…and not just on our freedom of expression.

Todd Starnes has the tale.

A Texas high school track team was disqualified from competing in the state championships because one of the runners made a gesture thanking God after he crossed the finish line.

Derrick Hayes, the anchor of the Columbus High School 4×100 relay team had just crossed the finish line when he raised his finger to the sky—thanking the Lord for winning the race that would send them to the state finals.

But a judge with the University Interscholastic League, the governing body for high school athletics in Texas, ruled that the gesture was a violation of the taunting rule….

The University Interscholastic League, which governs this tournament, defends its…behavior…with this statement, issued with an entirely straight face:

The meet official indicated the athlete crossed the finish line and gestured upward with his arm and finger and behaved disrespectfully toward meet officials, in their opinion.  In the judgment of the official, this was a violation of NFHS track & field rule 4-6-1.

The rule in question says this in pertinent part:

[u]nsportsmanlike conduct is behavior that is unethical or dishonorable. It includes, but is not limited to, disrespectfully addressing an official, any flagrant behavior, intentional contact, taunting, criticizing or using profanity directed toward someone.

Thanking God is taunting and/or disrespectful, is it?

The only ones who could be taunted by such a thing or feel disrespected by it are those who spend their energy looking for excuses to be offended.