A US commission established by President Donald Trump has highlighted Europe’s free speech crisis by referencing in a draft report the criminal convictions of an army veteran in the UK for silently praying, and a Christian politician in Finland for writing a church booklet.
The Religious Liberty Commission, which was set up to advise and report to the US President on emerging threats to religious freedom, has delivered its draft report, which included citing international religious freedom concerns.
The draft report includes the testimonies of over 100 witnesses from various faiths and religious traditions, highlighting the various forms of religious freedom violations that have emerged across the United States and abroad.
While the Commission’s mandate centres on threats to religious liberty within the United States, the draft report acknowledges that these threats are not confined to America alone.
The report cites two major censorship cases from Europe, of individuals whose legal defence is supported by Alliance Defending Freedom: Adam Smith-Connor, who was criminally convicted in the UK for silent prayer, and Finnish MP Päivi Räsänen, who was criminally convicted for peacefully expressing her views on marriage and sexuality in a decades-old church booklet.
Their cases were highlighted as evidence of growing threats to religious freedom in the West.
The draft report stated: “Even in other Western countries, governments have adopted many such policies. In the United Kingdom, police recently arrested army veteran and physiotherapist Adam Smith-Connor for the crime of silently praying…In Finland, Finnish MP Päivi Räsänen was recently convicted for the crime of expressing her religious perspective on human sexuality and also faced years of criminal prosecution for publicly sharing a Bible verse.” (p.177)
ADF commends the Religious Liberty Commission’s identification of the intensifying free speech and religious liberty crisis across Europe.
“The cases of Päivi Räsänen and Adam Smith-Connor are stark warnings of what follows when societies abandon their commitment to free expression and religious liberty. Päivi endured years of criminal proceedings for publicly expressing her Christian faith in a Bible verse tweet and a church pamphlet published decades ago.
“Adam was punished not for anything he said, but for the private thoughts and silent prayers in his own mind while standing outside an abortion facility, grieving his deceased son. As the Commission rightly recognises, this is not a series of isolated incidents, but a dangerous drift towards state control over speech, belief, and conscience itself.
The Commission’s clarion call to defend fundamental rights and freedoms must be heeded in the United Kingdom and across Europe. These liberties are foundational to Western civilisation, and we ignore their erosion at our peril.”
— Jeremiah Igunnubole, Legal Counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom
The Trump Administration has previously expressed concern about European censorship, including regarding the EU’s censorial Digital Services Act (DSA).
In February 2025, in his speech at the Munich Security Conference, Vice President JD Vance expressed concern over limitations on free expression in the UK and referenced as examples Adam Smith-Connor’s conviction for silent prayer and Scotland’s censorial “buffer zone” legislation.
“When the state censors or penalises individuals for expressing their religious beliefs, it violates not only the right to free speech, but the deeper freedom to live and worship in accordance with conscience. Such restrictions strike at the heart of religious liberty and cannot be reconciled with a genuinely free society,” added Igunnubole.
Background
The Religious Liberty Commission was formed in 2025 by President Trump to “identify emerging threats to religious liberty, uphold Federal laws that protect all citizens’ full participation in a pluralistic democracy, and protect the free exercise of religion”.
During an Oval Office presentation, Chairman Dan Patrick, Vice Chairman Ben Carson, and members of the Commission delivered the draft report to the President.
The draft is based on findings from seven hearings held by the Commission over the past year, during which it received testimony from more than 100 witnesses of diverse ages, religions, expertise, and backgrounds, many of whom had experienced religious freedom violations. The hearings examined religious liberty in the military, education, healthcare, and the public and private sectors, as well as the importance of protecting parental rights and faith-based institutions and combatting violence against houses of worship.
