John 3:16 Criminalized in Once-Christian Europe

John R. Houk, Blog Editor

© March 26, 2025

 

Religious Liberty has become so tarnished in once-upon-a-time Free Europe that public expression of Bible Verses can land a Christian in jail.

 

Clive Johnston with a small gathering of listeners delivered a sermon outside in Northern Ireland with the sermon text of John 3:16. His legal issue: Johnston was too close to a “Safe Access Zone” to an ABORTION CLINIC (aka unborn baby-killing factory). Keep in mind Johnston was NOT in the Safe Access Zone but close to it.

 

From what I read at WND’s news story, Johnston did not even sermonize against abortion. He just use the text John 3:16:

 

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

 

I guess Jesus the Son of God providing EVERLASTING LIFE was too much to bare at the Abortion Clinic and the UK legal system administered in Northern Ireland because 76 year old Clive Johnston was arrested and hauled off to a Northern Ireland jail.

 

Imagine that, the Word of God has become so offensive in Globalized Woke Europe, that Christians are persecuted for their faith. It is like the old pagan Roman Empire has revived and Christians are being hauled to a Coliseum for punishment for their faith.

 

Do you think this is just a European thing? Nay reader. American Dems have criminalized peaceful prayer vigils near American Abortion Clinics.

 

Consider these Headlines:

 

o   FBI raids home of pro-life leader on questionable charges; By CNA Staff; Catholic News Agency; 9/23/22

 

o   4 pro-life protesters found guilty of FACE Act violations in Tennessee; By Jon Brown; The Christian Post; 4/3/24

 

o   Judge Sentences 75-Year-Old Woman for Praying at Abortion Clinic, Taunts Horrified Husband for Christian Faith: Report; By Samuel Short; MSN.com (Western Journal); 6/4/24

 

Amazingly Mark Houck received a 2023 jury acquittal over the FBI arrest: “Acquitted pro-life activist Mark Houck reveals details of ‘reckless’ FBI raid; will press charges”.

 

AND President Trump has stepped in pardon some Christians politically persecuted with convictions:

 

o   Trump pardons pro-life activists jailed for protesting at abortion clinics; By Michael Gryboski; The Christian Post; 1/23/25

 

What happens if or when deluded Dem voters install another Dem tyrant targeting Christian Liberty? The installed Biden regime does not install confidence for future Christian Liberty in America’s post-Trump future.

 

So look at the tyranny in once-upon-a-time Free Europe and understand persecution for our Christian faith is still knocking on America’s door.

 

JRH 3/26/25

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'Religiously illiterate': Pastor prosecuted after voicing the most famous verse in the Bible

 

By Joe Kovacs

March 25, 2025

WND

John 3:16 Focus (WND Photo)

 

It's considered the most famous line in the Holy Bible.

 

John 3:16 states: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

 

Now, a retired pastor in Northern Ireland is facing prosecution for voicing the inspirational passage during an open-air sermon.

 

The charge is that Clive Johnston, 76, allegedly violated "abortion buffer zones laws," even though abortion was never mentioned in his message.

Clive Johnston (WND Photo)

 

Johnston, former president of the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland, is facing two charges under the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act for holding an open-air Sunday service on the fringes of a buffer zone on the other side of a dual carriageway from Coleraine's Causeway Hospital on July 7, 2024.

 

He's accused of seeking to "influence" people accessing the hospital's abortion services and for not immediately leaving the area when asked to do so by police.

 

If convicted, the grandfather of seven, who has never been in trouble with the police, faces a criminal record and maximum fines totaling thousands of dollars.

 

Johnston told reporters: "I'd like to thank the media for the interest that they've taken in the case. And we have been overwhelmed by the amount of support that we've received."

ICYMI: Retired pastor Clive Johnston in court. #ChristianInfluence pic.twitter.com/Jeulc00HhZ

— The Christian Institute (@christianorguk) March 24, 2025

 

Simon Calvert, deputy director of The Christian Institute which is representing Johnston, said: "Should a law designed to stop abortion protests be used to criminalize Gospel preaching?

 

"We have amazing gospel freedom in this country and we encourage Christians to use those freedoms so that more people will hear about the love of God. That's why we've taken on this case. Prosecuting someone for preaching John 3:16 near a hospital on a quiet Sunday is an outrageous restriction on freedom of religion and freedom of speech.

