Kari Mäkinen (born 5 January 1955) is the former archbishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland.

He was born in Pori, and graduated with a Bachelor of Theology in 1979, now equivalent to a master's degree, and received his licentiate in 1987.

[2] On 28 October 2014, when the Finnish Parliament narrowly approved a citizen's initiative to legalize same-sex marriages, Mäkinen posted on his Facebook page with the following: "I know how much this day means to the rainbow community, their loved ones and many others.

[3] In March 2016, Mäkinen promised that the church would protect refugees whose request for asylum was rejected by the Finnish immigration officials.

Approximately one thousand Finns resigned their church membership in the days following his statement.