More than half of those polled by newspaper Savon Sanomat would remove church matters and religion from Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen's portfolio.
According to a gallup poll carried out by the newspaper Savon Sanomat, more than half of the 1,100 Finns polled would remove church matters from Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen’s portfolio.
The survey was conducted following Räsänen’s controversial assertation that in some situations the Bible is higher than the letter of the law.
Of the respondents, 55 percent supported shifting internal church affairs away from the Minister. Criticism of Räsänen's views came from across all political party lines.
Within her own party, the Christian Democrats, only one tenth of voters would transfer church affairs to another minister. Centre Party members were also more understanding of Räsänen’s views.
The most critical opponents of Räsänen's views were young adults and residents in the larger cities comprising the Greater Helsinki region. Senior citizens were most favorable towards Räsänen's opinions.
