Republican Texas Rep. Chip Roy is leading 15 House Republicans in calling for the Biden administration’s help as Finnish Christians face prosecution for their views on LGBT issues.
Police questioned Finnish Parliament member Päivi Räsänen in 2019 after she criticized the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland’s official partnership with the LGBT event “Pride 2019.” Authorities charged her on three criminal counts in 2021 under the country’s Non Discrimination Act, and she now faces a maximum penalty of two years in prison. Rev. Dr. Jujana Pohjola, Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland, also faces prosecution on criminal charges for allowing the publishing of a booklet in 2004 that defended traditional marriage. (RELATED: Connecticut Court Upholds State Ban On Vaccine Religious Exemptions)
“This case will have worldwide ramifications,” the lawmakers wrote in their letter Tuesday. “History will remember this case for either stopping the madness or as the beginning of the end as the West declares open war on Christianity.”
“History will remember this case for either stopping the madness or as the beginning of the end as the West declares open war on Christianity.”
The bible is on trial AGAIN in Finland. A guilty verdict will only expedite this kind of persecution’s arrival on our shores.
MORE: https://t.co/9jlJ8EI8lj
— Rep. Chip Roy Press Office (@RepChipRoy) August 8, 2023
“This prosecutor is dead set on weaponizing the power of Finland’s legal system to silence not just a member of parliament and Lutheran bishop but millions of Finnish Christians who dare to exercise their natural rights to freedom of expression and freedom of religion in the public square.”
The letter is addressed to United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Rashad Hussain and Douglas Hickey, ambassador to Finland.
“We ask you both to continue to raise concerns over the ongoing legal harassment of MP Räsänen and Bishop Pohjola with your Finnish counterparts, and to publicly speak out on their behalf,” the lawmakers concluded.
In 2004, Finland adopted the Non Discrimination Act, which bans “direct and indirect discrimination and harassment based on age, ethnic or national origin, citizenship, language, religion, belief, opinion, health, disability, sexual orientation or any other ground in connection to the person.”