Finnish MP Päivi Räsänen found guilty of hate speech over 22-year-old pamphlet against homosexuality

 Finnish parliamentarian Päivi Räsänen was found guilty of hate speech and fined by the Supreme Court of Finland on Thursday over a pamphlet describing homosexuality as a psychosexual development disorder more than 20 years ago.

Räsänen, who led Finland's Christian Democratic Party from 2004 to 2015 and served as the country's interior minister from 2011 to 2015, was found guilty in a slim 3-2 decision of "making and keeping available to the public a text that insults a group," according to a press release from the U.S.-based legal group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International.

Police first began investigating the grandmother of 12 in response to criminal complaints shortly after Räsänen's 2019 tweet in which she quoted Romans 1:24–27 to rebuke the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland for promoting LGBT "pride month." She questioned how the church could agree with "shame and sin" being presented as "a matter of pride."

Investigators later dredged up a pamphlet she published in 2004 with Bishop Juhana Pohjola of the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland, titled "Male and Female He Created Them: Homosexual relationships challenge the Christian concept of humanity."

At one point, the pamphlet argues that homosexuality is disordered, which the court found was an opinion that could "insult homosexuals as a group on the basis of their sexual orientation."

The court noted that "it must be taken into account that the text forming the basis for the conviction did not contain incitement to violence or comparable threat-like fomenting of hatred. The conduct is therefore not particularly serious in terms of the nature of the offense."

Convicted under Chapter 11 of the Finnish Penal Code, which deals with "agitation against a minority group," Räsänen was ordered to pay a fine of 1,800 euros ($2,080), and the court prohibited physical and digital copies of the pamphlet from being distributed following the ruling.

In a previous interview with The Christian Post, Räsänen recalled being disturbed by her church's participation in the 2019 Helsinki LGBT Pride march, noting that the police investigation dragged out as she and Pohjola were repeatedly dragged to court.

She and Pohjola faced their third trial last October, despite being unanimously acquitted twice by the Helsinki Court of Appeal and the three-judge District Court of Helsinki.

The Supreme Court acquitted Räsänen over the initial 2019 tweet that sparked the prosecution against her in the first place, arguing that she "justified her opinion by citing a biblical text" among other things.

Räsänen said she was "shocked and profoundly disappointed" by the high court's ruling, and accused them of failing "to recognize my basic human right to freedom of expression."

"I stand by the teachings of my Christian faith, and will continue to defend my and every person’s right to share their convictions in the public square," she said.

Finnish MP Päivi Räsänen found guilty of hate speech | World

DOJ investigates California, Maine for housing male inmates in women's prisons

 The Trump administration is investigating whether the practice of housing trans-identified males in women's prisons in Maine and California, despite concerns about sexual assault and harassment, violates the constitutional rights of incarcerated women.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday that it would investigate whether the California Institution for Women in San Bernardino County, the Central California Women’s Facility in Madera County and the Maine Correctional Center in Windham violated the rights of female inmates.

“Keeping men out of women’s prisons is not only common sense — it’s a matter of safety and constitutional rights,” Attorney General Pam Bondi stated. “The Trump Administration will not stand by if governors are facilitating the abuse of biological women under the guise of inclusion.”

In 2020, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Transgender Respect, Agency and Dignity Act. The bill enables those who identify as the opposite sex, non-binary or intersex to be housed and searched in a manner consistent with their gender identity. 

As the DOJ noted, men charged with sex crimes and who have intact genitals who self-identify as female can request a transfer to a women’s prison. The federal agency says it has seen reports “of sexual assaults, rape, voyeurism and a pervasive climate of sexual intimidation due to the presence of males in the women’s prison.”

The DOJ is investigating if California deprived female prisoners of their right to freedom of speech and religion under the First Amendment. During its investigation, the federal agency will also determine whether female inmates were deprived of the protections guaranteed by the Eighth Amendment — which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment — and the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.

DOJ investigates male inmates in women's prisons | Politics

Louisville pays $800K to settle with Christian photographer who won't work same-sex weddings

 A Christian photographer who does not wish to provide services to same-sex weddings has reached a large settlement after years of litigation over a nondiscrimination provision in a local law she feared would force her to violate her deeply held convictions. 

