Letter: The Burke family has taken a Christian approach to their protest over Enoch's suspension from his teaching post

Is the Burke family taking the right course of action to raise awareness of Enoch Burke’s ongoing battle with the establishment and the school system for refusing to address a student by a new name and the pronoun ‘they’?

Further to this question and more importantly is it the Christian thing to do?

I’ll answer that quickly and the answer is yes.

Let me explain why.

Many non-believers and Christians alike see the activities of the Burke family, when they disrupted a gala dinner in Washington DC, as disrespectful, unchristian and bringing shame upon the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

When I hear and read such comments, I wonder do people read the Bible or do they just come up with these ideas in their own head because they think, that this is what Jesus would say to the Burke family. I would also pose this question, are we to obey authority if it is contrary to the Word of God?

Let us very briefly look at some examples from Holy Scripture to be our guide.

One of the most well-known portions in the Bible is when Jesus through the money changers out of the temple by chasing them with a whip and turning over the tables. Surely this is an unseemly action by Christ Himself? God Forbid, but righteous anger is not sin.

If we look at the widow who kept appealing to the unjust, ungodly judge what was she to do. She kept on at him until in relented. What happened to John the Baptist when he simply didn’t endorse the ungodly relationship that Herod was having. Trivial in today’s world but he lost his head as a result. What about Daniel and the lion’s den, simply refusing to stop praying to God or Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who very simply wouldn’t bow down to a false god.

Let’s not forget the facts of this case, Enoch was suspended from his job simply for not affirming a boy who wanted to be known as ‘they’. Everything stems and originates from this point.

Some people like to focus on the contempt of court ruling yet forget that Enoch should never have been suspended in the first place and further still should never have been in court in order to be in contempt of it. The church should be unifying around Enoch Burke by supporting him and causing outrage across the land. Instead, we have division, confusion and worse still, people taking their own self righteous moral high ground.

I would like to see what these same people would do if they were imprisoned for over 500 days. I would suggest they would have capitulated to the demands of the unjust and corrupt legal system that is affirming the LGBT ideology that is rampant in Ireland.

Around St Patrick’s Day, I wonder what he would have to say on the matter? Would St Patrick have said ‘Enoch bow down to the authorities and do what your told’ or would he have supported Enoch and encouraged him and his family to keep going until the fight was won? If we are to go by the reaction of the church then I don’t believe there would have been a St Patrick’s day because Christianity would not have come to Ireland and we would still be living in our pagan ways.

Let us always remember that He created them Male and Female.

Derek Holmes, Clough, Co Down