As the Finnish MP Päivi Räsänen begins her trial at Helsinki’s Court of Appeal on Thursday for her Christian belief in traditional marriage, the silence from Western political leaders is deafening, says Julian Mann in Christian Today.
If an LGBT campaigner were on trial in a European country for criticising traditional Christian teaching, imagine the outcry from political leaders in the European Union, the U.K. and the U.S.
The U.S. Ambassador to Hungary, David Pressman, who in July led an embassy delegation at Budapest Pride, has been vocal in criticising the democratically-elected Hungarian Parliament for outlawing the promotion of homosexuality in schools.
Mrs Räsänen, Finland’s former Minister of the Interior (the equivalent of the U.K.’s Home Secretary), has faced a four-year legal ordeal for a tweet criticising Helsinki Pride in 2019 and for her comments on a radio show in 2018 and in a church booklet in 2004. She was acquitted of all charges by Helsinki District Court in March 2022 but Finland’s State Prosecutor appealed the decision.
Her case has attracted some political support in the U.S. and the U.K. but not much. In January 2022, three Christian MPs launched a motion in her support in the House of Commons and five U.S. Senators wrote to the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, Rashad Hussain. They warned that her trial could open the door for a “secular blasphemy law” against Christians, Muslims and Jews expressing countercultural views on marriage and sexuality.
During a visit to the U.K. in July this year, she got some media support but not the level of profile she would have had in the mainstream media if she had been a LGBT campaigner facing trial in her own country. The Critic magazine published an article by her in which she wrote: “In 2019, I asked my church, on Twitter, where in the Bible it had found justification to sponsor the Helsinki Pride Parade. I attached a picture of a Bible verse.
“As a result, I faced lengthy police interrogations over my religious views — from officers whom I used to have the responsibility of leading. I was the Minister of the Interior in Finland for over four years.
“I was then charged for my ‘crime’ under a section of the Finnish criminal code titled ‘War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity’. The charge brought against me carried a potential maximum sentence of two years in prison.”
She concluded: “We’ll soon find out if the expression of my Christian, Biblically-based beliefs are criminal acts in modern day Finland. If so, we might have a problem with anyone quoting or preaching from the Bible in my country. Even those who merely dare to challenge the established teaching of the most dominant ideological ‘church’ of our day are in for trouble.”
How long will it be before a Christian politician in the U.K. is hauled up before the courts for expressing Christian beliefs on marriage and sexual morality, Mann asks.
Worth reading in full.
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The main effect sought is intimidation. Even if they don’t get a conviction, the effect is achieved. Nobody wants to have to go through what this woman has endured, so better to keep one’s month shut.
That is basically how the left imposes its ideology. Through intimidation.
Inclusive intimidation, of course.
Like the “South Wales police” intimidating someone for their views on “gender ideology”. Halfwits.
Increasingly we must all keep our mouths shut on Race Gender Equality Diversity and Climate. Once Authority decides free people can no longer form an opinion we are in DEEP SH.T. —————-This is a situation where free must all hope the SH.T hits the fan and it might be our duty to insure it does, or as someone once pointed out—“All it takes for evil to succeed is for good men to remain silent”.
Much more interesting question: What would happen to a muslim MP expressing exactly the same beliefs?
A liberal democracy is one where Christans keep being prosecuted for criticizing public glorification of same-sex sex acts until a muslim majority criminalizes them. That’s a-ok because not self-respecting, courageous liberal struggling hard to protect oppressed minorities from their most dangerous enemies would want to run the risk of offending someone who wouldn’t turn the other cheek but might draw an edged weapon instead.
Fighting the good fight just isn’t fun anymore when it involves taking personal risks.
Post Christian, Christophobic Europe and UK. Unreal that her defense of normalcy is classified there under ‘War Crimes’. WTF. Lunacy.
Is she was a Muzzie nothing would happen.
Mein Koran and the Hadiths are pretty clear about how Gays are to be dealt with…in our Catholic Church there is the usual LGBTQ group with specially educated ministers attending and helping. You won’t find the same in Moh’s cult.
Historical note: the church always thrives under pressure. Look at the underground church in China today, approx 80 million believers. Look at the first century Christians in Rome too.
Jesus spent the day before His crucifixion prepping His disciples for trouble.
It’s the normal Christian life, truth be told.
“They warned that her trial could open the door for a “secular blasphemy law” against Christians, Muslims and Jews expressing countercultural views on marriage and sexuality.”
Only against Christians. This is a war on white Europeans, on our culture and (former) religion.
“In January 2022, three Christian MPs launched a motion in her support in the House of Commons”
FYI the three were from that horrid nasty Democratic Unionist Party. One of the few parties that stood up as a body against covid restrictions.
In 18 days we will find out what God himself thinks about the West’s apostasy.
