While Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and most evangelical churches highlight the marriage between a man and a woman, many mainline Protestant churches have undergone a huge change in their teaching of sexuality. This concerns also the Lutheran national Churches in Nordic countries. Lutheran Churches in Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, and lately also Norway, have changed their doctrine on marriage, celebrating same-sex marriages. Finland is the last Nordic country to legalise same-sex marriage. Since 1 March 2017 same-sex couples have been able to get married – but not in the church, although it has been advocated actively.

A strange episode happened on the last day of the four-day long meeting. Synod’s member, Bible teacher and Editor-in-chief of magazine Uusi Tie Leif Nummela was speaking against the initiative. He appealed to the effect on children. According to Nummela, the Church shouldn’t be following society’s development where children are artificially taken away from their biological parents.

This seemed to be too much for the Archbishop of the Finnish Church, Kari Mäkinen. He interrupted Nummela twice and asked him not to talk about the effect on children anymore, “lest it hurt anybody who’s present.” Mäkinen has openly announced his support for gay marriage. This episode provoked vivid comments on social media. Member of parliament Päivi Räsänen wrote on Facebook: “Nothing like this has ever happened by the Speaker of the Parliament”. Read more via Evangelical Focus