Finland Persecutes Christian Lawmaker
by Rod Dreher, The American Conservative:
I had breakfast this morning in Budapest with a Hungarian-American businessman who follows my work, and reached out to invite me to meet him. “You look just like your Twitter photo,” he said when we met. He has been living in Budapest for some time, and conducts business internationally. Though born in the US, he grew up speaking Hungarian (his parents fled Communism), so he’s got the skills that enable him to flourish in transcontinental business.
We talked about many things, but at one point, he said, “My mother still lives in America. She tells me that it’s not the same country I left.” Of course he follows the US media, and told me that it is infuriating to read how Hungary is portrayed.
“You are sitting next to the Fifth Avenue of Budapest,” he said, referring to nearby Andrassy Avenue. “The only people Western journalists ever seem to talk to live within a two-mile radius of this street.”
Later, as I was headed home from work, I thought about how someone could stand on Andrassy holding a sign saying, “Viktor Orban, Go To Hell,” and nothing would happen to them. What do you think would happen to someone standing on the corner of Fifth and 45th in Manhattan, holding up a sign saying, “Black Lives Matter Sucks,” or “Homosexuality Is A Sin”? Yet Hungary is the illiberal horror show, we are told.
I can tell you what would happen to you in the liberal democracy of Finland if you said homosexuality is a sin. It happened on this very day to Päivi Räsänen, a Finnish Lutheran member of Parliament. Here’s the press release from the state prosecutor. Google Translate version is below:
The Prosecutor General has filed charges against MP Päivi Räsänen for three incitements against a group of people, and against Juhana Pohjola, an agent and board member of the Finnish Luther Foundation, for incitement against a group of people.
… The charges are based on three different sets of issues.
Räsänen has written, “God created them as men and women. Gay relationships challenge the Christian conception of man.” In her writing, Räsänen has presented opinions and information that denigrate homosexuals. Among other things, Räsänen has claimed that homosexuality is a scientifically proven disorder of psychosexual development. Pohjola has published the article on the websites of the Finnish Luther Foundation and the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission.
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