Richard Hogan: In the frenzy around Enoch Burke, has anyone considered the child?

Of course, Mr Burke was not jailed for not using the ‘they’ pronoun, he was jailed for breaching an injunction directing him to stay away from Wilson’s Hospital School, which is an entirely separate issue. 

In fact, the court was willing to grant Burke an injunction stopping the schools disciplinary process against him on procedural grounds, and all he had to do was comply with previous court orders. No good. He doesn’t recognise the law of the land, unless it agrees with his beliefs, because he is following a higher law. A law that supersedes the rights of everyone else. 

The cynic in me thinks Enoch has contrived this whole chaotic trajectory because he knows school and State are not exactly aligned. 

And by breaking the court order, he forced the courts hand to jail him, placing his name on the lips of every person on this island, and turning himself into some anti-woke martyr. Machiavelli, eat your heart out.

It is easy to forget that there is a voiceless child at the centre of this public debate. I can’t imagine what it must be like for that child and their parents. I work with families who are supporting their child while they transition, and it can be a very unsettling time of worry for everyone involved in the child’s life. 

In all this media frenzy, has anyone considered the child, and how they must be processing this storm all around them? What must it be like to hear Mr Burke is outside the school again? 

How can this school put this story behind it and move on? How can Mr Burke find employment again? Imagine the stress in the school system. It’s such a mess. 

This is where I become less tolerant of Enoch and his family, who believe  their right to religious belief trumps everyone else’s rights. I am a big believer in free speech, but I’m an even bigger believer in common decency and respect. 

We should all be free to worship whatever God we want, while respecting each other and showing compassion and love for each other. That seems to be sorely missing from Mr Burke's rhetoric — it is all about self and righteousness.

Wherever you sit on this debate, we’d all have to agree, Enoch is one determined individual. The images of him standing outside the school are terribly sad. His lonely, isolated, shadow bring Philip Larkin’s words to mind: " They fuck you up, your mum and dad". 

I can’t help but feel empathy for him, brought up to believe in only a certain way of thinking at such a young age. I felt the same sentiment, viewing Louis Theroux’s documentary on the Westboro Baptist Church a few years ago, watching as children held banners that read ‘ God Hates Fags’ and holding signs that said ‘ Thank God for Dead Soldiers’ at a soldier's funeral.

I kind of feel the same level of sympathy for Burke in one way, but as I drill down into his story and what it is actually testing, I find myself becoming more and more frustrated with our Government and less sympathetic to Burke's position.

Let’s for a moment say we live in a world where Burke and his ideas are the dominant force, which isn’t too hard for us to imagine, we did for many years. Those who interpret the Bible to suit their agenda, get to dictate what others can and cannot do or say. 

The school would inform the staff not to call the student by their preferred pronoun or new name, and so any child struggling with identity, gender, sexuality or difference would be told you either follow the rules of the school/God or get out. Because transgenderism or homosexuality is against God.

Now, is that the society we want? Where untold psychological damage is perpetrated on vulnerable children day after day in the name of religious belief? 

That is what Enoch Burke’s case is about. We either live in a society that is inclusive and allows children to express themselves, while allowing others to express their religious beliefs — those two things can coexist, we just need tolerance of each other — or we live in a society that says, your right to religious belief, as Mr Burke extols, is far more important than individual freedom. 

The Government has always been muted, if not more leaning on the side of Mr Burke and his type. 

A truly pluralist democracy that is interested in promoting inclusion needs to be clear in its position. It can’t be on the fence, this is too important. 

Mixed messaging, that successive governments have always been good at, creates the chaos we have witnessed in recent weeks.