I think for a lot of people, the bible represents (because a lot of Christians have made it represent) widespread homophobia and hatred. There are a lot of Christians in the country who represent the bible as little more than several hundred pages of “God hates fags.” I don’t think it’s unreasonable for the recipients of these messages to say “You say the bible says God hates fags. If that’s what it represents to you, that’s what it represents to me.”
If a group offered, for free, to go into every hotel room in America and write “God hates fags” on a mirror, I don’t think most of us would be okay with that. But we seem to be okay with a whole lot of people distilling the bible down to that message and then acting as if hearing that message is the fault of the listener.
There was a minor kerfuffle when Travelodge, which is a large UK hotel chain, removed the Bibles from all of its rooms. This doesn’t seem to have been as a result of complaints, but proactive corporate Travelodge removes the Bible from every room | Daily Mail Online
As an atheist myself, Bibles in hotels don’t bother me at all.
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I would be fascinated by the appearance - and what it says about our changing nation (assuming I found it in the US as opposed to Saudi Arabia). Then again, I own 2 copies of the Qur’an. Given that much of it is an overlap with the Old Testament - I just don’t personally see the issue.
How about “The Da Vinci Code”? I tried to read that and gave up after the first chapter or thereabouts. A couple years ago, the library donated about 20 mint-condition copies of that book to an artist who was using them for an art project. In short, they tied up the books with string and hung them from the ceiling; if someone saw a book they wanted, they could have it for a donation to the project, and they would replace it with yet another book that was ready to go in the back room.
Did you read the article your link goes to? The specific atheists you are providing as proof of your claim seem to have made statements that answer your question quite adequately.
Although, give them their due, they appear to be letting the atheist group that lodged the complaint and made the request make their own case and put forward their own arguments in support of their position.
In Thailand or Japan it’s most likely to be the Teaching of Buddha (In English) and sometimes a bible as well. Most of the bibles in hotel rooms are donated by the Gideon society, they’re not paid for by the hotels.
According to this article the Society for the Promotion of Buddhism has been placing the Teaching of Buddha books in some hotels in the US as well:
And yeah nope it wouldn’t bother me if there was a Koran there as well as a Bible and the Teaching of Buddha or any combination of the three. It’s a book and I just ignore it, it’s not going to jump out of the drawer in the middle of the night and attack me.
It has been mentioned several times that the case that generated the quoted article had to do with a hotel that was part of a public college, so there would be the governmental-entity factor at play for claiming First Amendment issues. That seems to be ignored by some posters on both sides.
Entirely private entities are another kettle of fish, and the *mere presence *of a Bible may only violate the guest’s more recently conceived (and by no means yet universally accepted) right-to-not-be-offended. Which does not mean that you, the individual, are not actually being offended, but your being offended does not always necessarily create a cause for redress in the form of forbidding that which caused you offense. Sometimes your redress is to take your business elsewhere, write a letter to the Editor denouncing that the White Inn on Power Avenue gives away free copies of The Turner Diaries in the nightstands, set up a picket line and call for boycotts of all those doing business with them.
Now, OTOH, if there were a situation that other religious denominations wanted to also place their materials on the same terms as the Gideons and private innkeepers refused them, someone could argue an issue of equal access to a business accommodation open to the public – if a hotelier may not refuse lodging to someone on account of their religion, can they refuse placement of any scriptures? I do believe private-owner discretion would still prevail at this time, who knows a few years down the road.
(And some religions and denominations may not even try this due to the matter of whether the materials may be vulnerable to desecration; or that the scripture has to be in the ritual language or a specific authorized translation used)
The hotel in question is not private (or might not be fully private it appears). It has a connection to official governmental power, which means (as I understand it) that you can’t pick and choose among religious groups to accommodate.
In the specific case in point, the FFRF case was that this was state-run accommodation.
In the case of a genuinely private hotel: the law says that “public accommodations” (including private hotels that are open to the public) cannot discriminate based on religion. It would surely be a stretch to claim that religious propaganda passively placed in a closed drawer constitutes discrimination. But this must be a quantitative question. There is presumably some greater amount of “in-your-face” religious proselytization that could create a sufficiently hostile environment for non-believers that a court might hold that it’s effectively discrimination.
If they did dispute it, they’d be on shaky legal ground. Same as if any other government institution was promoting a religion. I assume that you would not want a publicly funded institution promoting non-christian beliefs.
Fortunately, that is not the case, and they agreed quickly.
Unless there is another hotel in question. Were you thinking of a different story? If so, please link it, it would be very interesting to see what legal argument they could come up with to overrule the first amendment.
ETA: Not sure if I was actually ninja’d on that or not, or if I saw reinman’s post before posting my own. I get interrupted alot. Sorry for repeating.
I see no problem with finding a Koran, or a book of Mormon, or some other book in the room.
If it were something unusual and offensive (Mein Kampf) I would wonder why it was there, whether I might be in danger at the hotel, and whether I might be monetarily supporting that philosophy. But I happen to know that the Bible is there with no strings attached, it does not suggest a threat, and my hotel dollars aren’t even funding it.
As for the hypothetical gay kid in the Bible belt… I’m pretty sure that’s not the first Bible he’s seen, and I doubt it much changes his hotel experience.