In Finland, you may celebrate the forces of darkness, but not the birth of Jesus

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Recently, there has been a debate in Finland about what practising religion is and what is purely part of Finnish culture. The first is forbidden in Finnish schools, and the second is allowed.

Every year, the debate plays up again. Traditionally, it always takes place before Christmas. The question then is whether it is allowed to have a manger at the school Christmas party and sing carols with a Christian message or not.

This year, the debate started already by the end of October. Around the same time as Halloween was celebrated by the end of October, The Finnish Public Service Media Company reported that a family would receive a compensation of 1500 euros because their 8-year-old child had been forced at school to listen to songs in which Jesus was mentioned.

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The parent of the non-religious child first complained about the Jesus song to the Equality Commissioner, who saw no reason to take action as the school promised to inform parents better in the future. However, this did not go far enough, according to the parent, who then complained to the national Equality and Non-discrimination Board.

Overcautiousness

The applicant had asked the Board to recommend a compensation of 1000 euros. However, the Board decided to recommend an even higher amount of compensation: 1500 euros. The reason it gave for that was that the school had discriminated against the child on the grounds of religion or belief.

The decision is against common sense and caused a major media storm in Finland. As a result, a new decision was later taken, reversing the first one. No compensation will be paid to the child's family.

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Nevertheless, shortly after this incident, a school in southern Finland cancelled a Baroque concert because the program included music with Christian content by Händel and Bach. The cancellation was no doubt due to overcautiousness and fear of someone being offended.

The cancellation of the concert caused an even bigger media storm than the payment of compensation to a non-religious pupil. Many decision-makers criticised the decision. Even the Education Minister said such a concert is a cultural event, not a religious one. In other words, there was no reason to cancel the Baroque concert at all.

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Freedom

I would argue that if Jesus were a fairy tale character, the whole incident would not have taken place. I am also convinced that if the concert had included a song praising New Age religions or a Hindi worship song to one of the many gods of Hinduism, hardly anyone would have paid attention to it. It would have been just exotic. But Jesus is a different story. There is power in the name of Jesus.

One important aspect of this debate is the rights of the child. A child has the right to freedom of religion. The freedom to believe. Is freedom of religion a reality?

In Finland, you are free to celebrate Halloween, the forces of darkness, but you are not allowed to mention Jesus in the song. Ghosts are seen as harmless, but Jesus is dangerous.