# Athiests why do you need the bible to be removed from your hotel room? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 31, 2016, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588 "2016-08-31T18:49:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2016, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/41 "2016-08-31T22:07:48Z")
I personally don’t give a shit whether there’s a Bible in my hotel room. There are crazies all over the spectrum. That’s basically the answer to your question. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2016, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/42 "2016-08-31T22:08:35Z")
I have no such need. I find it vaguely creepy, just as anyone might find it a bit creepy to find some pro-Scientology work in their bedside drawer, but fundamentally anyone who needs to believe in sky spirits is going to believe in sky spirits. Which one they choose is sort of inconsequential. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2016, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/43 "2016-08-31T22:11:51Z")
In principle I find it obnoxious, like someone leaving a copy of _Mein Kampf_ in the room. But as I haven’t actually used a hotel for many years, it’s not something I think of unless reminded. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2016, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/44 "2016-08-31T22:24:17Z")
> [@drewder](#): > > [http://www.deseretnewsservice.com/hotel-reportedly-removes-bibles-from-rooms-after-atheist-complaint-433198](http://www.deseretnewsservice.com/hotel-reportedly-removes-bibles-from-rooms-after-atheist-complaint-433198) So, I take it you didn’t read your own cite? Because it does a very good job of answering your question, why those particular atheists are requesting the removal of the bible from those particular hotel rooms. Why ask us? You already have your answer. > [@](#): > > “If a state-run university has a policy of providing a Christian religious text to guests, that policy facilitates illegal endorsement of Christianity over other religions and over nonreligion,” the letter read. “State-run colleges have a constitutional obligation to remain neutral toward religion.” > > \ > > “Anyone zealous enough to need the Bible as bedtime reading will travel with one,” Freedom From Religion Foundation co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor said in a statement. “The rest of us paying guests seek a vacation from proselytizing when we’re on vacation.” > > She continued, “What is offensive at private hotels and motels, however, becomes unconstitutional at public-supported rooms.” > > \ > > “The Bible calls for killing nonbelievers, apostates, gays, ‘stubborn sons’ and women who transgress biblical double standards,” the group alleged. > > The organization warned that secular guests might be offended by the presence of Bibles and encouraged recipients of the letter to “be more hospitable to non-Christian and nonreligious clientele by offering ‘Bible-free’ rooms.” They believe it’s unconstitutional, unnecessary, offensive, and inhospitable. Pretty simple. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2016, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/45 "2016-08-31T22:32:58Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > In principle I find it obnoxious, like someone leaving a copy of _Mein Kampf_ in the room. But as I haven’t actually used a hotel for many years, it’s not something I think of unless reminded. I’m probably in hotel rooms over 90 nights a year. I assume there is a bible in most of them, but honestly, I would have to go looking for it. I don’t routinely open the drawer next to the bed, unless I can’t find the room service menu. Doesn’t Marriott put the Book of Mormon it its rooms? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2016, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/46 "2016-08-31T22:38:08Z")
Gotta have something to doodle in. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2016, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/47 "2016-08-31T22:41:29Z")
[QUOTE=Procrustus] Doesn’t Marriott put the Book of Mormon it its rooms? [/QUOTE] Yep, and when I worked for them we did get complaints about it sometimes. Not often, but, probably a few times a year, though more common was finding anti-Mormon religious pamphlets stuffed inside them. I don’t recall ever in all the years I worked in hotels hearing any atheist complain about the Bible being in the room. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2016, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/48 "2016-08-31T22:42:50Z")
For the same reason I prefer my hotel room to be free of bedbugs. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2016, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/49 "2016-08-31T22:45:47Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I’ve never seen one. I have had hotel rooms with the Koran and/or Book of Mormon and never saw need to raise a fuss. If I saw a Satanic tract, I’d likely read it out of plain curiosity. It’s just a book, no need to act as though it’ll bite you. Marriott hotels always have a Book of Mormon, since the Marriotts are Mormons. The one in SLC down the street from the Temple has a cool sculpture of the Marriotts on their trek. It doesn’t bother me at all, and I’d never take it, since I already have a Bible in my science fiction/fantasy college. (Filed under God, house pseudonym.) ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2016, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/50 "2016-08-31T22:49:43Z")
I’ve seen them, and contemplated tearing out the last couple of pages to ruin the ending for first time readers. ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2016, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/51 "2016-08-31T22:58:13Z")
I didn’t know I was supposed to be bothered by them, I didn’t get the memo. Am I to get rid of the one on my Kindle too? ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2016, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/52 "2016-08-31T22:59:45Z")
I’m particularly glad that they don’t have a fucking religious library in every single room to try to make you feel bad about the kind of things you’re about to do while spending the night in that bedroom. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2016, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/53 "2016-08-31T23:00:56Z")
> [@Stuffy](#): > > I didn’t know I was supposed to be bothered by them, I didn’t get the memo. Am I to get rid of the one on my Kindle too? Did your Kindle come with a free Bible? Is that a thing? ---
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2016, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/54 "2016-08-31T23:01:52Z")
I don’t really care about it too much, but it is yet another way of having it shoved in your face. If someone really wants a bible they’ve probably already got one, they just don’t need to be there. Like someone said earlier, imagine the noise if all hotels started putting Korans or books on witchcraft in their rooms. But no, because it’s their special book that makes it ok. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2016, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/55 "2016-08-31T23:03:41Z")
It’s like commercials before a movie. Irritating. I’ve already paid to see the movie. Likewise in a hotel, I’ve already paid for the room, stop trying to sell me on religions or flyers for whatever. Any and all ads/bibles are immediately thrown in the trash when I walk into my room. Now, if they want to have a rack of bibles in the lobby with all their other flyers, more power to them. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2016, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/56 "2016-08-31T23:23:56Z")
Is that what the Bible had been reduced to? Who cares? I don’t associate with Christians, let alone atheists. I’m just not affiliated with _anything._ May as well be the phone book or a Sears catalog in there… so long as there’s enough soap and towels, I’m good. ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2016, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/57 "2016-08-31T23:34:15Z")
I am an atheist and don’t ask to have the bible removed from my hotel and my ex-husband had his bible in my condo . I didn’t tell him to remove it. I do hate it when people say they’ll pray for me ! ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2016, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/58 "2016-08-31T23:43:04Z")
I’m an atheist (now) and I never think about it. As a kid I thought it was sort of cool that the Gideons would go through all that trouble, and you could even take the Bible if you wanted! I mean, as proselytizing goes this has to take the prize for the most low-key. As someone said upthread, who opens that drawer anyway? The few people who might really want to read in the Bible probably bring their own. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2016, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/59 "2016-08-31T23:47:55Z")
> [@JcWoman](#): > > I ignore them also. But I do think we should give “equal time” to all religions. I’m already familiar with the bible so I’d continue to ignore it, but I would be very likely to pick up and read a Koran or a Torah. > > > [@hajario](#): > > > > The Torah is part of the Bible, specifically the first five books. Actually, a Torah is a handwritten scroll, in Hebrew, of Genesis-Deuteronomy. If you find one in your room, take it: it’s very valuable. A printed copy of the first five books is called a chumash: it contains lots of commentary, and a theologically Jewish translation. Reading it is a very different from reading the first five books of a Christian bible. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/60 "2016-09-01T00:14:51Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Gotta have something to doodle in. My friend says the thin sheets make good rolling papers… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588.md?page=4)