Five US Senators have raised the “alarming” prosecution of a Christian politician in Finland on grounds she is guilty of ‘hate speech’.

Päivi Räsänen, a former interior minister, had attacked the Lutheran Church in Finland in 2019 for associating with a Gay Pride parade. In a tweet she quoted a Biblical passage condemning homosexual acts. The case has sparked a debate about ‘hate speech’ laws versus free speech. She potentially faces time in prison.

The Senators said in a letter to the US Ambassador-At-Large for International Religious Freedom: “We are greatly concerned that the use of Finnish hate speech law is tantamount to a secular blasphemy law. It could open the door for prosecution of other devout Christians, Muslims, Jews and adherents of other faiths for publicly stating their religious beliefs that may conflict with secular trends. We believe that, regardless of whether Finnish prosecutors agree with the religious beliefs that MP Räsänen and Bishop Pohjola have expressed, all people have a fundamental right to the freedoms of religion and speech, which should be upheld without fear of government interference,”

Räsänen, who is also a doctor, was brought before court last week. Finland’s Prosecutor General brought three criminal charges against Räsänen over the contents of a pamphlet Räsänen wrote on these topics in 2004, for engaging in a debate on a 2019 radio show and for a tweet containing a picture of Bible verses Räsänen directed at her church leadership. Bishop Juhana Pohjola also faced trial alongside her for publishing a pamphlet for his congregation that Räsänen wrote on the topic over 17 years ago.