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For refusing to compromise on biblical beliefs or abandon his mission as a teacher, Enoch Burke has lost his job and is now sitting in an Irish jail. Christians should take note: This is what it looks like to truly stand firm for your faith.
Too often Christians make compromises with the world, despite John’s warning to “not love the world or the things in the world” (1 John 2:15).
Compromising has always been a temptation for Christians, but it has become especially easy in the face of today’s overwhelming assault by LGBT and gender ideologies. How many times have Christians given in and used someone’s “preferred pronouns” because someone insisted they have to? The justification is usually something along the lines of, “Well, I don’t want to lose my job over such a small thing” or “I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.”
In this context, the example of Enoch Burke should inspire all believers.
Burke, a Protestant Christian, is a teacher at Wilson’s Hospital School in Ireland who has repeatedly found himself in trouble for refusing to bend the knee to gender ideology. When administrators at the Anglican-affiliated school then put him on leave in 2022 for refusing to call a boy by the pronouns “they/them,” Burke went to his classroom and sat quietly, ready to teach, just like on any other day — despite administrators getting a court injunction to stop him from coming on campus.
Burke was promptly arrested for standing up for his beliefs. Explaining his motivations, Burke said at court:
“I am here today because I said I would not call a boy a girl. 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.”
Though Burke was eventually let out from prison, he continued showing up at the school to protest his unjust removal — eventually leading to three total arrests, the last of which took place on September 2.
Over the past two years, Burke has suffered for more than 400 days in the Orwellian-named Mountjoy Prison for his opposition to the “hellish ideology of transgenderism,” as he aptly put it. His case is now set for review on October 11.
Burke’s courage in the face of imprisonment, the loss of his job, and being demonized by his opponents is an example that all Christians should follow.
As Burke said in 2022, “I can be a Christian in Mountjoy Prison or I can be a pagan acceptor of transgenderism outside it,” and he has clearly shown his choice.
He knows that using someone’s “preferred pronouns” is not just a harmless, inconvenient societal norm. It is a vicious act of violence against the truth, with consequences for both the person telling the lie and for the gender-dysphoric individuals it is supposedly meant to benefit.
Calling a boy by a girl’s name and pronouns, and vice versa, is many times the first step enabling children to get on the slippery slope to gender “changing” drugs and surgeries.
These “treatments,” as a recent influential report has demonstrated, do not actually cure patients of their gender dysphoria. Worse, such medical interventions cause lifelong physical maladies and often lead to feelings of regret, despair, and even suicide.
The Enoch Burkes of the world are frequently maligned and portrayed as bigots standing in the path of progress. But who is the real villain in stories like these? Principled conscientious objectors like Burke, or the gender ideology advocates who sacrifice children for political gain?
Christians have a moral duty to speak the truth, especially at a time in which “On every side the wicked prowl” and “vileness is exalted among the children of man” (Psalm 12:8).
It is very easy and convenient to lie to ourselves and say, “What difference will my opposition make? Why risk my career and reputation for a pointless gesture that will have no impact?”
The problem is that this sort of thinking is why the concept of choosing one’s “gender identity” went from a laughingstock to a sacred axiom. Imagine if tens of millions of Christians had put their foot down at the beginning, declaring they would rather lose their jobs than give in to a blatant lie that assaults the foundation of God’s design for mankind.
Odds are that transgenderism would not have metastasized to controlling practically every Western institution, including church schools. Solomon’s warning is particularly poignant for our age: “Like a muddied spring or a polluted fountain is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked” (Proverbs 25:26).
“My religious beliefs are not misconduct. . . . They never will be,” Burke declared. “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.”
May his conviction and perseverance serve as an inspiration to all other Christ followers: We must courageously stand up for our faith and for the truth — no matter the cost.
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