Pro-Family Attorney Hails Swedish Pastor's Supreme Court Victory
by Allie Martin and Jenni Parker
November 30, 2005
(AgapePress) - - An attorney with the AFA Center for Law & Policy is joining other U.S. Christians in commending a Swedish minister for standing up for his religious-speech rights after he was charged of a hate crime, convicted, and sentenced to prison for preaching a message deemed "disrespectful" to homosexuals.
Two years ago Pentecostal pastor Ake Green denounced homosexuality during a sermon at his church in the village of Borgholm in southern Sweden. The minister first issued his message, entitled "Are people born with homosexual orientation, or is it the result of influence by evil powers?" from the pulpit and, afterward, had it published in a local newspaper.
In the sermon, Green compared the sins of his nation to the sin of Sodom and described homosexuality as a "deep, cancerous tumor" on Swedish society. And although he ended his message with a reminder that "Jesus never belittled anyone" but instead "offered them grace," local homosexuals protested the content of the message and a district prosecutor charged the minister with hate speech.
Last year, Green was convicted in district court and given a month in jail. He appealed and saw the 2004 conviction overturned earlier this year, but Sweden's chief prosecutor appealed the reversal. Now, however, that nation's Supreme Court has acquitted the pastor once and for all, ruling that his remarks are protected by freedom of speech and religion under the European Convention on Human Rights.
Benjamin Bull, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund -- a group that assisted Green in his defense -- said prior to this final ruling that homosexual activists in Sweden and all over the European Union were hoping to make an example of the minister. Bull recently stated that the outcome of this case was "critical" not only for people of faith in Sweden but also "for freedom of religious expression in America," considering the U.S. Supreme Court's tendency in recent years to take international law into account in some of its decisions.
Several Christian leaders in the U.S. are welcoming the news of Green's acquittal. Robert Knight, director of Concerned Women for America's Culture and Family Institute, says Pastor Green was preaching "straight from the Bible ... warning his congregation about what God clearly calls sin and inviting people trapped in homosexuality to repent like any other sinners." He notes that the minister also warned his listeners about the medical risks that homosexual activity poses.
"For telling the truth," Knight says, Green "was under a legal cloud and threatened with jail time." He says this Swedish court trial "should wake up Americans to the dangers of so-called 'hate crime' laws, which so often lead to suppression of Christians and others who hold to traditional morality."
International human rights attorney Yuri Mantilla, who serves as Focus on the Family's Director of International Government Affairs, agrees. He noted that, with this ruling, the religious community has "seen Sweden's Supreme Court uphold true human rights."
It is important, Mantilla adds, for observers to understand what was at stake with this case: that is, "the defense of fundamental human rights and a precedent that sets a standard regarding the right to religious freedom and the right to freedom of expression." Also, the human rights lawyer points out, "The effort to send Pastor Green to jail is an example of the dangerous implications of pro-homosexual legislation."
The International Impact of Pastor Green's Trial
Steve Crampton, chief counsel with the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy, says Green's case has been closely followed worldwide. One reason for the international interest, he asserts, is that Christian and pro-family advocates in many nations recognize -- like Bull -- the implications of this case for free speech and religious tolerance in their own societies.
Steve Crampton
Crampton definitely believes this is true for pro-family forces in the United States. "Just this past fall," he notes, "our own House of Representatives, where we thought we were the strongest for the cause of the family, actually voted in a majority to enact a hate crimes provision."
Thankfully, the attorney says, it appears that America "may have headed that one off" for now. However, he adds, "The fact is, what is happening in Sweden today is going to be law in America tomorrow unless we all take action."
Green was the first clergyman convicted under Sweden's hate crimes legislation, which states that any "person who, through expression or other communication that is disseminated, threatens or expresses disrespect for a ... group of persons with respect to race, skin color, national or ethnic origin, faith or sexual orientation, shall be found guilty of incitement against a group of people and sentenced" to fines if the offense is judged to be minor. And if the offense is deemed major, the person convicted of the hate crime could be sentenced to as many as four years in prison.
Crampton finds the case disturbing, along with its implications for free speech and freedom of religion. Although Sweden is a society that has prided itself on its tolerance, he says Green's conviction did not take the international faith community entirely by surprise.
"We knew that one day it was going to come," the AFA Law Center spokesman contends. "We didn't expect it quite as soon as it happened, but these hate-speech laws are calculated to take out this particular kind of speech -- even from the pulpit of a long-established church."
Crampton finds it encouraging that the Swedish pastor accused of hate speech for disseminating his biblical message on homosexual sin was finally acquitted of all charges. However, the pro-family lawyer believes the lengthy foreign court case may serve as a bellwether for what Christians and other faith community leaders in other "free societies" can expect if they do not stand up and fight for their rights as Green did.
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