So Long, Gideons

I think that hotel owners should cater to their clientele. It is what is expected in a free market society. No one should be forced to provide (or not provide) something that his/her clients don't want. Conversely, I believe that Christians should ask when booking a hotel if a Bible is provided in the room. If the hotel says "no" then I think the Christian should explain that it would like to do business with a hotel that caters to its needs and then hang up and make a reservation at a hotel which does provide a Bible in the room. That too, is a free market answer to this dillemma. I would guess if enough Christians did this, most hotels would provide Bibles because Christianity is still the #1 faith group in the United States.

Last time I checked, Gideons' furnished Bibles at no cost to the hotels. If hotels do not offer other religious books it's because, after all these years, other religions had not caught up with the Gideons??? scheme. In almost every hotel where I've seen a Gideon Bible, it???s been inside a drawer, out of sight. If you are offended or insulted, just don't go around opening drawers. Although I am one today, I've not always been a Christian. During my dark years, I remember once or twice grabbing and reading a Gideons Bible during one of my then frequent and often lonely business trips. I will be forever grateful to the Gideons for the chance to read something I would not have read under different circumstances. I did not become a Christian over night. It was a 40 years long process. I now carry my Bible wherever I go. Gideons??? Bibles are for non-Christians, like me back then. If one chooses to read it, it's there. If you don't care for it, leave it alone. I am very happy with my neurological disorder I prefer to call ???Faith in Christ???. If you prefer "sanity", don???t' touch it. But other people may be open to this insanity. Last time I checked, this was a free country with justice for all.

Hotels do *not* pay for Bibles that are provided by The Gideons. The money to pay for these Bibles is raised in churches. Hiring a counselor for guests? Obviously price-prohibitive. Bibles at no cost? Priceless! And yes, Gideon Bibles *do* prevent thousands of people every day around the world from suicide, adultery, and crime. What could you possibly have against less suicide and crime? Hello!

I don't see how a Bible could possibly hurt anybody or provoke any kind of lawsuit - the tenants aren't *forced* to read them, the Bibles are just there in case they do. But Bibles have certainly helped millions of people get their life back on track and even saved lives - clearly a win-win situation. Religious reading material in hotel rooms is infinitely preferable to the sex kits, which promote infidelity and potentially fatal diseases like AIDS and hepatitis. And when you mention one religion's holy text - many other religions also place the Koran or other holy texts in hotel rooms. Why discriminate against Christians only?

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Quirks/2007/05/03/swedish_hotel_adds_bibles_to_rooms/

If the hotel is going to have a bible, why not the Quran, or the Torah? Or even the 8 Fold Path? The shift away from mainstream Christianity is a good one, because Christians need to remember this: Not everyone believes what you do, and you would do best to respect that.

Come on America - wake up! Our country was founded on the belief of God and this is another way to remove him. I agree......let your hotel / motel chains know the Bible and God are important and should remain. God Bless!

Is it simplistic to generalize this situation - choosing between the Bible or a condom pack as an appropriate hotel amenity - as a commentary on our society today? Probably not. Actually, the hotels in question are not themselves providing the Bible, the Gideons are. So this is not really a financial decision for the hotel chains and if other religious groups want to be represented, they should provide their literature to hotels as the Gideons do. This is more a decision on perception and attitude - for a chain to say "This ain't your grandpa's hotel." However, since I personally have met in my travels a surprising number of people with stories about checking into a hotel, not for elicit sex but to end their lives, found the Bible and turned their lives around, that Bible is worth its weight in gold a thousand times over.

Such biased writing in a news magazine! Says the writer: "But alas, the word of God is nowehere to be found", taking for granted that the Bible is indeed the "word of God". -- newsflash to newsweek, examine that assumption, not held by the majority of people. "Leave the values at home" says the write -- taking for granted the implicit assumption that "values" equals "Bible" -- what values are those, the ones where you offer your daugthers to a mob to be raped, so that they don't bother your guests, like Lot does, before being saved as the only righteous person around? Let those who believe bring their own Bibles, Quarans or Tooth Fairy manuals.

I'm glad the Hotel Bible trend is dying. I agree that America is NOT a Christian nation. Of course now we are going to have a huge debate about this and Hotels are going to start advertising as Bible or no Bible. My thought is, in the end they will choose customers over bibles.

No religious literature of any stripe sounds like a wise ending.

I don't get it, The bible is just a book and anyone can bring there on bible to any hotels.
The Hotels are not churches there to give people rest or just a get away. We all have different belief in life. We pray in our own way. The Hotels are doing a good thing because they are bring all people together with using what they believed in but you bring what you believed in. That's how life suppose to be without feel different religion is being forced on us. I believed in a higher being too but I think God is allot more than we can read in a book. It suppose to be how we are to each other and I mean all of god children for all religion which most of don't. Bring your own book if you need a book.

I would prefer the condoms over the bible usually, except that the pages from the bible make excellent rolling papers

I believe in freedom of speech, and all of that. as you have the right to serve whomever you would like to. The bigger picture here is that the world has entered the last days. This debate that is going on is just a sign that the end is near. People will reject God, and turn away with itching ears to hear something that pleases the flesh. Right is right, giving away condoms, and making rooms more attractive for sexual ecounters promotes promiscuity, and irrational behavior on the part this younger crowd that has no reverence for the Word of God anyway. Conscious has been forsaken for the sake of filthy lucre. I believe that hotels changing their formats for these people promotes the mark of the beast. Something like the government wantng to have all of the records of a person's life at the conveience of swiping one card. I especially ask the Marriot chain that was founded by a Mormon, where is your faith?

I find it appalling that if anything comes close to a connection with christianity, the world sees it as a threat and tries to have it eradicated. Christianity is not a threat it is a choice. You can choose to or not to. Every hotel provides x rated television programming including hardcore pornography, these kinds of activities go against the very core of Christianity but again, it is a choice, true christians will never give way to this type of amenity but instead we will pick up the bible. How about banning the practice or providing x rated videos?
The bible is kept in a draw if you do not want to read it, make a choice and leave it alone for those who want to read it.