# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/81 "2016-09-01T12:50:04Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > I’ve seen them, and contemplated tearing out the last couple of pages to ruin the ending for first time readers. Nah, the end of the Bible is _Revelation_. It doesn’t explain a bit–it just makes things more confusing. Didn’t anyone see that episode of _X-Files_ where it was revealed that those Bibles were really used for government surveillance? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/82 "2016-09-01T12:58:45Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > I’m not sure that I’ve ever heard of atheists caring one way or another about books in hotel rooms, but as a matter of hotel management policy the only reason the bible is seen as acceptable is through a combination of cultural familiarity and the fact that few people have actually read it. No, I think that a significant number of travelers actually _want_ a Bible in their room, and see it as a good thing that one is available. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/83 "2016-09-01T13:24:30Z")
I’ll pick it up and shake it, just in case somebody else knows about the urban legend of money in bibles and decide to make it come true. No money yet, but several girl’s names and phone numbers on the title pages over the years. SWMBO and I snicker about that. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/84 "2016-09-01T13:31:23Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > For the same reason I prefer my hotel room to be free of bedbugs. You’re afraid that the Bible will hitch a ride back to your house and create a thousand more Bibles? > [@Riemann](#): > > How would you feel if a group was committed to leaving a copy of Mein Kampf in every hotel room? Would the hotel allow it? I doubt the hotel would allow it but, if I saw one, I’d likely leaf through it for a few minutes, get bored (from what I understand it’s not very entertaining reading) and then go on with my life. Books aren’t magic and if their sheer presence causes you discomfort that’s pretty much entirely on you. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/85 "2016-09-01T13:42:27Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > Nah, the end of the Bible is _Revelation_. It doesn’t explain a bit–it just makes things more confusing. Hey, you wanna spoiler that? Reported. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/86 "2016-09-01T14:02:46Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > I’ve seen them, and contemplated tearing out the last couple of pages to ruin the ending for first time readers. Just as well— that last chapter really goes off the rails. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/87 "2016-09-01T14:09:25Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > How would you feel if a group was committed to leaving a copy of Mein Kampf in every hotel room? Would the hotel allow it? I’m an atheist to the bone, but even I cannot honestly say the Bible is in the same league as Mein Kampf. The former is so commonly found in hotel rooms as to be quite unremarkable. The latter would be construed by many people as some sort of actual threat of violence. I really don’t get what the big deal is. If you don’t want to read it, leave it where it is. I don’t use the hair dryer, either, but it doesn’t bother me that it’s there. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/88 "2016-09-01T14:14:54Z")
When I enter a hotel room, I throw the hair dryer right in the garbage because fuck those guys imposing their beauty standards on me. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/89 "2016-09-01T14:33:52Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > …I doubt the hotel would allow it but, if I saw one, I’d likely leaf through it for a few minutes, get bored (from what I understand it’s not very entertaining reading) and then go on with my life. Books aren’t magic and if their sheer presence causes you discomfort that’s pretty much entirely on you. I didn’t say that books were magic, nor that they would cause me any discomfort. That’s “entirely on you”. My point was that it’s clear that hotel management would not allow just _anything_ to be placed in their hotel rooms, for fear of offending guests; and if the bible were something unfamiliar that were assessed _de novo_ on its actual content, it is offensive enough that hotel management would certainly remove it - just as they would remove a KKK tract. And the idea that not _all_ the bible is evil and offensive is irrelevant - if I put a copy of a Dr Seuss book in a hotel room, with “kill all gays” scrawled on p32, what would happen? It’s quite clear that horribly offensive Christian propaganda gets a free pass because of its cultural familiarity. Christians whining about persecution and atheist attacks is utter drivel. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/90 "2016-09-01T14:39:41Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > You’re afraid that the Bible will hitch a ride back to your house and create a thousand more Bibles? No I think **panache45** is referring to bedbugs’ religious philosophy. Those things make Fred Phelps seems like a progressive. Last time I got into a conversation with one I would have been glad to have any form of more liberal reading material, even the Old Testament, to bleach my brain with. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/91 "2016-09-01T14:46:46Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > My point was that it’s clear that hotel management would not allow just _anything_ to be placed in their hotel rooms, for fear of offending guests; and if the bible were something unfamiliar that were assessed _de novo_ on its actual content, it is offensive enough that hotel management would certainly remove it - just as they would remove a KKK tract. And the idea that not _all_ the bible is evil and offensive is irrelevant - if I put a copy of a Dr Seuss book in a hotel room, with “kill all gays” scrawled on p32, what would happen? > > It’s quite clear that horribly offensive Christian propaganda gets a free pass because of its cultural familiarity. Christians whining about persecution and atheist attacks is utter drivel. “Horribly offensive Christian propaganda”? You seem to be confusing the Bible with a Chick tract. To Christians and nonchristians alike, the Bible is ancient literature (in addition to its status as holy scripture for Christians). And all but the most oblivious realize it was written long ago, and thus is a product of its time. Being a reflection of its time and culture doesn’t make it any more offensive than the _Norton Book of Classical Literature_. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/92 "2016-09-01T14:47:16Z")