 

"It's just not reasonable or rational to suggest that preaching the Gospel, with no reference to abortion, is a protest against abortion. The police and the Public Prosecution Service are over-stepping the mark. This is not what buffer zones were designed to do.

 

"As far as I can tell, the politicians who backed buffer zones never suggested they should be used to outlaw the Gospel. I hope some of them will come forward to confirm this. They could help to persuade prosecutors to drop this ridiculous case.

 

"Clive has campaigned in the past on abortion. If there had been anti-abortion placards on display, or if Clive had made side-swipes at abortion, I could understand why the police would take an interest. But abortion was not mentioned, not once, not even tangentially.

 

"For the record, this was an open-air service held on a Sunday, with about a dozen people in attendance, on a patch of grass, separated from Causeway Hospital by a dual carriageway. There was a wooden cross, and Clive leading the singing of well-known hymns on a ukelele. Yet the police summons says he 'conducted a protest' to try to 'influence' patients or staff attending the abortion clinic. This is religiously illiterate."

 

"Speech that has nothing to do with abortion should not be criminalized as if it is an anti-abortion protest. This is fundamentally unjust. If prosecutors succeed in getting a conviction against Clive for preaching about God's love, what will that mean for other forms of non-abortion-related speech in these zones? Could people outside a hospital protesting health service cutbacks or junior doctors' pay be prosecuted?"

 

"The Christian Institute is backing this case because there is a vital principle at stake. If the Gospel can be banned in this public place, where else can it be banned? The authorities do not seem to have thought through the human rights implications of their decision to prosecute."

 

Johnston had a preliminary hearing on March 21, and his trial is expected "in the next few months."

 

Follow Joe on X @JoeKovacsNews

 

Executive News Editor Joe Kovacs is the author of the new best-selling book, "Reaching God Speed: Unlocking the Secret Broadcast Revealing the Mystery of Everything." His previous books include "Shocked by the Bible 2: Connecting the Dots in Scripture to Reveal the Truth They Don't Want You to Know," a follow-up to his No. 1 best-seller "Shocked by the Bible: The Most Astonishing Facts You've Never Been Told" as well as "The Divine Secret: The Awesome and Untold Truth about Your Phenomenal Destiny." He is an award-winning journalist of more than 30 years in American TV, radio and the internet, and is also a former editor at the Budapest Business Journal in Europe. Read more of Joe Kovacs's articles here.

 

Copyright © 2025 WorldNetDaily

 

My Intro to Cooke’s ‘Why Did King Charles III Do That?’

John R. Houk, Blog Editor

© September 21, 2022

 

Tony Cooke was one of Instructors in the days I attended what was then RHEMA Bible Training Center (Now RHEMA Bible Training College) in the two-year program 1982-84. And so yup, I signed up to be on his email list from the Tony Cooke Ministries website.

 

On September 16 I received an email that caught my attention under the subject, “Why Did King Charles III Do That?”

 

The UK lost their longest reigning monarch Queen Elizabeth II and her oldest son Charles assumed the throne as King Charles III. The reason the subject title caught my attention is I am fully aware King Chuck is fully behind the elitist agenda of the Globalist World Economic Forum (WEF) which offers ZERO that is pleasant toward American Liberty (I hope Americans see the Declaration of Independence irony here) and Individual Freedom.

 

Alas … Brother Cooke addressed none of my Prince Chuck concerns. BUT pieced together an interesting piece of Church history that addresses Religious Liberty using the newly minted King Charles III signing an oath “to uphold the security of the Church in Scotland.” I have to wonder how much King Chuck will honor that oath considering his WEF Globalist pedigree.

 

So, let’s join Tony Cooke on this historical snapshot of Church history in regard to UK history from the email.

 

JRH 9/21/22

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Why Did King Charles III Do That?

  

King of Hearts (Suicide King – another irony?) & Title

 

By Tony Cooke

Sent via TCM

Sent 9/16/22 7:59 AM

 

Shortly after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the announcement was made that her son, Prince Charles, would succeed her and would be known as King Charles III. Two days after her passing, at the ceremony where Charles III was formally proclaimed the new King of England, he signed an oath to uphold the security of the Church in Scotland. This was all part of the established protocol for an incoming monarch.
 
The history of Christianity in England is loaded with intricacies and complexities, and much of it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with what Jesus taught and promoted. In certain eras, political maneuvering abounded and the ruling party in religious conflicts would sometimes banish, behead, or burn opponents at the stake. Threats and intimidation were commonplace. “Live and let live” was certainly not the prevailing attitude of those who held religious and political power.
 
