HATE Christian teacher imprisoned in Ireland after refusing to use transgender student's preferred pronouns

Henry Bowman

Henry Bowman

Veteran Member
Christian teacher imprisoned in Ireland after refusing to use transgender student's preferred pronouns:

CHRIS PANDOLFO
September 06, 2022

A Christian teacher in Ireland who refused to use the preferred pronouns of a transgender student has been suspended and is now in jail for contempt of court.

Enoch Burke was arrested on Monday for violating a court order to neither teach nor be physically present at Wilson's Hospital School in Multyfarnham, County Westmeath, Ireland. The Church of Ireland-affiliated boarding school sought to have Burke imprisoned after he continued to attend the school after receiving a court order barring him from doing so, the Daily Mail reports.
"It is insanity that I will be led from this courtroom to a place of incarceration, but I will not give up my Christian beliefs," Burke said after Judge Michael Quinn found him in contempt of court.

The trouble for Burke started when he refused to address a transgender student by the pronoun "they" rather than "he," as requested by the student and the student's parents in May. The school agreed to the request.


But Burke, a Christian, was placed on suspension after he refused to address the student with gender-neutral pronouns.
"I am a teacher and I don't want to go to prison. I want to be in my classroom today, that's where I was this morning when I was arrested," Burke told the judge Monday, according to the Daily Mail.



He explained that he loves teaching students German, history, and politics and encouraging debate.
"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," 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," he added, referring to his suspension.
"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," he continued.

Burke described the school's actions as "unreasonable, unjust, and unfair."
A lawyer for Wilson's Hospital School's board of management reportedly said it was with a "heavy heart" that the administration suspended Burke and sought to have him imprisoned, but that his actions gave them no other choice.
"It is a coercive order we are seeking, not a punitive order. We are simply seeking to have Mr Burke comply with the order," the counsel said.

"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.
According to the Daily Mail, the school's counsel noted that Burke could make his arguments about religious liberty at court on Tuesday, when the injunction issued last week will be reviewed, and also at the school's disciplinary hearing later this month.
Judge Quinn reportedly said his ruling was not based on the merits of Burke's argument, but rather on whether he had willfully violated the court order.

He added that Burke could purge his contempt at any point by agreeing not to attend his school or attempt to teach there.
English broadcaster Piers Morgan called Burke's imprisonment a "ridiculous farce."
"Jailed for not wanting to call a singular person ‘they’ - what a ridiculous farce. How can anyone believe this is right in a supposedly free, democratic society?" Morgan tweeted.

He added that while he doesn't agree with the teacher's views, "for him to be jailed is … outrageous."
www.theblaze.com

Christian teacher imprisoned in Ireland after refusing to use transgender student's preferred pronouns

A Christian teacher in Ireland who refused to use the preferred pronouns of a transgender student has been suspended and is now in jail for contempt of court. Enoch Burke was arrested on Monday for violating a court order to neither teach nor be physically present at Wilson's Hospital School in...
www.theblaze.com www.theblaze.com
 
M

Marthanoir

TB Fanatic
The majority of schools in Ireland are religious schools , this school is an Anglican school, run by the Church of Ireland.

The school board took out a court order barring him from school premises, he went back on to school premises.
The judge had no choice but to follow the law.
 
ShadowMan

ShadowMan

Designated Grumpy Old Fart
There's the "law" and then there's what is RIGHT!! When a law is wrong, no matter what, nothing can make it right. This whole transgender crap is an abomination and a severe mental illness. Feeding that illness is abuse, plain and simple.
 
M

Marthanoir

TB Fanatic
ShadowMan said:
There's the "law" and then there's what is RIGHT!! When a law is wrong, no matter what, nothing can make it right. This whole transgender crap is an abomination and a severe mental illness. Feeding that illness is abuse, plain and simple.
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The transgender nonsense wasn't the issue, he entered the school when they had taken out a court order barring him from the school.

By all accounts he was a good teacher and well liked by the pupils, he could have walked straight into a teaching position at another school.
The Anglican Church of the parish shpuld have resolved the issue without a court order. More than likely he was set up by the lgbtmgbgt activists the same as Ash's bakery were.
 
L

Luddite

Veteran Member
Can't fault his religious conviction..

If on an American jury, I'd probably vote against my "legal duty" to convict him.

