Dr. Päivi Räsänen to Speak at CTSFW

Dr. Päivi Räsänen, a Lutheran medical doctor and member of the Parliament of Finland, was recently found guilty by the Finnish Supreme Court of hate speech for her published views on marriage and sexuality, which conform to biblical teaching. Räsänen will be telling her story at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne (CTSFW), May 16, at 11 a.m. in Luther Hall, in the presentation “The Battle in the Supreme Court—Experiences from Finland.” The public is invited to attend.

“Our seminary is honored to welcome Dr. Räsänen to our campus,” said Dr. Jon S. Bruss, president of CTSFW. “Her witness to the truth of God’s Word and nature’s witness to that truth has been faithful, timely, and inspiring, even if unwelcomed in an increasingly secularized Finland.”

Räsänen is traveling to Fort Wayne for CTSFW Commencement May 15, where she will receive a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, for her “faithful and persistent confession in the face of relentless opposition.”

Räsänen’s legal troubles stem from a tweet she made in 2019 about the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland’s sponsorship of a Pride event, along with views expressed in the pamphlet Male and Female He Created Them, edited by Rev. Dr. Juhana Pohjola, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland. Räsänen was charged with three counts of “agitation against a minority group” in 2021. She and Pohjola were found not guilty twice by lower courts in Finland, in 2022 and 2023, but those verdicts were appealed. On March 26, 2026, the Supreme Court found them guilty of the charge involving the pamphlet in a narrow 3-2 decision.

Read more from the Evangelical Mission Diocese of Finland.

Materials for promoting this event, including a bulletin insert and poster, can be found here.