It as if we live in a parallel universe, in pubs, work-rooms, clubs and meetings of friends around the country you will hear far more strident and non PC views than those expressed by this lady. It is as if there is the highly sensitive world of the chattering classes on twitter and then the rest of the world where people can and do say whatever they wish.
I repeat, the Chinese Communist party is worse. You wouldn’t get a prominent CCP politician who was a practising Christian, and certain main stream Christian groups are more or less proscribed in CCP occupied China.
I wouldn’t despair of the loss of the Christian spirit in this country I think it could come back. This may be hard to believe given current tendencies and the conversion of old churches into mosques but that is because the fare that they offered before was dead on the table. For almost a thousand years the trinary has been reduced to the binary. The rejection of the Christ impulse was simply the natural conclusion of this tendency. I can see clearly that there is a growing understanding here and elsewhere set against the backdrop of the dead and disabled. The utter horror of our situation can only point us towards the truth and this impulse will always endure with humanity.
Could you be a politician and a true Christian in our current climate? You would have to follow the edict of Jesus of Nazareth when he talked about being as cunning as serpents but as harmless as doves. Would the political method ever actually achieve a Christian result? Because as T.S. Eliot said, Christinaity is a fundamentally supernatural religion. And the whole point of the mystery of Golgotha was the discovery of the I within the soul. Our times call for utter sincerity and so I think we can believe in a general rising of awareness coming.My instinct is to dismiss the political realm entirely because it has been captured by the enemy force.
Indeed. And what this requires of the rest of us now is that we must always speak the truth, regardless of the consequences. What is happening to Christianity in the West – and Christianity and Judaism are our bedrock – is not that different in theme to what was happening 2000 years ago, as Christianity spread round the Med.
We don’t just have opposition to the Christ impulse we have its utter antagonsim. Our place isn’t the social gospel and fond memories of Sunday School teachings. The whole of the gospels can be read as a text of instruction to put on the full armour of God. Every nuance is covered and every human situation laid bare. This is a serious enemy to our country, culture and relgion. We can’t just pretend it isn’t happening.
When push comes to shove I can tell you that much of Christianity in this country has lost its spine. Say what you like about Africans but amongst those people I meet people who are willing to fight for it and die for it and are full of the Christ energy and want to spread it about. If you spend time in a hotel in Europe and listen to African busunessmen discussing things we will see a far greater perspicacity and energy. As we are now we are in a country in serious and rapid decline. We either just let things take their course or we unite the energies of our country once more.
One recommended course of action for her might be to go and live in Russia or Hungary. Like Hungary, Russia has outlawed the promotion of homosexuality to children… Pride marches are swiftly bundled into police vans (especially if taking place right in front of the Hermitage) and I imagine ‘trans’ is a non-starter. Russians and Hungarians know that these things might look innocent, but they lead to a very slippery slope with public nudity and lewd behaviour. It’s quite astonishing, what is tolerated in the West these days.
I spent a month in Budapest last year, in two spells.
Were I 21 and footloose and fancy free, I’d move there now. At 71, with kids and grandkids at home and a country in peril, I can’t. Well, I can, but I won’t, to be semantically precise!
The word for “Russians” in Hungary seems to be “****ing Russians”… many people I spoke to had parents who lived under the Commie boot. They know the value of freedom. We don’t any more.
Mrs Räsänen, Finland’s former Minister of the Interior (the equivalent of the U.K.’s Home Secretary), has faced a four-year legal ordeal for a tweet criticising Helsinki Pride i
Mrs Räsänen, Finland’s former Minister of the Interior (the equivalent of the U.K.’s Home Secretary), has faced a four-year legal ordeal for a tweet criticising Helsinki Pride i
Deary me. A Christian proscribed for criticising pride. So they want to proscribe Christianity too now? Well let me tell you, I know someone from Albania, formerly the only officially atheist state in the world. I know what it’s like there. If that’s where we’re headed, God help us.
Mark Steyn in his column on Monday states that the response of the western establishment to Charlie Hebdo was a defining moment. No major media published the mocartoons & Islam cannot be criticised or joked about.Many of the brave souls who did so subsequently died at the hands of Islamists. Compare that to the treatment of Christians or those who criticise the new religion which sanctifies sexual perversion .Odd that Islam which which imposes the death penalty for such practices is given a free pass . Of course it is no accident because both serve to undermine our European culture part of the WEF agenda . It is however likely that Islam will destroy the leftists once the remnants of our culture has gone as forseen in Houlbeques novel Submission.
Not likely, but certain – the useful idiots are still kuffar.
I can give you the twenty pence version of what you just said. —-“Christians won’t stop being persecuted till they start beheading people who disagree with them”
2000 years on, Christians are still persecuted.