Before we examine why King Charles III signed a document respecting the sovereignty of the Church of Scotland, let’s look at Charles I (1600-1649) and Charles II (1630-1685). King Charles I followed the reign of King James I (who authorized the production of the Authorized Version of the Bible, also known as the King James Bible). King Charles I opposed and took action against any group that resisted the State Church, especially the Scots. While there were many factors involved in his political demise, he was eventually tried for treason and executed.
 
Later, Charles II ascended to the throne of England. As a playboy, he would be known and remembered as the “Merry Monarch.” Believers, including those in Scotland and Ireland, who did not want their churches under government control were targeted by the King and by Parliament. Puritans (those who wanted to “purify” the church of England) suffered during this time as the Church of Scotland, which wanted to operate independently based on a Presbyterian form of church government.
 
Britannica states that “The Conventicle Act of 1664 punished any person over 16 years of age for attending a religious meeting not conducted according to The Book of Common Prayer. The Five Mile Act of 1665 prohibited any ejected minister from living within five miles of a corporate town or any place where he had formerly served.”[1] In other words, if you don’t operate your church under the State Church and its directives, you were going to suffer.
 
We want to take a quick look at two Scottish ministers who stood up against governmental and ecclesiastical tyranny, John Knox (1514-1572) and Samuel Rutherford (1600-1661).
 
In 1547, John Knox and other Protestants were taken prisoner and he served as a galley slave (chained and rowing) for nineteen months. Later he spent time exiled in Geneva, but he eventually returned to Scotland to work toward a church free from government control. It is said that Mary Queen of Scots remarked, “I fear the prayers of John Knox more than all the assembled armies of Europe.”
 
As he approached death, Knox prayed, “Come, Lord Jesus. Sweet Jesus into Thy hand I commend my spirit. Be merciful, Lord, to Thy Church, which Thou hast redeemed. Give peace to this afflicted commonwealth. Raise up faithful pastors who will take charge of Thy Church.” The epitaph on his grave read, “Here lies a man who in his life never feared the face of man.”
 
Samuel Rutherford, a Scottish Presbyterian pastor, lived in a century that saw many suffer martyrdom for their faith. At one point, Rutherford himself was banished from the city where he pastored and was forbidden to preach. Through the influence of Rutherford and others, a National Covenant was signed in 1638 (during the time of Charles I’s reign). This document expressed their resistance to the imposition of State Church regulations on their worship based on the fact that Jesus Christ is the true head of the Church. It is said that some Scots signed this covenant in their own blood.
 
Later, Rutherford authored a book entitled Lex Rex (The Law of the King). In this work, he stressed God’s absolute authority and argued for limited governmental authority. Under the reign of King Charles II, this book was banned and burned. When Rutherford was charged with treason and demanded to appear before the authorities, he was already on his deathbed and responded with this statement: "I have a summons already from a superior judge, and it is better that I answer my first summons. I now go to be where few kings and great people come."
 
Summary
Today in America, we think nothing of different denominational and independent churches existing and working peacefully side by side. This has not been the case through much of western history. Our freedoms are due in large part to the battles for religious freedom in Europe, even to the point that the initial statement in our Constitution’s First Amendment is: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”
 
Also, we can better understand why one of the first actions taken by the new King of England, Charles III, was to sign a document guaranteeing respect for the independence of the Church of Scotland. It is all rooted in history.
 
Great Statements by John Knox (1514 – 1572)

 

John Knox (1514 – 1572)

 

“The Scriptures of God are my only foundation and substance in all matters of weight and importance.”

 

“Live in Christ, die in Christ, and the flesh need not fear death.”
 
“A man with God is always in the majority.”
 
“Lord, give me Scotland or I die!”
 
“When I think of those who have influenced my life the most, I think not of the great but of the good.”
 
“O Lord Eternal, move and govern my tongue to speak the truth.”
 
“None have I corrupted, none have I defrauded; merchandise have I not made.”

Great Statements by Samuel Rutherford (1600 – 1661) 

 

Samuel Rutherford (1600 – 1661)

 

“Believe God's love and power more than you believe your own feelings and experiences. Your rock is Christ, and it is not the rock that ebbs and flows but the sea.”
 
“They lose nothing who gain Christ.”

"My faith has no bed to sleep upon but omnipotence.”

