A professor’s attempt to prohibit students from saying “God bless you” whenever someone sneezes in class has caused such an uproar he has been forced to remove the ban from his class syllabus.
ValleyCentral.com is reporting on the attempt by a professor at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) to ban the phrase from his classroom. He distributed a syllabus on the first day of school which outlined the coursework for the semester and also identified two behaviors that the professor, who remains unnamed, considered too distracting for the classroom – the use of cell phones and saying “God bless you” whenever someone sneezed.
No sooner had he issued the syllabus when a picture of the document was posted on social media and went viral.
Although some students didn’t think much of it, there were plenty more who were very offended by the professor’s blatant attempt to censor the classroom.
“You shouldn’t have a boundary on what you believe in, especially in the classroom,” said student John Taylor. “I would’ve not said anything, but it would’ve bothered me because as common courtesy, I say ‘God bless you’ to people who sneeze.”
“It’s kind of ridiculous, first amendment, freedom of religion. It’s there. We shouldn’t have to block that out of school,” said Marcos Villarreal, a student at the university.
News outlets contacted the school for comment and received the following statement:
“The professor’s syllabus sought to identify examples of potentially disruptive behavior the professor believed could hinder the classroom learning environment, including use of cellphones. The intent was not to limit the religious freedoms of UTRGV students, but to avoid unsolicited comments that might distract others.”
Nevertheless, University administrators did contact the professor and the statement was promptly removed. The professor has since promised to clear up any possible confusion with students.
The only way to stop the growing momentum in the U.S. to persecute people of faith is to push back hard enough to at least slow down the pace of this dangerous precedent, which these students successfully managed to do!
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