> [@glee](#): > > Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof… > > So according to the above: > > - you can’t make Christtianity the official religion of the USA :smack: > - anyone is free to be a Satanist :eek: Baptists, mostly. No, really: > [@TheocracyWatch](#): > > In 1773, the Rev. Isaac Backus , the most prominent Baptist minister in New England, observed that when “church and state are separate, the effects are happy, and they do not at all interfere with each other: but where they have been confounded together, no tongue nor pen can fully describe the mischiefs that have ensued.” From [Separation of Church and State](http://www.theocracywatch.org/separation_church_state2.htm) In the era of the founding of the nation, Baptists were non-conformers from the established state churches, either in England or in the Colonies. Non-establishment was important to them, both for self-defense and in recognition of freedom of conscience. That’s the sick but predictable irony of the current cultural situation: yesterday’s persecuted minority is today’s wannabe persecutors. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/93 "2016-09-01T14:51:06Z")
Let us not confuse the Baptists of the 18th century with the Baptists and Southern Baptists of today, though. The modern church is not so disinclined to mix church and state, it seems. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/94 "2016-09-01T14:51:59Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > …To Christians and nonchristians alike, the Bible is ancient literature… Nonsense. To Christians, it’s a sacred book, and it’s placed in hotel rooms to proselytize. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/95 "2016-09-01T15:19:39Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > “Horribly offensive Christian propaganda”? You seem to be confusing the Bible with a Chick tract. To Christians and nonchristians alike, the Bible is ancient literature (in addition to its status as holy scripture for Christians). And all but the most oblivious realize it was written long ago, and thus is a product of its time. Being a reflection of its time and culture doesn’t make it any more offensive than the _Norton Book of Classical Literature_. And this would carry more weight if there were not still widespread homophobic bigotry, justified by the majority of the bigots on religious grounds. If it were really \*true \*that nobody took the horribly evil parts of the bible seriously in the modern world, then I agree that it would certainly be no more a problem than the anti-Semitism in _Merchant of Venice_. Incidentally, the oft-repeated claim that the bible has literary value? I don’t think the people who claim that have actually read it. 95% of it is garbage in style as much as in content. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/96 "2016-09-01T15:23:51Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > I’ll pick it up and shake it, just in case somebody else knows about the urban legend of money in bibles and decide to make it come true. No money yet, but several girl’s names and phone numbers on the title pages over the years. SWMBO and I snicker about that. I’d be careful about that. I knew a guy who, whenever he’d hook up in a hotel, would put the used condom in the bible. I thought it was pretty stupid myself, but he seemed pretty proud of the act. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/97 "2016-09-01T15:27:57Z")
When staying at Marriotts I dig checking out the copy of the BoMormon and the hokey illustrations on it. > [@Riemann](#): > > Nonsense. To Christians, it’s a sacred book, and it’s placed in hotel rooms to proselytize. …yes. A quiet, unobtrusive, polite form of proselytism that neither breaks my leg nor picks my pocket nor makes noise that keeps me awake nor buttonholes me in the driveway to chew my ear off. I’ll take it. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/98 "2016-09-01T15:33:28Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > …yes. A quiet, unobtrusive, polite form of proselytism that neither breaks my leg nor picks my pocket nor makes noise that keeps me awake nor buttonholes me in the driveway to chew my ear off. > > I’ll take it. Yeah, harmless to you - but I suspect that you’re not an LGBT teenager growing up in a small town in the Bible Belt. When people stop spewing hatred of their fellow human beings, I will happily adopt your laissez-faire attitude to religious belief. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/99 "2016-09-01T15:44:18Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > When people stop spewing hatred of their fellow human beings, oooh, do we have a timeline for that yet? Or is it like fusion, always 50 years away? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588/100 "2016-09-01T15:48:08Z")
I just hate the reminder that people can be so obtuse. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athiests-why-do-you-need-the-bible-to-be-removed-from-your-hotel-room/764588.md?page=6)