Finnish Christian Convicted for Hate Speech | Kristen Waggoner and Päivi Räsänen on Fox News Sunday

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:03]Faith and free speech under fire in Finland where a medical doctor, also a lawmaker, has become an international symbol in the fight over free expression. Päivi Räsänen has been convicted of criminal hate speech for publicly expressing her Christian beliefs. Recently sat down with her and attorney Kristen Wagner, head of Alliance Defending Freedom, to discuss why this case has implications far beyond Europe.

[00:00:27]Päivi, I want to start with you. Um, you are facing this conviction not on a Bible verse that you tweeted. That was thrown out as a hate crime, but you're facing now being convicted under war crimes for a pamphlet that you wrote more than 20 years ago um in the midst of a debate about marriage. You were asked to write this for your church where you're also very active. Did you ever think a day would come that you would be facing a conviction based on some religious beliefs that you outlined back in 2004?

[00:00:55]>> No, I never could imagine that something like that could happen in Finland. I have been over 30 years in Parliament and in in public life and I have been open about my faith and my Christian views during all my career and I could never imagine that that in in Finland could be this kind of restrictions for free speech and and freedom of faith.

[00:01:23]>> Well, and Kristen, you guys have been through multiple trials with this, had success in the lower courts, but the Finnish Supreme Court now has said that essentially this is a war crime, that insulting a group because you don't share their beliefs and you express your beliefs, um, that is actually a crime. And it goes back this law was passed after she wrote that pamphlet. Um, so interesting to me that they applied this retroactively.

[00:01:44]>> Yes, I think it demonstrates the European censorship crisis that's going on that doesn't actually stop at Europe's shores. Uh, first and foremost, this involves a 20-year-old church document that was written to inspire and equip a church community and the court ruled that that was a crime. They used a retroactive law from 2011, a hate speech law, to punish and censor peaceful expression. In fact, the Supreme Court actually said that Päivi's speech did not incite anyone to violence, that it wasn't even based in hatred, but still they were able to censor the speech and impose a criminal fine under the war crimes section of the criminal code.

[00:02:22]>> You could have said, "Okay, I take all of this back. I, you know, denounce anything that I've written or that I've done before." You could have ended this fight that's now gone on for years and and and ended with this conviction for you. Why continue the fight?

[00:02:37]>> Yes, in fact, over 6 years ago when the police started this investigations and I was all together 13 hours interrogated by by the police in a small room.

[00:02:51]They asked me each time they gave me 2 weeks time to take away these writings and and destroy this my my booklet about classical Christian view of of sexuality and marriage. But I said that I will stand behind these teachings of the Bible because they are not only my opinions. It is about what word of God says about these issues and I have said here that God loves all people. All people are of equal value.

[00:03:30]But we also are sinners and we all also homosexuals and and we all are in need of grace in in Jesus atonement.

[00:03:44]But it is what what I have said is that what Bible teaches is that uh, the sexuality is belongs to the marriage between one man and one one wife.

[00:03:57]>> And Kristen, here in the US, um, people may find these ideas very offensive, but we do have a system that allows you to express them. This is Finland that we're talking about. So, why should Americans care about what happens with someone like Päivi?

[00:04:11]>> We know that we can't have religious freedom if we don't have the freedom to articulate our beliefs, to teach them to our children, to communicate them. And so, that's what's at stake here. Is that fundamental basic human right? You cannot have a Western democracy without free speech and religious freedom. But, the second component is Europe has taken upon itself to police the speech of not just Europeans, but Americans and other countries around the world through hate speech laws that are vague and subjective, and through the Digital Services Act, which comes out of the European Union. That applies to all major platforms, including American platforms, and they're required to censor your speech.

[00:04:49]Last thing I would just say on that is, when they censor that speech, the way they determine illegal conduct is by whatever European nation says is illegal. So, this Finnish Supreme Court is not going to stop at Finland's border.

[00:05:03]>> Kristen, thank you very much. Päivi, we're going to continue to follow your case, potential appeal as well. Thank you both.

[00:05:09]>> Thank you.

[00:05:10]>> Thank you so much.

[00:05:13]>> And this update, Dr. Räsänen and her legal team are appealing her case to the European Court of Human Rights. Keep you updated.