The British government revoked an approved travel authorization for Finnish Parliament Member Päivi Räsänen just days before her planned trip, citing a conviction that stemmed from a pamphlet expressing a biblical view of marriage.

Räsänen, a longtime Christian Democrat member of Finland's parliament and former interior minister, told CBN News she had received initial approval for a U.K. electronic travel authorization in June. Then, two days before she was set to fly, an email from the British government informed her the authorization had been canceled, because she had disclosed a criminal conviction on her application.

The conviction in question: a 3-2 Finnish Supreme Court ruling last March that found Räsänen guilty of "making and keeping available to the public a text that insults a group." The text was a pamphlet she authored titled Male and Female He Created Them, which laid out a biblical view of marriage. Two lower courts had already acquitted her on all charges before the Supreme Court reversed course by a single vote.

Seven years of prosecution over a tweet and a pamphlet

Räsänen's legal ordeal began roughly seven years ago, by her account, with a social media post. She shared a photo of a Bible passage on what she described as a "Bible tweet" defending traditional marriage. That post triggered a hate speech investigation that eventually expanded to include the pamphlet, which she had originally published in 2004.

The pamphlet, whose full title is Male and Female He Created Them, Homosexual Relationships Challenge the Christian Concept of Humanity, was republished online in 2019 by the Luther Foundation Finland. Breitbart reported that the foundation was also convicted and fined alongside Räsänen. Bishop Juhana Pohjola, a faith leader connected to the case, was reportedly convicted as well.

Räsänen was acquitted at the district court level and again at the court of appeal. Only when the case reached Finland's Supreme Court did a conviction stick, and even then, it split the bench. Three justices voted to convict. Two dissented.

The Supreme Court acquitted her on the separate charge related to her tweet defending traditional marriage. But it upheld the conviction tied to the pamphlet, ordering the removal of passages deemed unlawful. Räsänen has since taken her case to the European Court of Human Rights, hoping to overturn the verdict.

Räsänen calls U.K. denial "very, very odd"

The U.K.'s electronic travel authorization system requires applicants to disclose criminal convictions. Räsänen complied. The initial response was positive. Then came the reversal.

In her interview with CBN News, Räsänen described the sequence plainly:

"Then, just two days before my travel, I got an email from the government of U.K., where they said that my application was canceled because of what I had told about my conviction."

She had planned to travel to Northern Ireland for a worldwide ministry event, where she was scheduled to speak about freedom of speech and freedom of faith. That engagement is now in jeopardy. Räsänen said she visited an immigration center in Finland to submit fingerprints and apply for a traditional visa as an alternative route.

"I got to an immigration center here in Finland to give my fingerprints, and I try to get a visa. It is a little bit more difficult and more expensive, but I don't know if it is possible; they will tell in three weeks if I can get it."

She added: "So I find it very, very odd that they do not want me to come there."

Räsänen is a sitting member of Finland's parliament. She previously served as the country's interior minister. She has traveled to the United Kingdom before in her capacity as a lawmaker. Now a conviction over a pamphlet about marriage has made her, in the eyes of the British government, someone who cannot board a plane to Belfast.

A pattern across borders: Christians prosecuted for speech

Räsänen's case is not an isolated incident. Bishop Pohjola, who was reportedly convicted alongside her, has reportedly faced similar travel difficulties when attempting to visit Australia. The pattern, Christian leaders encountering legal consequences for expressing traditional theological views, extends beyond Finland's borders and beyond Räsänen's personal situation.

In Northern Ireland, the very region Räsänen hoped to visit, a 78-year-old retired pastor was convicted for preaching near a hospital abortion facility. That case, too, turned on whether religious expression in a public space crossed a legal line drawn by the state.

And in England, a British pastor was arrested for street preaching and now faces hate speech charges and a court date, a case that raises the same fundamental question about where Western governments draw the boundary between protected religious speech and criminal conduct.

Räsänen herself framed the stakes in broad terms during her CBN News interview:

"This really has consequences to the freedom of speech and freedom of faith here in Finland. And, especially, I'm worried for many Christians who are now afraid because they have written very similar views, biblical views that I have in this booklet, and they are afraid that they will be in a similar process in the future."

Acquitted twice, convicted on a single vote, now barred from entry

Consider the trajectory. Räsänen published a pamphlet expressing a Christian view of marriage, a view held by billions of people worldwide and taught in churches across every continent. Finnish prosecutors charged her. A district court acquitted her. An appeals court acquitted her again. The Supreme Court convicted her by the narrowest possible margin, 3-2, on one of the charges. And now the British government treats that conviction as grounds to deny her entry to the country.

After her Supreme Court conviction, Räsänen responded with a statement that reflected both defiance and restraint. She told reporters, as other Christians across Europe face similar legal pressure for their beliefs: "Freedom of speech is needed precisely when we disagree on things. I hope that despite this decision, constructive discussions can be held, even on difficult issues, under the protection of freedom of speech and religion."

She also said: "Despite this ruling, defending freedom of speech and religion has not been in vain. And it has not been in vain to present the teachings of the Bible."

Räsänen described her current posture as one of prayer. "I'm praying that it would give a good result," she said of her pending visa application and her appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

What the U.K. has not explained

The British government has not publicly addressed why a sitting European parliamentarian convicted under a foreign hate speech statute, in a case that split a five-judge panel, warrants a travel ban. No official U.K. statement beyond the email Räsänen described has surfaced. The email, as she characterized it, stated only that her application was canceled because of her disclosed conviction. No further reasoning was offered.

Whether the U.K. maintains a blanket policy of denying electronic travel authorizations to anyone with a foreign hate speech conviction remains unclear. Whether the denial would apply equally to someone convicted under a hate speech law in a country whose legal standards differ from Britain's own is also unanswered. The British government has not said.

Räsänen's visa determination is expected within three weeks. If denied, a Christian lawmaker who has served in Finland's parliament and cabinet will be formally barred from entering the United Kingdom, not for any act of violence, not for any threat to public safety, but for publishing a pamphlet about what the Bible says about marriage.

When governments start treating orthodox Christian theology as a security risk, the problem is not the pamphlet.