I spent five weeks in the states last year and I was in a different hotel every couple of days (drove along the coast of california). Not one of them had a bible.
Yeah, it’s a lot less common than it used to be. These stories that say, “every hotel room” are definitely exaggerating these days.
I usually stay in higher end hotels when I travel, and I agree that over the past 5-20 years the Gideon bible thing has started to fall off. Ten years ago you could still find them i. places like the Atlanta Ritz. It has been a hot minute since I’ve seen one, but that might be due to the type of hotel as much as progress over time.
When I went into the service, they had a team of 70 year old men making a gauntlet run where they handed you a (camo cover) version of the mini-new testament which as far as I know was allowed by the Army.
Finding this book, and only this book, in every hotel room is an example of Christian privilege. Nobody asks you which book you’d like when you check-in. They’ve made that decision for you. They’ve provided you with “the good book.”
I thought they get placed by the Gideons? It’s even a plot point in the original Mission Impossible movie.
That is correct. But why do the Gideons get to place their book and Muslims do not?
They get given to hotels by the Gideon’s. The hotel staff usually are the ones to place them.
Many years ago, a Christian friend of mine sent an email to his entire Sunday School class saying, “… As Christians we need to be more discerning.” This was in response to another email that had been sent to the class about the evils of Harry Potter, and it used an Onion article for its source material.
As people who claim to be more discerning than people of faith, we really need to be more discerning…
Bibles in hotel rooms are not an example of Christian privilege, but an example of a private non-profit, spending their own money to place Bibles in hotel rooms. If it were not for this private non-profit they would not be there.
A hotel with back bone would not let a private non-profit mess about in their hotel room and put their things there. Regardless of if it was religious propaganda or pamphlets about immigration.
Why not? They are offering a free “service” to their customers. Hell Mariott pays out of their own pocket (I think) to have Book of Mormon in addition to the Bible.
If a private non profit were there to put Qurans in Hotel rooms, how many American hotels do you think would take them up on the offer outside Dearborn, MI?
I have no idea because as far as I know, no one has tried. When the attempt is made and if it fails, I’ll buy into the privilege argument.
Do a thought experiment, and factor in the rejection of building a Muslim cultural center near where the world trade center buildings once stood, versus a christian center.
The privilege is not that they are provided. It’s that they are allowed by otherwise impartial hotels to be there, no questions asked. Can I leave millions of copies of The Quran? Of Ulysses? Of Industrial Society and Its Future?
Have you tried? Until an org starts trying to place the Quran, and is told they can’t, there is no privilege involved. Once that happens, I’ll buy your argument, until then, nope.
Well, you’ll be glad to learn that hotels in Muslim countries often do keep copies of the Quran.
I haven’t tried to place copies of the Unabomber’s manifesto in hotel drawers, but then again I haven’t tried to get a small loan of $1,000,000 or the deed to an emerald mine from my parents because, as it turns out, you don’t actually need to experience literally everything that you hold an opinion on. I don’t like rape either, lads, and I’m not giving it a try.
If you do this, make sure it’s deep in the middle somewhere and not easily seen via flipping through. Hotel bibles are provided by Gideons, and if you deface/destroy/remove/throw out/etc one, it’ll just be replaced with zero fuss and no effort. The more people doing this, the more they replace, the more they print, etc etc.
It’s always a great feeling taking it and wanting to wipe your arse with it, but 10 mins after you vacate the room another copy will be there waiting for the next person regardless of what you’ve done.
I carry a stash of these for the bibles: https://shop.ffrf.org/product/24-stickers-bible-warning-bundle/
And like you, I just toss the book of mormon into a trash can in a common area (not in my room) in the hopes that it won’t be missed and replaced.
Aside: my phone auto corrected both book titles with caps. I manually decapped them.
Bring a highlighter and some post it notes. Mark it up to emphasize the the horrible parts. The person to actually open it is likely already a Christian. Perhaps you could get someone to question their beliefs if they focus on the rape, murder, slavery, etc. featured in their “good book”.
While I love the idea, do most people who call themselves Christian actually read the Bible? And those that do are likely too hardcore to be swayed by anything, and they either carry around their own Bible or use an app.
It might help someone curious, though. Hell, just trying to read the Bible cover to cover as a teen was enough to put me off for good.
