Helsinki, Finland -Deputy Prosecutor-General Jorma Kalske is not taking action on cartoons satirising Christianity on the website of the Finnish League of Free-Thinkers.
The prosecutor feels that neither the association’s chairman Robert Brotherus, nor cartoonist Osmo Tammisalo had committed incitement of hatred, nor violating the sanctity of religion.
A request for an investigation was made by a private individual in 2006.
The cartoons have been on the association’s website for about ten years.
One of the pictures depicts Jesus on all fours with donkeys on his back, with the text: "First Jesus rode on an ass, but since then...".
Kalske said that while the pictures might be seen to violate "good conduct" to some extent, freedom of expression extends to shocking opinions, and even to opinions that are insulting - to some degree.
In Kalske’s view, Christian churches wield so much power in Finnish society, that even very harsh criticism against them should be permitted.
Last year the Free-Thinkers’ League filed a criminal complaint against the Finnish Evangelical-Lutheran Church.
Brotherus admitted at the time that the move was a response to the request for an investigation of the cartoons on the web.
According to the complaint, the Church could be seen to have committed incitement of hatred against a population group, because of the electronic version of the Bible on the Church’s website.
The free-thinkers said that a passage in the Bible defames atheists.
Police at the time decided that no crime had been committed.