“Jesus Christ came into my prison cell last night, and every stone flashed like a ruby.”

“Make not Christ a liar in distrusting His promise.”

“Grace tried is better than grace, and more than grace; it is glory in its infancy.”

“I seldom made an errand to God for another, but I got something for myself.”

 

Footnote

 

[1] https://www.britannica.com/topic/Protestantism/The-Restoration-1660-85

 

Bible teacher and author Tony Cooke graduated from RHEMA Bible Training Center in 1980 and received degrees from North Central University (Bachelor’s in Church Ministries) and Liberty University (Master’s in Theological Studies/Church History). His ministerial background includes pastoral ministry, teaching in Bible schools, and directing a ministerial association. Tony’s passion for teaching the Bible has taken him to more than thirty nations and nearly all fifty states. He is the author of a dozen books, of which, various titles have been translated and published in eight other languages. Tony and his wife, Lisa, reside in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, and are the parents of two adult children

 

SUPPORT Tony Cooke Ministries

 

Copyright © 2022 Tony Cooke Ministries, All rights reserved.

 

Tony Cooke Ministries

PO Box 140187

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How Close Is the USA to Criminalizing Biblical Christianity?

John R. Houk, Blog Editor

© September 7, 2022

 

Even as the handlers had Dementia Joe declare Conservatives, Patriots and Biblical Christians (you know, those fellas standing with the Creator that Homosexual marriage and pedophilia is godlessness) who more than likely support the MAGA movement as enemies of the State; I found contrasting narratives about teachers refusing to be coerced into using transgender pronoun idiocy.

 

Evidently some portions of America still adhere to the rule of law as a Court forced a Kansas school district to pay a teacher they suspended for refusing to use transgender pronouns an award of $95,000.00 bucks: “Kansas School District Pays $95K Settlement After Suspending Teacher For Not Using Preferred Pronouns.”

 

SADLY, the rule of law in Ireland chooses to side with the godless as an Irish school teacher who refused to comply with transgender pronouns was taken to an Irish slammer evidently for breaking Irish law: “Irish teacher jailed after refusing to use transgender pronouns: ‘I will not give up my Christian beliefs’.”

 

After Dementia Joe’s September 1 totalitarian speech, my guess is that part of the Dem-Marxist transformation agenda is to criminalize (more than it is now) Christian Biblical Beliefs just like in Ireland (and probably any part of Europe with an EU legal system connection).

 

Spiritual food for thought from God’s Word in the Amplified Classic Bible - Leviticus 18: 22, 24; 20: 13; Romans 1: 24, 26-27; 2 Timothy 3: 3-4; Matthew 18: 6-7:

 

Leviticus 18: 22, 24

 

²² You shall not lie with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination.

²⁴ Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, for in all these things the nations are defiled which I am casting out before you.

 

Leviticus 20:13

 

¹³ If a man lies with a male as if he were a woman, both men have committed an offense (something perverse, unnatural, abhorrent, and detestable); they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

 

Romans 1:24, 26-27

 

²⁴ Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their [own] hearts to sexual impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves [abandoning them to the degrading power of sin],

 

²⁶ For this reason God gave them over and abandoned them to vile affections and degrading passions. For their women exchanged their natural function for an unnatural and abnormal one,

²⁷ And the men also turned from natural relations with women and were set ablaze (burning out, consumed) with lust for one another—men committing shameful acts with men and suffering in their own ^[a]bodies and personalities the inevitable consequences and penalty of their wrong-doing and going astray, which was [their] fitting retribution.

 

2 Timothy 3:3-4

 

³ [They will be] without natural [human] affection (callous and inhuman), relentless (admitting of no truce or appeasement); [they will be] slanderers (false accusers, troublemakers), intemperate and loose in morals and conduct, uncontrolled and fierce, haters of good.

⁴ [They will be] treacherous [betrayers], rash, [and] inflated with self-conceit. [They will be] lovers of sensual pleasures and vain amusements more than and rather than lovers of God.

 

Matthew 18:6-7

 

⁶ But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in and ^[a]acknowledge and cleave to Me to stumble and sin [that is, who entices him or hinders him in right conduct or thought], it would be better (^[b]more expedient and profitable or advantageous) for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be sunk in the depth of the sea.

⁷ Woe to the world for such temptations to sin and influences to do wrong! It is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the person on whose account or by whom the temptation comes!

 

Below are the stories.

