It was a talkshow with some ten people from different backgrounds, including a priest, a Bible teacher, gay activists, several politicians and a comic strip artist known for his skeptical views a Christian Democrat (a minor, but influential political party) parliamentary (equivalent of a congresswoman) and a few others.
Several of the Christian people made very inflammatory statements throughout, for example noting that "Male-female marriage is extremely important to society, but gay marriage does not matter to it" and the usual "the Bible says homosexuality is a sin". As I understand, what pissed people off the most were statements by the Christian Democrat parliamentary in question, some of which I'm attempting to translate below:
Päivi Räsänen said:
Well, I believe that in this matter, if anywhere, the Biblical view is extremely clear. I can't understand how one can even try to interpret it differently, since marriage is so clearly set as something between a man and a woman, and homosexuality is so clearly - also in the New Testament - seen as going against God's will, as sin. I personally think that it is also right and honest towards homosexuals, that they get to hear the Bible's true message, the Gospel, from the Church. That is, the Law of God - which applies to all of us - as it pertains to sexual life, it's there so we would understand we are sinful, that we need mercy.
(Pardon the messiness; spoken Finnish is like that. Also note that this is not a verbatim translation, although I believe it's close enough. The original talkshow is available
here, though it is of course in Finnish, and can only be viewed from Finland.)
Later on, in another talk show, Räsänen suggested that should the Church start blessing gay marriages, more conservative members might leave the Church en masse.
Both instances demonstrate pretty well the attitude several of the Christians on the show displayed throughout the discussion, that so often is displayed wherever the subject comes up. It's nothing strange; it's the same bigotry and clinging onto literal interpretation of the Bible we all know so well. But at the moment it's a very hot topic in Finland.
For some years now, it's been legal for same-sex couples to form a legal union - which is legally almost identical to being married, but is not called "marriage". There still is a separate Law on Marriage which clearly states that only male-female couples can marry.
The problem is, most Finnish homosexuals are more or less devout Lutherans, and strongly wish to receive the blessing of the Church for their union. Even of the less devout ones, a large number considers the right to marry something important, and are hurt by the fact that this right does not extend to all sexual orientations. It is likely that the aforementioned law will change within the next decade, perhaps even sooner, although the public, as well as the politicians, are still heavily divided on the issue.
Another, related issue concerns the rights of homosexual couples to adopt children. Here, too, the legislation allows male-female couples rights that are denied to same-sex couples. There have also been attempts to change this law, but in this, the prospects seem slightly worse.
Now, to the Church's place in all this. The Lutheran Church, though quickly losing members, is still very influential in Finland. In recent years, it has generally become more and more liberal in it's policies, most famously by allowing female priesthood some years back. Many priests, and even Bishops, have also publicly declared that their interpretation of the Bible does not make homosexual love a sin, and many have even begun giving blessings to homosexual unions.
But of course then there are the conservatives. While the power balance has been steadily shifting to the liberal wing, this has only served to fuel the fervor of the more conservative members. Some parts have moved so far from the main Church's stance they can hardly be considered a part of it at all, and there's plenty of room for bigotry in between the extremes.
So currently we have a Church internally divided. On one hand, we have extremely liberal views - for example, a vicar recently underwent a sex change operation - and on the other, the conservatives, such as priests who refuse to work with female priests and consider homosexuality a sin. For the moment, the liberals hold more power - most likely because smart Christians have long since realized that clinging to the old prejudices will certainly spell the doom of the Church's special position in the country.
Still, the conservatives are far from powerless. A large number of Finns are still devoutly Christian and hold very conservative views, which is why there are many extremely conservative Christians serving in the Finnish parliament. Päivi Räsänen, of course, is one of them - from the stricter end.
As said, the Church is internally divided, but this is not readily obvious to the average viewer. When Räsänen - and a few others - appeared on the talk show, unabashedly dishing out their bigoted views, the viewers believed they were hearing the true opinions of the Church. In a way they were; it took the Archbishop five days to issue a statement that Räsänen's views do not represent those of the Church, and frankly, it wasn't all that convincing.
So a lot of people are leaving the Church again. The last I checked, 25,000 had left the Church after the talk show. In a country of 5 million people, it's a large number, and although the number of people leaving the Church has steadily risen since it became possible to do so online, only about 40,000 people left during the whole year 2009. So yeah, it's big.
The conclusion? Times are changing, and the Church is having trouble keeping up. Many would like to keep the Lutheran Church as a part of the Finnish culture, even if it means adapting. Many believe to do so would be to betray the Bible. The former have put up a good fight, but in the end, it's starting to look like it wasn't enough.
Babelfished, inexhaustive sources:
The "Gay Night" talkshow on national television brought a new record in the amount of people leaving the Church
Already over 25,000 left the Church since homosexual discussion
Division concerning Räsänen's statements also within the Christian Democrat party
The vicar returning as a woman filled the Church in Imatra
Vicar Marja-Sisko Aalto leaves her post
Ordainment of a female Bishop led to an increase in hate mail to female priests
members. But it stated that the church stands to lose in excess of 2 million euros annually in tax revenues...I didn't quite follow that statement.
