Europeans are becoming less free to say what they think

Should the Finnish Lutheran church sponsor the Pride parade, a festival of rainbow flags and sexual inclusivity? Many might argue that a staid institution would do well to show prospective parishioners that it has kept up with the times. Paivi Rasanen is not among them. A staunch conservative, mother of five and member of parliament since 1995, she questioned on social media whether the church endorsing Pride was compatible with the Bible’s teachings on sin and shame. An accompanying picture of some of the book’s less tolerant passages made clear her own conclusions. That was in 2019. The temerity of her questioning has resulted in six years of police investigations, prosecution, trials and the threat of a hefty fine.