The recent investigation because of a 24-page booklet, titled, ‘Male and Female He Created Them – Homosexual relationships challenge the Christian concept of humanity’, was published sixteen years ago by the church’s publishing house.

In connection with the case Juhana Pohjola, Dean of the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland and head of the publishing house, responded to police questions for five hours, as a part of the preliminary investigation of the case, Evangelical Focus reported.

According to State Prosecutor General, Raija Toiviainen who is leading the  investigation, the booklet, written by Mrs. Räsänen “incites hatered” against the LGBT community.

After he had a talk with police officers, Pohjola made a statement saying that he bears responsibility for publishing and distributing the material as head of the publishing house. 

“At the tactful and thorough interrogation, I said that I am, as the editor-in-chief, responsible for the publication and distribution of the booklet. I denied, however, being guilty of the crime of ethnic agitation”, he said.

He continued that “in my view, Mrs Räsänen’s text is not defamatory or insulting to homosexuals.

In my answers, I showed that the booklet teaches in line with Christian anthropology that every person is precious as [being created in] the image of God, regardless of sexual orientation.”

Highlighting the fundamental importance of freedom of religion and speech, Pohjola said that “this does not mean, however, that people are not responsible before God for their way of life or moral choices. The homosexual lifestyle is contrary to God’s order of creation and a transgression against His will” adding that,

“if one is not allowed to teach this publicly, the message of sin and grace will be left without a foundation, and freedom of religion will decline.”

This is not the first time that Paivi Räsänen is under police investigation in a case linked to LGBT issues. In 2019, she was the subject of a pretrial investigation by the Finnish Police for a suspected incitement against sexual and gender minorities becuase of a post on Facebook.

Finnish politician under ‘hate crime investigation’ for sharing Bible verse on Facebook

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