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Is Religious Freedom under Threat in Finland?

Is Religious Freedom under Threat in Finland?

Last updated on: November 1, 2025 at 9:56 pm by Dan Peterson

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Is Religious Freedom under Threat in Finland? 2025-11-01T21:56:56-06:00 Dan Peterson

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The Detroit Michigan Temple, the state’s first, will shortly be joined by a second, in Grand Rapids. (LDS Media Library)

The Federal Bureau of Investigation isn’t exactly ahead of the curve on this one. But it’s useful, I suppose, to make the obvious official: “Ex-marine who killed four at Michigan Mormon church was motivated by ‘anti-religious beliefs’, says FBI: Thomas Jacob Sanford, who also lit church on fire, was killed by police who responded to September shooting” (The Guardian).

On the other hand, I appreciate the interfaith perspective in this article, which offers a dramatic contrast to the religious hatred that motivated Mr. Sanford’s murderous attack: “The conversation we should be having about new temple garment designs: Discussions about religious clothing are incomplete if they don’t include the covenants the clothing represents” (Deseret News).

A view of Salt Lake City in July 2011. (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

“If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them,how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” (1 John 3:17-18, New International Version)

Utah Governor Spencer Cox has proposed construction of a new facility to deal with the rising problem of homelessness in the state. It hasn’t been met with universal approval:

Here is a criticism of the proposal, launched partly from a Latter-day Saint religious perspective: “On Homelessness, Utah, and the Church.” Please note that I have not, myself, taken a public position on the question. And it’s very possible that I won’t. Still, I regard it as involving a major issue that transcends mere politics and I see great value in hearing from different perspectives.

Some problems have simple solutions. (See this for an example: “Utah man drops 1,917-pound pumpkin onto his Geo Metro.”) Homelessness, though, is a difficult problem and a multifaceted one. The reasons for it differ widely, and it seems extremely unlikely that any single proposed solution will serve in all cases.

In the meanwhile, there is this: “Donny Osmond Donates $5 Million to Build Homeless Support Centers in His Hometown of Provo, Utah — “No One Should Ever Be Forgotten.””

Lisbon in 1650, in its glory days (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

By the way, today is the 270th anniversary of the devastating Lisbon Earthquake, which occurred on All Saints Day of 1755. Here’s a good but not overly long article about it and about the enormous impact that it had even beyond the death toll and the physical damage: “How a 1755 earthquake changed Europe’s theological narrative: How the Lisbon disaster changed everything”

An effigy of Charles Dickens at Madame Tussaud’s in London (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

We attended a long but really good BYU production of Great Expectations this afternoon. It was performed in the Studio Theater, in the former Provo High School. (This is where BYU theater productions have been housed since the razing of the Franklin S. Harris Fine Arts Center and pending the completion and opening of the University’s new Arts Building, which is scheduled for Fall 2026. The Provo High School campus will then become the site of BYU’s coming medical school.)

I must confess that Great Expectations has never been my favorite Charles Dickens story. I dislike both Miss Havisham and Estella and I disapprove of Pip’s behavior toward them and his arrogant neglect of Joe Gargerry, his surrogate father and (with Joe’s second wife, Biddy) the most consistently good character in the story, after he becomes a “gentleman.” Much of Great Expectations is flatly painful for me to read or to watch. But it’s a great story, and Dickens is a great writer, and I’m glad that we were able to see the play today.

Looking from the end of Kjøsnesfjord, a little arm of Lake Jølster, toward the town of Skei in the very far distance. The farm on which my grandmother grew up is (barely) visible on the left bank of the fjord, just beyond the glacial stream and the green ridge in the foreground. My wife took this photo with her iPhone a few years back during a visit to Norway.

But today has been a wonderful day for a very specific reason. My grandmother, who was born and raised in Norway, used to make Norwegian potato lefse. She died when I was just five years old, but lefse is one element of Norway that my father passed on to me. I love it. Unfortunately, it requires a lot of work and it makes a real mess. I rarely have a chance to enjoy it.

So I was delighted a couple of days ago when my wife announced that she had been invited by a friend and former neighbor of ours to a lefse-making party. (Making lefse in Norway is traditionally a social or communal activity that is featured at holiday family gatherings.). Our friend comes of enthusiastically Norwegian heritage, and she married a man who served as a missionary in Norway, became a physician, and then later returned to preside over the Norway Oslo Mission. I’ve been eating lefse today. Life is very, very good.

Finland is a land of forests, lakes, and meadows. Is it still a land that protects freedom of religion and freedom of opinion? (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

This is a really concerning case. Will the advocacy of traditional Christian moral positions be criminalized or outlawed in Finland? If so, what will this mean for the freedom of religion, the freedom of expression, the freedom of opinion, there and elsewhere in Europe?

“Supreme Court of Finland hears Päivi Räsänen case over 6-year-old Bible tweet”

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