 

JRH 9/7/22

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Kansas School District Pays $95K Settlement After Suspending Teacher For Not Using Preferred Pronouns

  

[Transgender Demands Pronouns web-capture] Image Credit: Antonio Cascio/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

 

By Zero Hedge

September 7th 2022, 3:56 am

INFOWARS

 

A Kansas school district has agreed to pay a settlement of $95,000 in a civil lawsuit brought by a teacher who was suspended for refusing to use the preferred pronouns of a self-declared trans student (a female demanding to be referred to as “he/him”).

 

Pamela Ricard, a math teacher at Fort Riley Middle School, says she was pressured by school officials to placate a trans student in her class by using preferred pronouns. When Ricard asked for a religious exemption to the rule she was allegedly denied. Ricard also claimed that the school district forced teachers to lie to parents about students and their trans status, and even asked teachers to not use student trans names during parent/teacher conferences in order to avoid revealing any sensitive information.

    

Ricard received a three day suspension after referring to the trans student as “Miss,” and for using the student’s legal enrolled name. She was warned that any further “misgendering” would lead to more disciplinary actions.

  

It is important to note that there are no laws in the state of Kansas requiring that anyone use transgender pronouns, and that these rules were being unilaterally enforced by school district officials. The Fort Riley School District was cornered into settlement when a federal court ruled in May that Pamela Ricard had a religious right to refuse censorship and to refuse to submit to pronoun requirements.  They also ruled that teachers cannot be pressured to keep secrets from the parents of trans students.

 

[Blog Editor: InfoWars inserts interesting embedded link to Banned Video not really a part of this story entitled, “Learn How Transgenderism is Really About Transhumanism.” Banned Video doesn’t embed well on my Wordpress Blog so I’m using the Bitchute version:

 

Bitchute VIDEO: LEARN HOW TRANSGENDERISM IS REALLY ABOUT TRANSHUMANISM

Posted by BANNED.VIDEO - Infowars

First Published September 7th, 2022 03:50 UTC

 

… MORE DESCRIPTION]

 

The Kansas incident is only one of thousands of exposed events that prove the existence of a concerted widespread social justice agenda within the American school system. Though the political left has consistently claimed that such an agenda does not exist and that parent accusations are nothing more than “conspiracy theory,” the evidence is undeniable.

  

The exposure of transgender indoctrination and policy enforcement in schools led to a national firestorm over Florida’s anti-grooming bill, which leftists called the “Don’t Say Gay Bill.”  The bill, now passed into law, prevents teachers from engaging in sexualized discussions or sexualized propaganda lessons with young children, and also demands that teachers share their lesson plans with parents. Teachers that violate the law can be fired.

 

Multiple states across the country have had to formulate similar pieces of legislation as a means to stop intersectional ideology from being injected into school curriculum. Florida alone found that at least 44% of school textbooks the state reviewed contained multiple instances of social justice propaganda including Critical Race Theory propaganda. Interestingly, the majority of the propaganda was discovered in books for children K-5.

 

DeSantis provided multiple examples of leftist and CRT propaganda implanted in school texts, but to this day leftists claim no examples were given and that CRT is “not real.”

 

Twitter group ‘Libs Of TikTok’ famously showcased hundreds of video, made mostly by teachers, in which they openly admit to indoctrinating students with LGBT and CRT propaganda in their classrooms. The group has faced multiple suspensions from various social media platforms, and has been accused of “hateful conduct” simply for reposting the videos to their own account.

  

The trans movement is a movement to control and to dictate speech while pretending it is a movement for civil rights. No one has a right to compel another person by force or coercion to use their preferred pronouns. The entire situation can be bewildering because of the multiple tentacles the extreme left employs in their culture war, but there are some rules that can help to clear the fog and confusion.

 

The first rule which makes it possible to understand and predict the actions of the social justice left:  They ALWAYS lie.

 

The second rule is:  They always double down on the lies.

 

The third rule is:  They always gaslight when they are caught lying.

 

The fourth rule is:  Believe what you see right in front of your eyes, not what they say that you should see.

      

The Kansas settlement for Pamela Ricard reveals yet another piece of the hidden puzzle that is woke ideology within public schools. It is an indoctrination process that has been ongoing for years and only recently have parents started to notice and become involved.

