A senior Irish evangelical leader has said the prolonged imprisonment of teacher Enoch Burke is the result of his own conduct and defiance of court orders, not his beliefs about gender or transgender issues.
Nick Park, executive director of the Evangelical Alliance in Ireland, told the Irish Independent that Burke’s “un-Christian,” “insulting” and “disruptive” behavior — rather than his views — lies at the center of the case, which has become one of Ireland’s most contentious legal and cultural flashpoints.
“Enoch Burke was not suspended or fired for refusing to call a child by incorrect pronouns,” Park said. “He was suspended for his behaviour.”
Park said Burke’s “disrespectful treatment of everyone” ultimately led to his incarceration, adding that he decided to speak publicly because “somebody [within the evangelical Christian community] needed to stick the head above the parapet on this issue.”
He said other Christian leaders had privately expressed agreement but were reluctant to speak out due to fears that Burke supporters might protest or harass churches. “They don’t want that drama,” Park said.
Burke, a German and history teacher at Wilson’s Hospital School, a Church of Ireland–run school in County Westmeath, was suspended in August 2022 after publicly clashing with school management over a request that a transgender student be addressed by a new name and they/them pronouns. He was later dismissed for gross misconduct and has spent nearly 600 days in prison in total for repeatedly breaching court orders barring him from the school premises.
According to a Reuters fact-check report published in November 2025, Irish courts have consistently ruled that Burke’s imprisonment is for contempt of court — not for his views on gender or sexuality — after he repeatedly ignored injunctions ordering him to stay away from the school.
That position was reiterated in a High Court ruling on Nov. 18, 2025, which stated: “Mr. Burke has not been imprisoned or fined for his views on transgender issues, which he is perfectly entitled to have and to articulate. Mr. Burke has been imprisoned, and fined, for contempt of court, because he has breached court orders directing him not to trespass on school property.”
The court added that the case would only concern transgender issues if Burke had been ordered to use pronouns against his beliefs and refused — something the court said never occurred.
Park expanded on those points in a video published Dec. 11, 2025, as part of a weekly Evangelical Alliance Ireland series, excerpts of which were later reported by the Irish Independent. In the video, Park said Burke was “well within his rights” to refuse to use pronouns he believed were biologically incorrect, stressing that Irish Christians retain strong legal and moral protections to hold and express biblical views on sexuality and gender. 
“Christians in Ireland have a fundamental right, both moral and legal, to hold biblical views on sexuality and to express them,” Park said, noting that such rights are recognized under international human rights law.
However, Park said Burke’s behavior following the dispute — including confronting a bishop during a church service, publicly challenging the school principal and repeatedly returning to the school grounds in defiance of court orders — fundamentally changed the nature of the case.
“Sometimes you can be the one who is in the right in a dispute, but then you put yourself in the wrong by your behavior,” Park said in the video.
Park said Burke is not serving a fixed sentence and could be released immediately if he agreed to comply with the court order to stay away from the school.
“He’s not in prison for refusing to use incorrect pronouns,” Park said. “He’s in prison for repeatedly breaking court orders, contempt of court, and that will happen in any country of the world because there’s no point in having a legal system at all if people are free to ignore the law and the courts.”
Park said Burke remains free to continue expressing his views publicly, pursue legal action related to his dismissal, publish writings or speak to the media — provided he obeys court rulings.
“The fact that Enoch Burke is in prison is a tragedy,” Park said. “But it’s a tragedy that he has created and which he can end at any time without compromising his beliefs about gender.”
Park also said the case has made it more difficult for other teachers with conscience-based objections to take principled stands in schools.
“Evangelical leaders are ready to support such teachers,” he said. “But the Enoch Burke saga has not helped. It has made it much harder.”
He added that evangelicals are frustrated by repeated media descriptions of Burke and his family as “evangelical Christians,” saying the label has become unfairly associated with the controversy.
“There are thousands of evangelicals — good, sincere, hard-working people — living out their faith and being tremendous assets to their communities,” Park said. “It is such a shame that the word is now almost tainted by the way it’s used to describe this particular situation.”
Park said he continues to pray for Burke and would be willing to visit him in prison if asked, expressing hope that the dispute could yet be resolved.
“I really pray that there’s a way out of this for him,” Park said, “because he’s really got himself locked into this situation.”
