Brody's Notes... MP's Statements Over Gay Equality In Finland Triggers Mass Exodus From Finnish Churches

Päivi Räsänen   Photo By The Helsinki Times

By Mark Singer (Washington DC) OCT 22 | News media organisations in Helsinki, Finland, are reporting today that nearly 24,000 Finns have deserted the Finnish Evangelical-Lutheran Church and Orthodox Churches since remarks made by the leader of the Christian Democrats Party and member of the Finn Parliament, Päivi Räsänen.
In an article published Thursday, The Helsinki  Times reported:

The number of people leaving increased sharply on 12 October following the broadcast of a debate programme focused on gay rights on Network 2 of the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle). By Monday 18 October, more than 24,000 people had left Finland’s Evangelical-Lutheran and Orthodox Churches. Heikki Orsila, a spokesman for the eroakirkosta.fi website, has identified Yle’s live-to-air debate on gay rights as the reason behind the sudden jump in departures.

The minister in charge of church affairs Stefan Wallin (Swedish People’s Party) said on Sunday that Päivi Räsänen, the leader of the Christian Democrats, could not escape her responsibility for the record number of people leaving the Evangelical-Lutheran Church after the televised gay rights debate. Räsänen was one of the programme’s guests. Wallin added that Räsänen should bear in mind her long career as lawmaker and as leader of a party representing Christian values.

The debate was focused on a request made by Justice Mister Tuija Brax, to implement a study into same sex marriage. Brax's party- a member of the Centre governing coalition in the Finnish government, wants to have a gender-neutral marriage act included in the next session of the Parliament.

In last week’s TV debate on homosexuality and the church, Räsänen presented an uncompromising, fundamentalist view on the issue. In an interview last Friday with Finnish news media:

Räsänen said that she did not believe her own comments during the debate were behind the high number of people subsequently leaving the Evangelical-Lutheran Church.

Räsänen added that her comments during the programme were not particularly harsh. She said that she had voiced her views openly as the Church itself should.Räsänen stressed that Evangelical-Lutheran clergy had also taken part in the debate. Together with Räsänen, the bishop of Tampere Matti Repo dismissed same-sex marriage as “unnatural."

In the interim, church leaders have found themselves in what could be a no-win predicament. Regardless of the position they take, someone will take offense. Seppo Häkkinen, Bishop of Mikkeli, would like to see restraint on both sides of the fence.

“I hope that the different parties, who think in very different ways, could part of the same community and I’d remind them of the wise words of the Pope, when he said: You should strive to outdo each other in showing respect for the other."

Hakkinen said that the decision to leave the church doesn’t come easily, although following through has become much easier in the Internet age.

"However, I hope that some of those who have left the church can see the work of the church in a wider view rather than through the prism of this one issue,” he added.