Tell the judge to "keep me until you get tired of feeding me". Judges everywhere despise challenge to their authority. The ones I've known personally are what we call "big feeling". (Not used as a compliment)

He could have kicked the dust off his sandals and just went somewhere else to work...
 
dawgofwar10

dawgofwar10

Veteran Member
Somebody finally said **** it… more people do this we will have a coalition, then we can ban coalitions against coalitions and really confuse the liberal maggots of this world. And finally a coalition to end all the bull shit…
 
Squib

Squib

Veteran Member
1) The anti christ group will celebrate and appeal to the rule of law (because it suits them in this farce).

2) The cowardly will agree with this ruling citing the letter of the law ( because they’re compromisers).

3) The person of principle will take a stand and not play the games - it’s hold the line here or somewhere else - sooner or later - this school or another, you’ll either take a stand or not…unless you’re in one of the first two groups.
 
Melodi

Melodi

Disaster Cat
Marthanoir said:
Yeah this ^ contempt of court, he'd been ordered not to go on school property.
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Exactly, he was given a court order not to go on school property but instead he went into his old classroom and sat at his desk.

So he wasn't arrested directly for being a Christian or for refusing to use pronouns, it was because he violated a court order and knew he was doing so.

That doesn't say the initial case is being judged correctly, but this is the sort of "reporting" the UK/Irish Daily Mail is famous for, taking a bit of the truth and slanting it to make the story look worse than it is. They are less likely to do this with stories from overseas, but they do it all the time with local stories and/or public figures.
 
M

Marthanoir

TB Fanatic
Melodi said:
Exactly, he was given a court order not to go on school property but instead he went into his old classroom and sat at his desk.

So he wasn't arrested directly for being a Christian or for refusing to use pronouns, it was because he violated a court order and knew he was doing so.

That doesn't say the initial case is being judged correctly, but this is the sort of "reporting" the UK/Irish Daily Mail is famous for, taking a bit of the truth and slanting it to make the story look worse than it is. They are less likely to do this with stories from overseas, but they do it all the time with local stories and/or public figures.
Click to expand...

And the original case hasn't even been to court yet,
He was suspended pending a disciplinary hearing which hasn't happened yet,
He still kept turning up for work enter the building and sitting at his desk, the school took out an injuction barring him from the building and he still kept doing it.

The Gardai were called to remove him and he was arrested, charged and brought before the court for breaching a court order barring him from the premises.

Should the Gardai have not followed the law or should the judge have not followed the law.
Should the judge have set a precident which could be used later down the line against any injuction, pedo's, stalkers, domestic violence abusers, the list is endless.

The judge was not there to rule on the use of pronouns or if the school was breaching Mr Burkes employment rights or civil rights.
He was solely dealing with a case of breach of an injunction.

The judge even told him promise to stay away from the school until the hearing and you can go home.
Mr Burke refused.
 
Last edited:
Samuel Adams

Samuel Adams

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Long and the short is, as those with a God given conscience find themselves ever falling out of compatibility with those who have made other choices…….withdrawal is the only option left.

Making a nuisance of oneself is not benefiting anyone.


Thus far, the only “christian persecution” I am seeing in the world is where an individual, steeped in contract and consensual participation in all that Caesar has to offer, attempts to exert his “faith” against the beast…….all the while living at the behest of that beast, rather than by the narrow road prescribed by Creator.

“Come out of her”, if you want protection.

The Bible speaks only of living and teaching His precepts, by your own example.

No where do I see reference to commandment to infiltrate the strongholds of opposition forces.
 
Melodi

Melodi

Disaster Cat
Internet stop age my last post but basically, I was just saying that this man is not in jail for being a Christian, he is in jail because he violated that court order not to be on school property until the case was settled. He could have chosen to stand just off the property with a protest sign or any number of other legal ways to call attention to his case.

Instead, he chooses to go sit in his (former) classroom and then refused to leave, the police were called (guards) and the judge sent him to jail for contempt of court. Just like anyone else who defies a direct court retraining order, like an ex-spouse or stalker.
 
M

Marthanoir

TB Fanatic

Teacher jailed for refusing to comply with court injunction​


A teacher who objects to addressing a student with the pronoun ‘they’ has been jailed over his refusal to comply with a temporary injunction preventing him from attending or teaching at the secondary school where he is employed.


Mr Justice Michael Quinn ordered that Enoch Burke be committed to Mountjoy Prison until he agrees to obey an order not to attend at or attempt to teach any classes at Wilson’s Hospital School in County Westmeath, which suspended him from his position as a teacher of History and German.


