopes may be a logical fallacy, but they are also a practical reality. We went from “love is love” to “let’s mutilate children” in record time. Babies are now being bought and sold, for God’s sake.

Imagine, if you will, the same thing happening to Muslim Finns. It is clearly about beating down Christians in particular because Christian morality is the backbone of Western society. The alphabet ideologists may come to rue the day they allied with the open borders folks, but so far, they share the same goal of wiping away Western moral traditions.

For Ms. Rasanen, the process itself has been the punishment. Years of her time are being wasted, and that serves as a warning to others that it could happen to them, too.

Best to shut up, or you could spend years in court. That is the message.