Letter: There is nothing liberal about the persecution of Enoch Burke for his religious belief
A letter from Gerald Morgan:
Enoch Burke is a Christian who in an extraordinary way in modern times has been in effect persecuted for his religious belief as a Protestant in the Republic of Ireland for insisting on the presence of only two biological sexes, namely, male and female, and in addition refusing to subscribe to present-day transgender ideology.
The Republic of Ireland justifiably in many ways prides itself as being a liberal democracy, but there is nothing liberal about the persecution of Enoch Burke, a prisoner in Mountjoy Prison, for his religious belief.
What in reality has changed in respect of religious intolerance in the Republic of Ireland since the time of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid?
In February 1944, John Charles McQuaid banned Roman Catholics from attendance at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland's greatest university since its foundation in 1592 by Elizabeth I, excommunicated as a heretic by Pope Pius V on February 25, 1570.
This ban remained in force until 1970 as I remember well from my appointment as a junior lecturer in English in 1968.
Had this intolerant ban not been in force in the 1950s and 1960s we might have avoided the religious conflicts that overtook us in 1969 with the result of the loss of many lives on either side of the religious divide and the ruin of many thousands of lives in addition.
Is it still impossible to make room for religious toleration in Ireland in 2025? With the continued persecution of Enoch Burke obviously not.
What a conclusion to draw in supposedly enlightened times.
Gerald Morgan, leader and treasurer: English Parliamentary Party, Dublin 4