By Jonathon Van Maren - Posted at The European Conservative:
Published September 28, 2025
“It is a trial to determine if we are still allowed to agree in public with the Bible.”Finland’s ‘Bible Trial’ is entering the final stage after six years—and the religious liberty of Christians in Finland, and perhaps all of Europe, is riding on the final verdict.
On October 30, 2025, Finnish parliamentarian Päivi Räsänen will appear before the Supreme Court in Finland. Her alleged crime? Quoting the Bible in her writings and in TV and radio interviews in defense of the Christian sexual ethic. It is the latest—and likely the last—step in a years-long process that has riveted the nation and the continent.
“I have been in politics for thirty years in the parliament of Finland,” Räsänen told me in an interview. “I have also been Minister of Interior, and I could never believe that something like this could happen in Finland.”
Räsänen began her career as a staunchly pro-life medical professional and ran for parliament at the urging of her husband, a Lutheran pastor, in 1991. She was elected in 1995 and served as Minister of the Interior from 2011 to 2015 and as leader of the Christian Democrats for over a decade. Over the past thirty years, she has become one of the most respected politicians in the country.
In 2019, Räsänen posted a tweet asking the leadership of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland—her church—how it could square a post in support for a Pride event with Romans 1:24-27 and included a photo of the Bible verses. The Finnish police launched an investigation into the tweet as “agitation against a minority group” under Finland’s criminal code, which falls under the “war crimes and crimes against humanity” section and carries fines or up to two years in prison.