21 Test all things; hold fast what is good.
22 Abstain from every form of evil.
23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
24 He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.
Recently, I shared the story of a French teacher out of Virginia because he declined to refer to a student by pronouns that didn't correspond to her biological sex. He lost his job, but the state Supreme Court told school officials they were wrong and awarded a handsome sum of over $500,000 for attorney's fees and costs.
It hasn't turned out in a positive way for an Irish teacher named Enoch Burke though. A CBNNews.com article stated:
Enoch Burke, a history and German teacher, was suspended from Wilson’s Hospital School in August 2022, when he refused, as CBN News previously reported, to call a student who was transitioning from male to identifying as female by “they” rather than “he” pronouns.
The article goes on to say:
In 2022, he told Irish High Court Judge Michael Quinn, who presided over his case, “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.”
In the days after he was placed on paid administrative leave, Burke reportedly returned to the school grounds in Westmeath, from which he had been prohibited. As a result, he was arrested and placed behind bars at Mountjoy Prison, a men’s jail in Dublin.
That was only the first time that Enoch Burke was imprisoned. The article states:
Burke was released from his first stint in jail in December 2022. He was then formally fired from Wilson’s Hospital School in January 2023 and jailed once again in September of that year for breaching a court order keeping him from the school’s campus, according to a timeline published by Newsweek.
And, in September, in a return visit to the school, he was arrested for a third time. The CBN story relates:
He told Sky News at the time, “I teach everyone who’s in front of me. I teach every single student. But when I am commanded, when I’m told that I can’t have my religious belief anymore, when I’m told I have to confess belief in transgenderism, instead of my simple belief, which is male and female, that’s just a breach simply of my rights.”
The embattled educator posted footage of his arrest to his X account, which is currently being maintained by his brother, Josiah.
“I’m not going to turn my back on my students,” Burke is heard saying in the video. “I have a right to my job. I have a right to work here. I have a right to be here and not to tell students they need to take puberty blockers.”
The case is scheduled to be reviewed again this Friday.
Meanwhile, in another case out of the U.K., according to the Daily Mail website:
A Christian teacher who was banned from the classroom over 'misgendering' a pupil has lost a High Court appeal against the decision.The article says that:
Lawyers for Joshua Sutcliffe argued it was 'perverse' to expect him to use the child's preferred pronouns, which had no basis in law.
In a hearing in May, they also said it was an 'unjustified interference' with his right to freedom of speech and religion.
After the ruling, Mr Sutcliffe, who is being supported by Christian Concern, said: 'I still stand by my Christian convictions that it is harmful and detrimental to affirm gender confused children.
'This is the belief I am fighting for which is shared by not only Christians but many who do not believe in harmful transgender ideology.
'I have been a marked man ever since I dared to express my Christian beliefs in a school.'
These actions in the U.K. come on the heels of the outcome of a case involving a California teacher. The Sacramento Bee reported several months ago:
The article stated that, "The alleged violations in part stemmed from her refusal to call students by their preferred pronouns, along with her concern about not revealing students’ gender identities to parents, the lawsuit says."A California school district has settled a lawsuit with a teacher who says she was fired over her religious beliefs after she refused to use students’ preferred pronouns, attorneys say.
The Jurupa Unified School District in Riverside County agreed to pay $360,000 to Jessica Tapia, her attorneys at Advocates for Faith & Freedom said in a May 14 news release.
Decision Magazine reported recently that:
Tapia, along with Advocates for Faith and Freedom, started Teachers Don’t Lie, an organization designed to give teachers a place to learn their constitutional rights and obtain legal help if they find themselves in a situation similar to Tapia’s.
“I just can’t encourage people enough to do what I did and put their faith into action and boldly stand in the truth,” Tapia said. “We don’t have to see what’s coming next, because He already sees it, and He’s not asking for us to have that part figured out.
“You literally cannot fathom the gain on the other side of living out your faith."
That article shared elements of Tapia's story, including the ultimatums that were given to her in order to keep her job. It related:
If she wanted to keep her job, she would call students by their preferred names and pronouns; she would not tell parents about their students’ gender transitions; and she would refrain from talking to students about God and the Bible.
“The Lord made it pretty clear to me: ‘You’re entering spiritual warfare. Stand firm,’” she said. “I was either going to crumble at their feet and do whatever and become whoever they wanted me to be to keep my job, or realize I have a huge decision on the line.”
These teachers were essentially being forced to lie. All three were being told they must call a student presenting with a gender other than his or her biological sex by the pronouns corresponding to their so-called gender identity rather than their biology. This is a lie.
Furthermore, Jessica Tapia was being forced to be silent about information that parents need to know regarding their child's sexuality. Enoch Burke was so compelled to tell his former students that they should refuse puberty blockers that he was willing to go to jail for it. Their faith was the root of their passion, with Joshua Sutcliffe saying he was a "marked man" because he was a Christian.
Children are confused about their sexuality, and now they are being enabled to act out their desires by requesting they be referred to by certain pronouns, by school officials concealing information from parents, and by treatments and procedures being made available that are falsely sold as changing a person's "gender."
In the midst of confusion, we need clarity. And, clarity comes from the Word of God. Pursuing that clarity means being willing to stand strong with the truth in the midst of lies. There is great misinformation that is being circulated dealing with people's identities, their sexual preferences, and their willingness to give in to desires that contradict God's best. We must make our decisions consistent with the teachings of Scripture, not the delusions of the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment