Now the “guilty” is speaking in Hämeen Sanomat –

Päivi Räsänen has taken a stand on Hämeenlinna’s Jesus riot in her press releases. Mikko Huisko

The city of Hämeenlinna pays 1,500 euros to an 8-year-old child who, according to the Equality and Equality Board’s decision, was forced to listen to music about Jesus and participate in other religious practices.

The cantor and director of the choirs of the Hämeenlinna-Vanaja parish declared themselves “guilty”. Ismo Savimäki Hämeen Sanomat. According to Savimäki, it was “self-evident that the occasion does not involve the practice of religion”.

– I admit: one of the songs mentioned the word lord, “domino” in Latin. Two songs were from the movie Prince of Egypt. In another (Lead) the Israelite slaves prayed to their God to lead them to freedom, in another (When You believe) tells how miracles can happen if you just believe. The song doesn’t talk about what to believe. During the performances, I didn’t say a word about the content of the songs, writes Savimäki.

According to Savimäki, film music as well as nature mysticism and folk mythology were also sung at the event in different languages. The students’ task was to guess the language and the movie. The program was sent in advance to the principal, who in turn forwarded it to the homes.

In his text, Savimäki asks the committee members where the alleged declaration of Christianity took place.

The board considered the concert to also be a way to market the church’s activities. Savimäki admits that he welcomed the students to the choir. However, he reminds us that, in his opinion, there are no other children’s choirs in Hämeenlinna apart from the parish choir that sings “a wide range of repertoire”.

“Important to test in court”

MP Päivi Räsänen (kd) thinks that the decision of the Equality and Equality Board should be tested in court. A similar decision has never been issued in Finland before.

– I think it would be important to test the city’s decision in the administrative court, which is why I hope that the taxpayers of Hämeenlinna would file an appeal against the city’s decision. It would be important to get a preliminary decision on this issue so that these cases do not become a cash machine in the future. This would also have an important effect on guiding the work of the Equality Board.

Räsänen sent a press release on the matter, as an attachment he shared Savimäki’s writing. He already prepared a press release on the matter, right after Yle reported the decision on Thursday.