SWEDEN: A Swedish priest sentenced to a month in jail for calling homosexuals "a cancerous tumour" was cleared by a court yesterday in a ruling that upheld his right to preach biblical views even if many found them offensive.
The 63-year-old Pentecostal pastor, Pastor Ake Green, gave a sermon on the island of Oland off Sweden's east coast in 2003 calling homosexuals "a cancerous tumour on the body of society" and blaming them for the spread of HIV/AIDS.
He became the first person convicted of inciting hatred on grounds of sexual orientation under 2002 legislation, provoking debate about freedom of speech and religion in a highly secular and egalitarian country.
The court in Jonkoping, southern Sweden, quashed Pastor Green's conviction and found that "nothing indicates the pastor used his position as a preacher as a cover for attacking homosexuals".
It defended his right to preach what it called "the Bible's categorical condemnation of homosexual relations as a sin", even if such views were "alien to most citizens".
Pastor Green called the ruling "a relief". "I'll go on preaching as usual but I won't be dedicating so much time to this issue," he told reporters.
The prosecutor had wanted a stiffer six-month sentence and was undecided about further appeals.
Some Swedish religious groups and conservatives defended Pastor Green. An anti-gay church in Kansas, whose website incites hatred of homosexuals, ran a campaign to free him under the slogan "God Hates Sweden".
Green has clearly distanced himself from it.
The case comes amid debate among Protestants worldwide about whether to accept gay pastors or let gays get married in church.
The Lutheran Swedish Church, separated from the state since 2000, first allowed women priests in 1958.
It does not yet permit same-sex marriages.