A Christian teacher in Ireland is at odds with his employer, Wilson’s Hospital School in Multyfarnham, County Westmeath, Ireland. This school is affiliated with the Church of Ireland making it noteworthy that they would go to extraordinary lengths to enforce transgenderism on their faculty. On Monday, Enoch Burke was jailed for contempt of a court order that barred him from teaching or being on campus at the behest of Wilson’s Hospital School.
A student wanted to be referred to as a “they” instead of “he” in Burke’s classroom. Naturally, being a Christian, Burke refused the students and his parent’s request. According to the Daily Mail, Burke told the court:
‘I love my school, with its motto Res Non Verba, actions not words, but I am here today because I said I would not call a boy a girl.’
He added: ‘Transgenderism is against my Christian belief. It is contrary to the scriptures, contrary to the ethos of the Church of Ireland and of my school.’
Referring to his suspension, Mr Burke said: ‘It is extraordinary and reprehensible that someone’s religious beliefs on this matter could ever be taken as grounds for an allegation of misconduct.
‘My religious beliefs are not misconduct. They are not gross misconduct. They never will be. They are dear to me. I will never deny them and never betray them, and I will never bow to an order that would require me to do so. It is just not possible for me to do that.’
The lawyer for the school told the judge according to Daily Mail:
Rosemary Mallon BL, for the board of management, told Judge Michael Quinn that her client had no choice but to ask the court to send Burke to prison for breach of a court order.
‘It is a coercive order we are seeking, not a punitive order. We are simply seeking to have Mr Burke comply with the order.
‘…Mr Burke is knowingly in breach of this order, he is therefore in contempt and he has made it clear that if he is not committed to prison he will attend at the school [today], and the concerns of the school regarding the ongoing disruption to the students remain,’ she added.
The case is still being adjudicated.
Analysis
Enoch Burke forced the school to, perhaps, violate their own conscious. As Jesus in Mathew 5:40, “If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also.” Enoch Burke applied this passage in violating the court order thus forcing his employer and the government to escalate the situation. By escalating the situation, Enoch Burke has shifted public support in his favor. In the eyes of the public, jailing a teacher for refusing to comply with transgenderism is what the school just had done. When he shows up to his next hearing having been jailed for misgendering making international news
This is how you apply Matthew 5. It often involves short term suffering so that your enemy falls on their own hubris. While men like Jordan Peterson talk, Enoch Burke actually took a stand on this issue, and it’s great to see Christian men be willing to suffer for the truth. May God’s will be done, and may He be with Mr. Burke.
