22/09/2022
Atheist and LGBTQIA campaigners have joined forces to welcome the decision of the Irish Supreme Court in Dublin to reject an application by an evangelical Christian fundamentalist teacher to return to his job at a school in County Westmeath. Enoch Burke, who has earned the monicker on atheist web forums of “silly Burke” had refused to comply with a request from the headteacher that he refer to a trans pupil by their chosen pronouns. Burke had however, also aggressively confronted the head teacher at an event and breached a court order stopping him from going back to his workplace to further aggravate matters. The court was satisfied that Burke should return to prison, where he has been held since breaking the law. Whilst Burke claimed that the state was denying him his religious freedom, Mr Justice Roberts reminded him that he was actually in prison because of his insistence that he had broken court orders. Rosemary Mallon, barrister for the school, said the legal decisions were not about transgenderism but about his failure to follow lawful directions of the school’s board of management and to comply with court orders.
