Pending case

Swedish Pastor to Go Before High Court for 'Hate Speech'

By Dale Hurd
CBN News Sr. Reporter

CBN.com – BORGHOLM, Sweden – Sweden's supreme court says it will review the case of a pastor accused of hate speech. It is the latest development in the story of Reverend Ake Green, who faces jail time for preaching against homosexuality.

In February, an appeals court threw out a hate crimes conviction against Green. The court ruled that it was not illegal for the pastor to offer a personal interpretation of the Bible and urge others to follow it.

But Sweden's chief prosecutor appealed the decision to the nation's highest court. Sweden's reputation as an open-minded country does not exactly match up in this case.

Inside Green’s small Pentecostal church in southern Sweden, worshippers pray for their pastor, that somehow he won't have to go to prison for the crime of preaching against homosexuality.

Sweden was at the forefront of the sexual revolution, and today is at the forefront of the gay agenda. As in many European nations, homosexuality has been embraced by society as a human right, and glorified in the media.

The whole issue began when Green decided to stand up to what he saw as the growing acceptance of homosexuality here. But because of the way he said it, he was sentenced to jail.

Pastor Green said, "I was watching television, reading the newspaper, listening to high-profile people -- actors, singers, glorifying the homosexual lifestyle. And I was worried, and was concerned, and I felt a deep burden in my heart to speak on that particular topic."

Green prepared the sermon last year, on what the Bible says about homosexuality, with the intention that the townspeople of Borgholm come to hear him. But attendance was disappointing.

So Green had his sermon published in the local newspaper. In it, he compared the sin of Sweden to the sin of Sodom. He warned, "Our country is facing a disaster of great proportions! Of that we can be sure. God said the land would vomit out its inhabitants. Our country is facing a disaster."

But it was how he described sexual practices like homosexuality that brought the charge against him.

Green told us, "What I said was that sexual abnormality was like a cancer of the society." In more precise English, a "cancerous tumor."

He ended his sermon with grace and with respect for those living in sexual sin. He said, "What these people need, who live under the slavery of sexual immorality, is an abundant grace. It exists. Therefore we will encourage those who live in this manner to look at the grace of Jesus Christ. We cannot condemn these people. Jesus never belittled anyone. He offered them grace."

But his ending did not matter. The printed sermon was seen by local gays and the district prosecutor, and Green was convicted in a district court and given a month in jail. He has not yet served his sentence because he is appealing the conviction. Green's defense attorney is Percy Bratt, the Chairman of the Swedish Helsinki Committee for Human Rights.

Bratt said, "The very basic question that is raised in this matter is, to what extent it is criminal to teach from the words in the Bible, so to say?"

The hate speech law used to convict Green was first intended to protect Jews and other ethnic minorities from Nazi sympathizers. But in more recent times, the law was amended to also protect 'sexual orientation.'

Bratt said, "The wordings of this provision are very general, so the area that shall be criminalized is up to the courts."

The district prosecutor in the case refused to speak with CBN News. But we were able to speak with Sweden's national gay and lesbian organization in Stockholm, the RFSL, which supports Green's conviction.

The RFSL spokesperson said, "Hatred and defamation is not to be accepted, just because it's based on religious beliefs or religious scriptures. You have some limits when it comes to the freedom of speech."

But the Ake Green case is becoming an embarrassment for a nation which prides itself on its tolerance. But support for Green among some evangelicals has been surprisingly lukewarm.

Prominent Swedish pastor Ulf Ekman remarked, “As far as I know, he and I are the only ones who have said anything about this.”

Ekman was almost charged with the same offense, but the prosecutor dropped the case. Ekman says most pastors ignored his call for a nationwide campaign to challenge the law by preaching against homosexuality.

Ekman said, “I think that in this case, Pastor Green is very isolated. Many, many pastors have backed off and even those that agree with him are very silent.”

CBN News asked Green, ´ Were you surprised that you received so little support from Swedish evangelicals?

Green replied, “The Evangelical churches don't want a confrontation with what's going on in the Swedish society, and that makes them silent."

Green's attorney says the case will now go to an appeals court, and if necessary, to Sweden's Supreme Court, and even to the European Court, if necessary. He says the district judge misapplied the law.

But other nations are moving in the same direction or already have similar laws, including Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom.

Noted Swedish missionary and pastor, Josef Östby, calls Green's conviction a tragedy for democracy in Sweden. He said, "We cannot in Sweden be known for things like putting a pastor in jail for a sermon. This is impossible!"

But the spokesman for Sweden's National Gay and Lesbian Organization said that one month in jail is not long enough for Green. It hopes a higher court will impose a sentence of six to eight months.

Green says he is not afraid to go to jail. Green added, "I am not a criminal, I don't feel like a criminal, but this new law makes us preachers as criminals if we speak up."

Some say Pastor Green has awakened Swedish evangelicals on the issue of homosexuality. He has certainly created an uncomfortable dividing line for church leaders, whether to speak boldly what the Bible says about homosexuality, or not.

But whether or not he goes to jail, an otherwise overlooked pastor from a small church has challenged a nation and other believers. Ake Green says he was just obeying God.

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