ACHOO!

I may have brought this up once or twice before, but I was raised as a Jehovah's Witness until I left the crazy behind as a teenager. Funny enough, they act in almost the same way you do at the custom. They don't like the superstition behind it, I guess because there is no bible verse that tells you about evil spirits flying up your nose when you sneeze (although they believe every instance of demonic possession in the bible). They equate it to occult believe, like you're a practicing wiccan or something if you were to tell somebody "god bless you," and even variations like gesendheit are frowned upon.

They're definately overreacting. You are too for different reasons. It's nothing to put up a fight over. Still, I'm sympathetic; I just about never tell people god bless. I mean, if it's some stranger on a bus, I do my best to ignore it. If it's someone I know and we're having a conversation or they are sitting on my face or something and they sneeze, it's just weird a little to not respond at all. You can say gesundheit, I sometimes ask "You ok?" Sometimes I just say gross and then ask them if they need a tissue.

Jam it back in, in the dark.