The city of Louisville, Kentucky, had agreed to pay $800,000 in attorney fees as part of a settlement with photographer Chelsey Nelson. The settlement, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, Louisville Division, comes six months after the federal court sided with Nelson in her challenge to the city’s prohibition on discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. 

Nelson, a devout Christian who believes in the biblical definition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman, filed a lawsuit against the city out of concern that the nondiscrimination law would force her to work as a photographer at same-sex weddings. She alleged that the law violated the Free Speech and Free Exercise clauses of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, as well as the Kentucky Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Last fall, a federal judge agreed. 

The settlement was announced in a statement Tuesday from the conservative legal nonprofit Alliance Defending Freedom, which represented Nelson in the case. 

“The government cannot force Americans to say things they don’t believe,” said Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Bryan Neihart. “For almost six years, Louisville officials tried to do just that by threatening to force Chelsey to promote views about marriage that violate her religious beliefs. Louisville’s threats contradicted bedrock First Amendment principles, which leave decisions about what to say with the people, not the government. This settlement should teach Louisville that violating the U.S. Constitution can be expensive.” 

Louisville pays $800K to settle with Christian photographer | Politics

Cesar Chavez Statues Fall, Columbus Statues Rise

 Cesar Chavez Statues Fall, Columbus Statues Rise | Frontpage Mag

read the link

Former Ligonier executive says he was excommunicated from church for reporting sexual abuse

 A former Ligonier Ministries executive, who was recently excommunicated by St. Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Florida, has revealed the real reason behind his exit: He accused the church’s former youth minister of sexually abusing his daughter.

The accusation is the latest of several scandals involving St. Andrew’s Chapel, the Reformed church founded by the late R. C. Sproul.

Stephen Nichols, former chief academic officer at Ligonier and president of Reformation Bible College, was simultaneously ejected from all three institutions last week. Nichols and his wife, Heidi, posted a long statement about their “season of transition” on X Thursday.

“At the heart of this issue is the suspected sexual abuse of our daughter,” the couple wrote. “We reported suspicion of sexual abuse of our daughter, we ended up indicted, and we ended up excommunicated.”

According to the Nicholses, their 17-year-old daughter’s counselor told them in January 2024 that he thought the girl had been abused when she was 11 or 12. The girl has struggled since that age with serious mental health issues, including repeated instances of self-harm that resulted in hospitalization.

Ligonier executive was excommunicated for reporting sexual abuse

Nazarene Church Collapse Reveals the Pattern Destroying Holiness Movements in American Churches

 

Nazarene Church Collapse Reveals the Pattern Destroying Holiness Movements in American Churches The Church of the Nazarene hemorrhaged from 550,000 members in 1980 to under 300,000 in 2024. 1,400 churches closed. 70% of young people abandoned the denomination. This isn't just about one church—it's a warning for every holiness movement in America.

Abortion Clinic Was Happy to Cover Up Sexual Abuse of a 14-Year-Old

 “90% of our abortions are from Texas.” The abortion worker claimed.

A shocking undercover investigation is raising serious concerns about the safety of young girls and the role abortion facilities may play in covering up abuse. In this case, a man posing as the uncle of a 14-year-old girl approached staff at a New Mexico abortion facility, asking how to obtain an abortion for the minor without parental consent.

According to the report, staff did not question the situation or raise concerns about possible abuse. They did not verify the man’s relationship to the girl or pause to consider whether the circumstances pointed to something more troubling. Instead, they moved forward with providing information on how to obtain an abortion.

“The minute this man came in asking how to get an abortion for a 14-year-old minor, any legitimate healthcare staff would have recognized a possible red flag,” says Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. “But these abortion workers not only explained how to circumvent Texas abortion laws, including parental consent, they also readily explained how to get all the costs covered, including the cost of the abortion, travel, and hotel. This dump is a human trafficker’s dream come true.”

Abortion Clinic Was Happy to Cover Up Sexual Abuse of a 14-Year-Old - LifeNews.com