Archbishop calls for reflection after politician’s hate speech conviction

The archbishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland has urged public reflection on how society discusses minority groups, following the Supreme Court’s conviction of politician Päivi Räsänen for incitement against a population group, reports Yle.

Archbishop Tapio Luoma described the ruling as a reminder of the importance of tone in public discourse. The court found that Räsänen’s 2004 pamphlet, republished online in 2019, had defamed homosexuals as a group based on their sexual orientation.

Speaking to Yle while travelling in England, Luoma called the decision surprising, as lower courts had previously acquitted Räsänen. He noted that the Supreme Court’s judgment likely involved careful consideration of the boundaries between free speech, religious freedom, and human rights.

Luoma emphasised that the conviction concerned the pamphlet’s content—not the citation of biblical texts—and stressed that the ruling should prompt self-examination across society, including within the church.

“This is a moment for all of us to look in the mirror and consider how we speak about one another,” he said. “Even when opinions differ sharply, the way we express them—and the tone we use, especially toward minorities—matters most.”

Räsänen, a Christian Democrat MP, received a fine for the conviction. The pamphlet had been published by the Luther Foundation and the Mission Diocese before being reposted on her Facebook page.