Enoch Burke turns up to school again despite sacking - read OP before posting

Group that promotes a religion based on no scientific proof lectures others about science 🤣

The flat earthers and the creationists also try and pretend that science is on their side. It is a fairly common tactic of the anti-science crowd.

The irony of that was not lost on me, as I posted earlier, there are a few scientists who don’t believe in immaculate conception.

While I’m not in favour of a blanket “no” for primary schools as these guys have said, I’m also not in favour of giving the topic too much emphasis either for kids of such a young age. Shirley it can be addressed in a straightforward manner without fuss or impinging on any sort of Catholic ethos? It doesn’t have to be hours and hours of classes but not addressing it at all is just typical Catholic Church burying their head in the sand yet again.

Not necessarily but I admire his strength of character. And I acknowledge that he has principled objections.

I would hope that you & I too would be prepared to end up in the Joy by way of standing up for what we believe in.

I would hope you or I would stand for something more worthwhile than "I should be allowed to yell at people that don't give me my way". Unlike that scofflaw Burke.

Well, you've certainly changed your tune since last year: "Zealots & fanatics and we should always be wary of zealots & fanatics of any hue."

I guess now we'll see you all over the various threads admiring the strength of character of Extinction Rebellion/Insulate Britain/Just Stop Oil etc. for their "principled objections" and actions in flouting the law and causing disruption in the name of what they believe in.

You wouldn't want to be a hypocrite, now would you, only defending certain principles and not others...

Do you really not get it or are you just amusing yourself at this stage? There is a world of difference between strength of character and stupid, brainwashed stubbornness. We have gone way past his religious principles at this stage. As has been explained numerous times, if he had accommodated his religious principles at the very start by making a proper objection to his superior and then through DofE channels none of this would have happened.

He could have stopped the court cases and drama at any stage by saying, look I'm sorry I abused the Principal and behaved unprofessionally, I cannot accept the instruction to use neutral language about a trans student but I approached it in the wrong way. He would probably still have his job, he could very easily avoid addressing the student in question and could have put his considered, educated, professional argument to the school and the department of education. Granted he would not have changed policy as he is in a very small minority in his opinions, but he has not changed policy as it is, and has not even given himself the opportunity to submit any sort of rational or logical argument to the school or any other authorities.

Ultimately he could have demonstrated his principles by resigning from his job, he would have got the same result without the fines, drama, and making himself unemployable. Of course he did not do any of this because he has been trying desperately to make a martyr of himself.

If he had initially said, in a reasonable discussion with his principal, I cannot use gender neutral pronouns, and explained his argument, and the Principal had then sacked him, that could have been seen as trampling on Burke's religious rights. He would have created just as much awareness and got a much more positive response from public opinion, even from people who did not basically agree with him, and very likely have won a court case for unfair dismissal.

As it is, the courts and public opinion have shown little sympathy for his histrionics. The courts have a duty to support his religious rights, but in no way is this about his religious rights, it is entirely about his inability to abide by the basic requirements that enable the country to operate in a reasonable, organised and equitable manner.

Some of the responses above are very strange! Comparing Enoch Burke to Putin is just so completely ridiculous as to be laughable. Let's remind ourselves that Burke is a teacher - he's not a mass murderer or a criminal or a paedophile. He's no great threat to anyone except perhaps to his own health.

Yes he seems to be a zealot and I think it's wise to be wary of fanatics and zealots. But being wary of someone is quite different from condemning them out of hand and throwing all sorts of nasty slurs at them and their family.

Personally we know someone who has chosen to change their gender and even though it's strange, are happy to call them by whatever name they want. However like many Irish parents and probably parents world wide, we'd be wary about those (some of who are zealots) who push this agenda onto children when they are in the formative stages of their life. I'm not surprised at all to see the intervention by the Catholic Primary Schools grouping.

As for Oliver Callan, he's lost his edge altogether in recent months. His recent stuff on RTE Radio is just pathetic, no matter the topic.

Well, a lot of people consider your posts to be very strange as well. Continuing to pretend that Burke is someone to be admired for being abusive to his boss and pretending that he hasn't been sacked and that court orders don't apply to him seems pretty ridiculous.

The point being made though is the apparent admiration/respect for Burke's willingness to stand up for his principles.

As I've suggested already in this thread, if this was about a teacher who (for example, and for whatever reason) had refused to teach evolution, or refused to entertain the posibility of discussing mixed-race marriage in their classes, there'd be none of this 'if nothing else you have to admire their willingness to stand up for their principles' nonsense.

And you could ask yourself why posters who would not admire somebody's willingness to stand up for those principles are admiring Burke's willingness to stand up for these principles.

That’s a fair point, but associating it with a serial killer and despotic warmonger, is going off the reservation.

There's a tragic amount of wasted potential in that family - educated and motivated children who are so far down the rabbit hole of indoctrination they can't think logically.