The order was granted after the school’s lawyers told the court that Mr Burke was not complying with both the terms of his paid suspension, and an ex-parte temporary injunction requiring him to stay away from the school.


The judge said that Mr Burke must remain incarcerated until he purges his contempt and agrees to comply with the injunction secured by the school last week.




The judge made the order after Mr Burke told the court that he could not comply with the order, and that he intended to return to the school.


He said that his suspension arose over his objection to the school’s direction to staff last May to call ‘a boy’, as being ‘a girl’ at the school.


This he said that such a direction was “contrary to scripture” and was against the “ethos of my school and the Church of Ireland”, and something he could never agree to as he does not agree with transgenderism.


Agreeing to comply with the court order, he said, amounted to a breach of his own morals, ethos and religious views.


He said he “didn’t want to go to prison” and respected the law.




However, complying with the orders would be “a contempt” of his own deeply held Christian beliefs which he added are “very dear to me”.


Representing himself in the action, he said that he had been wrongly suspended from his job, that the disciplinary process used to suspend him was procedurally flawed and that the injunction should not have been granted.


Mr Burke said he “loved being a teacher” and the school itself.


However, he said that he objected to the school’s direction in relation to the pupil.


Mr Burke was arrested on Monday morning at the school by gardaí and was conveyed to the Four Courts in Dublin.




The order for Mr Burke’s attachment was made last Friday after the court was told that, in breach of both the terms of his paid suspension and the temporary injunction, Mr Burke had been present on the school’s campus “sitting in an empty classroom”.


The school, in Multyfarnham County Westmeath, is the Church of Ireland’s Diocesan School for Meath and Kildare.


The board, represented in the action by Rosemary Mallon BL, instructed by Ian O’Herlihy of Mason Hayes and Curran solicitors, claims that despite being served with, and being made aware of the making of, an interim injunction, Mr Burke had continued to attend at the school.


Counsel added that the school was seeking the committal order against Mr Burke as a coercive measure, had been taken as “a last resort”, and not a punitive one.


It does not wish to see him jailed but wants him to comply with the terms of the temporary injunction.




The school claims that his refusal to comply with the injunction may be disruptive to students at the beginning of the new academic year.


Giving the court’s decision, Mr Justice Quinn said that the background issues in the dispute were not what he had to consider in relation to the motion for Mr Burke’s attachment and committal.


Mr Burke, he said, has an opportunity to raise his objections to both his suspension and the injunction, at hearings that scheduled for later this month.


The court’s only concern was Mr Burke’s compliance with the terms of the injunction, he said.


The judge said that based on what had been put before the court, Mr Burke was in clear contempt of the court’s order.




The defendant had clarified his position by stating that he would not comply with the injunction obtained last week, the judge noted.


The judge said that as a result, Mr Burke was being committed to prison until he decides to purge his contempt. Mr Burke can do that at any time, the judge added.


Previously, the court heard that Mr Burke was placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of a disciplinary process commenced by the school, where he has been employed for several years, in mid-August.


That process commenced after it is alleged that Mr Burke publicly voiced his alleged opposition to the school principal’s direction to address a student, who wishes to transition, by a different name and by using the pronoun ‘they’ rather than he or she.


Mr Burke said told the court on Monday that he believes direction amounted to “hypocrisy”, adding that it was not something that he could ever agree to do.


The school’s board of management had last week secured a temporary, ex-parte, High Court order against Mr Burke, preventing him from attending or teaching any classes at the school.


The order was obtained because the board claims that Mr Burke was not abiding by the terms of his suspension, which it is alleged he believes is unlawful, by attending at the school.


The court also heard that a substitute teacher has been hired to teach his classes while he remains suspended.


The school says Mr Burke has been placed on paid administrative leave, but has not been sanctioned and no finding has been made against him.


The school claims that despite its decision to suspend him, he has continued to attend at the school’s campus.


The school claimed he would continue to attend the premises, in accordance with the teaching timetable assigned to him prior to his suspension, unless committed to prison.


Mr Burke, the court heard, has described his suspension as being unreasonable, unjust and unlawful.


The disciplinary process arose after the teacher objected to a request by the school, based on a request from a student and their parents, earlier this year to address a student, who wishes to transition, by a different name and to use the pronoun ‘they’.


