(LifeSiteNews) — On February 4, Finnish parliamentarian and former cabinet minister Päivi Räsänen appeared as a witness before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee to detail her ongoing, six-year persecution by the Finnish government for posting Bible verses on social media.
During the hearing, titled “Europe’s Threat to Speech and Innovation: Part II,” Räsänen explained that she is being criminally prosecuted for posting Romans 1:24-27 on X in the context of a discussion on same-sex “marriage and the Bible’s teachings on sexuality:
What is European censorship?
Finnish parliamentarian Paivi Rasanen has been criminally prosecuted for 6 years for tweeting a Bible verse.
The EU Digital Services Act makes European censorship a global threat. pic.twitter.com/0QZ4mswiTz
— ADF International (@ADFIntl) February 4, 2026
“I wanted to make it clear that if the leadership of the (Lutheran) Church is supporting the Pride event it is in contradiction with its basis, the Bible,” Räsänen explained.
Räsänen was charged in 2021 with “agitation against a minority group” for sharing her biblical beliefs on marriage and sexuality in the 2019 tweet; for expressing her views in a 2019 radio debate, and in a 2004 church pamphlet called “Male & Female He Created Them.” Juhana Pohjola, the Lutheran bishop, was similarly charged over his publication of the 2004 pamphlet.
The House Judiciary Committee called Räsänen to testify during the hearings on European censorship laws (such as the U.K.’s Online Safety Act and the EU’s Digital Services Act) regarding online content to examine what threats they might pose to American free speech, innovation, and democratic debate. The hearings are intended to send a warning about collapsing free speech standard in Europe, a subject that Vice President JD Vance emphasized in his speech to the Munich Security Conference last year.
“As a pastor for 37 years now myself, to think of someone that can be criminally charged for posting a Bible verse in an EU and NATO country worries me deeply,” North Carolina Rep. Mark Harris told Räsänen. “As you’ve already heard from this panel today, God bless you. God bless you for coming here today to share your story, and my prayer is that it causes people to wake up to the threats that we are facing from those who seek to undermine our God-given right to free expression.”
Räsänen has been acquitted twice by the lower courts – the Helsinki District Court in 2022 and the Helsinki Court of Appeal in 2023 – but the government prosecutor has refused to drop the case and is pursuing her conviction relentlessly. She faced the Supreme Court in October 2025 and is still awaiting the top court’s final verdict in her case. If she wins, it will be a ringing affirmation for Christian liberty and freedom of speech. If she loses, it will set a grim, ominous precedent for Christians across the West.
“This case has never been only about me and the bishop,” Räsänen stated in her testimony to the Committee. “It is about whether peaceful expression of deeply held beliefs can be treated as a criminal act in today’s Europe. It is about whether citizens, including clergy and elected representatives, may speak openly on matters of faith and conscience without fear of prosecution. Ultimately, it is about whether it is illegal to say what you believe.”
“It is evident that the meaning of Bible verses should not be up for interpretation in a courtroom and yet this is exactly what has transpired. A court has no business judging the Bible’s teachings and our right as Christians to uphold and express them,” she emphasized. “Our prosecution for ‘hate speech’ has turned into a theological trial of what Christian beliefs can and cannot be expressed in Finland. It is incredible that this has happened in a modern European country.”
Despite her long ordeal, Räsänen remains unbowed and kneels only before God.
“I have considered it a privilege and an honor to defend freedom of speech and religion, which are fundamental rights in a democratic state,” she concluded. “Without the criminal charges imposed on me, I would not have had the exceptional chance to share my Christian faith in police stations, courtrooms, and through live broadcasts and press conferences heard around the world. I look forward to the day when the fundamental right to free speech is upheld for all who seek to peacefully express their convictions.”
