In response to America’s newest crime: killing dinosaurs with imaginary guns:

I hate to one-up you, John – but I’m afraid I must. 

There’s a school in rural TENNESSEE where saying “bless you” to someone after they sneeze, is actually considered an out-of-line, suspension-worthy infraction.

Via WMC Action News 5:

When Dyer County High School senior Kendra Turner said bless you to her classmate, she says her teacher told her that was for church.

“She said that we’re not going to have godly speaking in her class and that’s when I said we have a constitutional right,” said Turner.
Turner says when she defended her actions, she was told to see an administrator. She says she finished the class period in in-school suspension.
Students sent WMC Action News 5’s Michael Clark a photo of the teacher’s white board that lists ‘bless you’ and other expressions that are banned as part of class rules.

The other words not allowed in the class are not related to faith at all, and are in fact the sorts of words, teachers usually disdain:  “stupid”, “dumb”, “boring”, “stuff”, “I don’t know” among others. But thrown in there with the unworthies was the innocuous “Bless You”. 

Turner’s youth pastor Becky Winegardner said, “there were several students that were talking about this particular faculty member there that was very demeaning to them in regard to their faith.” 

School leaders told Turner’s parents on Tuesday that the teacher claimed Turner was being disruptive and aggressive, while some of her classmates showed support by wearing hand made “bless you” shirts.

Turner said, “it’s alright to defend God and it’s our constitutional right because we have a freedom of religion and freedom of speech.”

The Dyer County Schools superintendent hasn’t responded to WMC Action News 5 inquiry to get their side of the story.