'Europe Is Persecuting Christians'

Free speech is under serious attack all across Europe. To criticise the sacred cows of the progressive worldview – from transgenderism to immigration and even Islam – is to invite a knock on the door from the thought police. The recent, harrowing trial of a Finnish parliamentarian reveals how it is often Christians who find themselves in the firing line. Päivi Räsänen has spent the past six years fighting a ‘hate speech’ prosecution, simply for quoting passages from the Bible and defending traditional marriage.

Paul Coleman – executive director of Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International – joined Brendan O’Neill on his podcast, The Brendan O’Neill Show, to discuss Räsänen’s case as well as the broader assault on free expression in Europe. What follows is an edited version of that conversation. You can watch the whole thing here.

Brendan O’Neill: Tell us about the case of Finnish MP Päivi Räsänen. Why is it so important to the cause of free speech?

Paul Coleman: It’s always hard for me to convince people that this case really happened as it did. They say ‘come on, Paul, there must be something more to it’, because it really does sound so far-fetched.

Päivi Räsänen is Finland’s former minister of interior, the equivalent of the British home secretary. She’s the longest serving female member of parliament. Things took a turn for her in 2019, when the Lutheran Church in Finland became an official sponsor of the Helsinki Pride parade. As a member of the church (and wife of a pastor), Päivi was highly critical of the decision, and considered it to be out of line with her understanding of the Bible. For saying as much, she was investigated by the police.

The police dug up almost three decades worth of material. They found a booklet that she wrote in 2004 – a little church pamphlet on the Christian view of marriage and sexuality – as well as one minute of an hour-long radio debate she once took part in. They used these to file three criminal charges against her for hate speech. The bishop who published her pamphlet in 2004 was also charged. One of the most significant things to note here is that the law Päivi was being charged under didn’t even exist until 2011 – she was essentially prosecuted back in time.