  

Interestingly, though, in the case of Fort Riley, it was apparently school district officials that were threatening teachers in order to make them comply with the agenda, rather than specific teachers trying to slip their propaganda under the radar. This shows that leftist teachers grooming children is not the only concern – We must also watch out for School board members and other officials using their power to frighten non-woke teachers into silence.

  

Alex Jones' book The Great Reset: And The War for the World is now available! Order the blueprint to defeat the NWO today!

 

INFOWARS Homepage

 

+++++++++++++++++++++

Irish teacher jailed after refusing to use transgender pronouns: ‘I will not give up my Christian beliefs’

Enoch Burke refused to comply with an injunction against him preventing him from attending the school where he worked after he did not call a student by a transgender pronoun.

 

Enoch Burke being led away by police, September 5, 2022 - Video screenshot

 

By Michael Haynes

Sep 6, 2022 - 12:29 pm EDT

LifeSiteNews

 

(LifeSiteNews) – A teacher in Ireland has been jailed as part of the fallout for refusing to address a student by a transgender pronouns.

 

Enoch Burke, a Christian and a teacher at Wilson’s Hospital secondary school in Multyfarnham, Co Westmeath – which is a Church of Ireland school – was arrested on September 5 for contempt of court, in a case which has emerged from his refusal to call “a boy a girl” in the classroom.

 

RTE News reported that Burke was sentenced to Mountjoy Prison after breaking an injunction issued against him and will remain in prison for an unspecified period of time.

 

Burke is at the center of a disciplinary process which was begun against him after he refused to address a male student – reportedly in the process of “transitioning” – as a girl, and also refused to use the pronoun “they.”

 

Burke reportedly refused to comply with the school principal’s May 9 order to use the new name and pronoun and was consequently placed on paid, administrative leave August 22 while the school board held a disciplinary process.

 

Upon Burke’s continued attendance at the school, he was then handed an interim order on August 30, wrote the Irish Times, to prevent him from entering the school.

 

Burke, who teaches German, history, and politics, had told the court that he refused “to call a boy a girl” as it was “manifestly wrong” and against his conscience. He continued to attend the school despite the injunction.

 

The school board was determined to remove Burke from the school and consequently sought the intervention of law enforcement after his rejection of the August 30 order, claiming that he could be disruptive to the students.

 

The court permitted this in a hearing Friday. Burke was then arrested for contempt of court on Monday, while sitting in an empty classroom in the school and taken directly to the court for a hearing.

 

“My religious beliefs are not misconduct. They are not gross misconduct,” he told the court. “They never will be. 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.”

 

He added that upholding the biological reality of male and female could not lead to a charge of gross misconduct, and such a charge was the only thing which could lead to a suspension.

 

“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,” the teacher added. “I love my school, with its motto Res Non Verba, actions not words, but I am here today because I said I would not call a boy a girl.”

 

It is insanity that I will be led from this courtroom to a place of incarceration, but I will not give up my Christian beliefs.

 

He was sentenced to serve an unspecified jail term, to last until he purges his contempt or until further order of the court.

 

Many have expressed outrage at Burke’s arrest, with social media users suggesting his refusal to use transgender pronouns was the underlying cause of the arrest.

 

However, Judge Michael Quinn stated that he was sentencing Burke to prison based only on his contempt of court, not on his beliefs. But, with Burke sentenced to prison until he “purges his contempt” or the court orders otherwise, it is unclear when he might be released.

Please send letters of support to Enoch Burke, an evangelical Christian, given an INDEFINITE prison sentence by Irish Judge Michael Quinn for his Christian beliefs.

Send your letters and cards to:

Mr Enoch Burke, Mountjoy Prison North Circular Road, Dublin 7, D07 YC97, Ireland pic.twitter.com/YNHGyWxqr4

— Nick Donnelly (@ProtecttheFaith) September 6, 2022

 

Genspect, an international group promoting transgender ideology, were among many who expressed outrage at Burke’ sentencing to jail. Noting how the group did not agree with many of Burke’s “views,” Genspect wrote that “this is irrelevant.”

 

“We need to protect freedom of conscience and the right to free speech,” the group stated. “Although Enoch Burke is in jail for contempt of court,  this case is rooted in the fact that the teacher’s beliefs prevented him from calling a student they/them. As he said ‘it’s plural’. It’s the fruit of the poisonous tree.”

 

Burke is due to appear in court on Wednesday for a reviewal of the August 30 injunction placed upon him.

 

Free Enoch Burke – LifeSite Petition

 

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