Mr Burke, it is claimed, objected to this, questioned the school’s position, has alleged that a belief system is being forced on students.


He also claimed that the school’s request amounts to a breach of constitutional rights, the High Court heard.


In correspondence to Mr Burke, the school denied that anyone is being ‘forced’ to do anything.


The school said that it is focusing on the needs and welfare of its students and is affirming its policy in accordance with the 2000 Equal Status Act of not discriminating against any student.


It says it has acknowledged Mr Burke’s religious beliefs but expects him to communicate with the student in accordance with the student and their parent’s wishes.


The school said that last June a service and dinner was held to mark its 260th anniversary. It was attended by clergy, staff, past and present pupils, parents, and board members. It is claimed that Mr Burke interrupted the service and said that the school principal, Ms Niamh McShane, should withdraw the earlier demand regarding the transitioning of the student.


It is also claimed that he said that he could not agree with transgenderism, and said it went against the school’s ethos and the teaching of the Church of Ireland. The school claims that after he spoke, members of the congregation and students walked out of the school chapel where the service was being conducted.


It is claimed that at the follow-up dinner Mr Burke did not sit at any table.


After the meal he is alleged to have approached the principal, and again asked her to withdraw the request regarding the student.


Mr Burke told the court that he did speak after the service, and that at the meal he again asked Ms McShane to withdraw the direction.


Arising out of Mr Burke’s alleged conduct, a disciplinary process was commenced, and considered by the board, resulting in a decision to place him on administrative leave pending the outcome of the process.


The next stage of the disciplinary process is due to take place in mid-September.

www.westmeathexaminer.ie

Teacher jailed for refusing to comply with court injunction | Westmeath Examiner

A teacher who objects to addressing a student with the pronoun ‘they’ has been jailed over his refusal to comply with a temporary injunction preventing him from attending or teaching at the secondary school where he is employed.
www.westmeathexaminer.ie www.westmeathexaminer.ie
 
M

Marthanoir

TB Fanatic
Redleg said:
This makes my head spin. How do you keep track of this when everyone wants to be called something different.
Just use their given name to address the whiney ass bastards.
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its an old fashioned posh boarding school, head boy , head girl, You boy!!
that kind of shite,

Most likely the posh parents who are paying a large amount of money to send their child to an elite school raised stink that their little precious wasn't being addressed by whatever gender they'd decided on,
4.2% of people in the Republic of Ireland are Protestant, with Church of Ireland being the largest denomination, most are left over from the landed gentry before the War of Independence.
Many of these are old money, no doubt pressure was put on the school for little Johnny / Janey to be humoured or else.
The school followed the money.

coincidentally the school principle Ms Niamh McShane left the school in June this year and has taken up the principle position at Bandon Grammer School another Church of Ireland boarding school..
 
Dobbin

Dobbin

Faithful Steed
Marthanoir said:
The school board took out a court order barring him from school premises, he went back on to school premises.
The judge had no choice but to follow the law.
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Sounds like Trespassing.

No longer an employee, remove thyself, and allow us our delusions.

He fought the law and the law won...

Dobbin
 
Dobbin

Dobbin

Faithful Steed
"They" does sound like "royal pronouns."

Royal we - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

The royal we, majestic plural (pluralis majestatis), or royal plural, is the use of a plural pronoun (or corresponding plural-inflected verb forms) used by a single person who is a monarch or holds a high office to refer to themselves. A more general term for the use of a we, us, or our to refer to oneself is nosism.
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One imagines this transgender "rules the roost" in this household. NOT the way to raise a functioning, generous, insightful human. Rather a self-centered BRAT.

Dobbin
 
rob0126

rob0126

Veteran Member
bw said:
Suppose not. But you DO have a legal obligation to obey a court order telling you to stay away from specified premises.
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As much as I agree with the teachers convictions, he should have let this one go.
If the school wants to go woke, then they can go broke.

Sad for the children being taught that nonsense.
 
M

Marthanoir

TB Fanatic
ShadowMan said:
Translate please?????? I only speak good English, bad English, sailor and Marine.
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tumblr_mgvemvVNrU1r8ldg2o1_500.gif
 
Dennis Olson

Dennis Olson

Chief Curmudgeon
_______________
Marthanoir said:
Should the Gardai have not followed the law or should the judge have not followed the law.
Should the judge have set a precident which could be used later down the line against any injuction
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Why not? It’s done here in the states all the time.
 
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