Legal framework on freedom of religion and actual application
The Constitution of Finland guarantees freedom of religion and conscience, which includes the right to profess and practise a religion, to express one’s beliefs and to belong, or not, to a religious community (Chapter 2, 11). Everyone is equal before the law and discrimination based on religion is prohibited (Chapter 2, 6). Discrimination complaints can be made to the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman.
The Criminal Code of Finland prohibits any “breach of the sanctity of religion,” including public blasphemy or insulting what is held sacred by a religious community, and disturbing, interfering with, or preventing religious practices (Chapter 17, 10 and 11).
The Criminal Code of Finland (Chapter 11, 10), conventionally called the “ethnic agitation” law, prohibits expressing opinions that threaten, insult, or defame a certain group based on certain characteristics, such as religion, belief, and sexual orientation.
The Act on the Freedom of Religion applies to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (ELC), the Orthodox Church of Finland (OCF), and registered religious communities (Chapter 1, 2), such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Evangelical Free Church of Finland, and the Catholic Church.
Religion can be practised without registration, but the latter is required to be eligible for government funds. To register, a community must have at least twenty members, a religious purpose, and written by-laws (Chapter 2, 8 and 9).
Members of the ELC or the OCF are obligated to pay a Church tax, while other religious communities are not permitted to tax their members. The ELC receives state funding to carry out its statutory duties, and the OCF and other registered religious communities receive government grants.
The religious affiliation of children under 12 years is decided jointly by the parents or legal guardians; the religious affiliation of children between 12 and 15 years may only be changed with the consent of both the child and the parents or legal guardians.
Religious education is mandatory, and students are given religious instruction in accordance with their registered religions, while others can choose between religious education or secular ethics.
Conscientious objection to military service on religious grounds is permitted, provided that objectors complete alternative civilian service. Failure to serve can result in imprisonment.
Incidents and developments
According to the 2021 Hate Crime Reporting database, Muslims were the religious group most subjected to hate motivated crimes with 51 incidents reported to police (18 threats / threatening behaviour, 13 incidents of damage to property, 11 physical assaults, four incidents of disturbance of the peace, three instances of incitement to violence, and two which were designated as unspecified).
There were 38 crimes motivated by anti-Christian bias (25 threats / threatening behaviour, 10 physical assaults, two incidents of damage to property, and a single attack on a place of worship). Additionally, 14 antisemitic hate crimes were reported to police which included a significant amount of vandalism. There were also 17 other incidents related to other religions.
Päivi Räsänen, a Christian Finnish parliamentarian and former Minister of Interior, was the subject of a criminal prosecution under Finland’s so-called “ethnic agitation law”, for authoring a Church pamphlet in 2004 and speaking publicly in 2019 and 2020 about her Christian perspective on the biblical view of human sexuality. Her remarks were deemed an insult to homosexuals. On 30 March 2022, she was acquitted of the charges. Finland’s state prosecutor has filed an appeal. Mrs. Räsänen stated: “After my full exoneration in court, I am dismayed that the prosecutor will not let this campaign against me drop, yet the prosecutor’s decision to appeal may lead to the case going all the way to the Supreme Court, offering the possibility of securing a positive precedent for freedom of speech and religion for all Finnish people.”
Several other politicians at the local and federal level representing far right or nationalistic political movements were, however, convicted for hate speech for comments made about Muslim immigrants. In May 2021, the former chairman of the Finnish People First Party Marco de Wit was sentenced to six months’ probation for three counts of aggravated defamation and 13 counts of defamation, one of which concerned ‘violating the peace of religion’.
Three Helsinki police officers were also dismissed from their positions in 2021-22 for engaging in antisemitic and anti-Muslim communications. The dismissals stem from a larger investigation by the National Bureau of Investigation and the National Prosecution Authority into far right ideological activities in the Finnish security sector.
The rise in anti-immigrant sentiment coincides with the significant increase in Muslim immigration into Finland, which increased by 35 percent between 2016 and 2018 (the last available reported data).
The government’s Strategy on Preventive Police Work 2019–2023, and the Action Plan by the National Police Board have focused on protecting minority groups, including religious minorities, from hate crimes.
Immigration authorities continue to deny the asylum applications of the majority of Jehovah’s Witnesses from Russia and Ahmadi Muslims from Pakistan, despite an adverse ruling from the United Nations Human Rights Committee favouring an interim stay of deportation of two Jehovah’s Witness families back to Russia.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Finland imposed tight restrictions on religious activities, suspending public celebrations but allowing for private prayer in places of worship.
There have been no adverse judgments against Finland before the European Court of Human Rights in the area of religious freedom during the relevant reporting period.
Prospects for freedom of religion
It appears that there were no significant new or increased governmental restrictions on religious freedom during the period under review, but freedom of expression could be at risk through the use of the “ethnic agitation” law. The high rates of religiously motivated hate crimes continues to be an area of concern. The consistently high level of Muslim immigration coupled with far right anti-Muslim rhetoric could create significant problems in the future for Finland.
Finland