As more countries begin to censor free speech, an alarming trend is emerging, one where
many Christian voices may be drowned out or muted altogether.
Nations like China, North Korea, and Iran have long censored free speech, often targeting Christians for speaking out about or practicing their faith. In recent years, countries in the West, like Ireland, Scotland, and Finland, have followed suit and begun processes to stifle free speech, sparking concern among Christians as biblical worldviews have been condemned as hate speech.
In Finland, a sitting member of the Finnish Parliament, Päivi Räsänen, was charged with “agitation against a minority group” in 2021 for a tweet she posted in 2019 and a pamphlet she wrote in 2004. Räsänen, a member of the Finnish Lutheran Church, questioned her church’s involvement in an LGBTQ pride parade in a tweet that included Bible verses. Additionally, in 2004, she created a pamphlet for her church that discussed gender roles as being male and female. As a result, police investigated her, and Finland’s prosecutor general charged her with three offenses under Finland’s “war crimes and crimes against humanity” criminal code.
Since 2021, Räsänen has endured hours of police questioning, where she was asked to “explain her understanding of the Bible,” according to the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). Twice, Räsänen has stood trial for her crimes and been acquitted. However, in April 2024, Finland’s state prosecutor appealed the not-guilty decisions and will take the case to the Finnish Supreme Court, where Räsänen will again stand trial for her Christian views.
The repeated trials have been condemned and have gained global attention for their clear violation of Räsänen’s religious freedoms.
Paul Coleman, international executive director of the ADF, criticized the proceedings.
“The process is the punishment in such instances, resulting in a chill on free speech for all citizens observing,” Coleman stated.
In Ireland, a bill criminalizing certain forms of speech is currently working its way through parliament. The legislation would, if passed, criminalize speech that may incite “hatred against a person or a group of persons on account of certain … protected characteristics,” which include religion and sexual orientation. Condoning “crimes against peace” would also become a criminal offense. The bill passed the Irish parliament’s lower chamber in April 2023 and is set to be examined by the upper chamber in the autumn. If approved, it would become law.
Definitions of the terms “hatred” and “crimes against peace” are not clearly defined, raising alarm over potential misuse of the legislation, especially since Google and Facebook have headquarters in Ireland.
Journalist Michael Shellenberger, in June, spoke out against the proposed law.
“Somebody wants the power to censor speech they don’t like … and wants to control what you’re allowed to say … maybe [through] picking a small country where all these high-tech companies are as a way to create a backdoor into censorship,” Shellenberger said.
Lorcan Price, Irish barrister and legal counsel for ADF International, also denounced the legislation.
“The proposed ‘hate speech’ legislation would be one of the worst examples of censorship in the modern West. The bill purports to stamp out ‘hate speech,’ but fails to define what ‘hate’ is, allowing authorities to censor any speech the state opposes,” Price stated.
Scotland has also come under fire for a speech law, which took effect on April 1. The law, known as the Hate Crime and Public Order Bill, “creates a new crime of stirring up hatred against any of the protected groups covered by the bill.”
Famed Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has been openly condemnatory of the bill. On her website, she criticized the oppressive nature of the law.
“The new law may open up to prosecution those in Scotland who believe and pronounce, publicly or in private, that biological sex is immutable and cannot be changed,” Rowling stated. “For several years now, Scottish women have been pressured by their government and members of the police force to deny the evidence of their eyes and ears, repudiate biological facts, and embrace a neo-religious concept of gender that is unprovable and untestable.”
Religious freedom and the right to speak freely go hand in hand. The growth in global censorship will undoubtedly trample religious freedom, especially the freedoms of those whose beliefs don’t line up with current global trends.
“Once the premise is accepted that the state must censor public debate … there is no logical stopping point,” Coleman said. — International Christian Concern
