# In Hotels are the Gideon Bibles meant to be taken?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-hotels-are-the-gideon-bibles-meant-to-be-taken/480598>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 9, 2009, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-hotels-are-the-gideon-bibles-meant-to-be-taken/480598 "2009-01-09T22:21:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Vox\_Imperatoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Vox\_Imperatoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vox_Imperatoris)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-hotels-are-the-gideon-bibles-meant-to-be-taken/480598/41 "2009-01-10T23:22:00Z")

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> [@gaffa](#):
>
> Not necessarily. I live in a majority Middle Eastern neighborhood in Chicago, and the Muslim equivalent of the Gideons left an English translation of the Koran in a plastic bag on my doorknob. It was accompanied by sheet of paper with a request to treat it respectfully. Until it appeared, I had never experienced any Islamic prostelization.

Translations of the Koran are not the Koran in the eyes of Islamic scholars, though, so I doubt they’re considered sacred.

Valete,  
Vox Imperatoris

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**Author:** ![please921](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ad7895/32.png) [@please921](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/please921)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2009, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-hotels-are-the-gideon-bibles-meant-to-be-taken/480598/42 "2009-01-11T00:18:53Z")

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> [@elmwood](#):
>
> Cool! This gets me thinking … has anyone ever seen a Torah/Tanakh or Koran in a hotel room? I have my doubts about a Koran, because of the protocol about how the physical book is to be treated; there’s no guarantee it would not be abused. As for a Torah/Tanakh, there’s not the same protocol, but in Judaism it’s generally taboo to take a prayer book into a bathroom.

I doubt you would find a Torah in a hotel room in America, seeing as Judaism doesn’t actively seek converts and Jews don’t proselytize.

As for finding the Torah in a hotel room in Israel, it can be argued that perhaps a religious group would place one in every room in order to reach irreligious Jews. However, I never came upon one in my many hotel stays in Israel, but I can’t say that I looked through every drawer.

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**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2009, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-hotels-are-the-gideon-bibles-meant-to-be-taken/480598/43 "2009-01-11T01:09:59Z")

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> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#):
>
> Does anyone have a copy of a Gideon Bible? Don’t they actually say in a preface that you can take the Bible if you wish? Yes, they expect the bible to be there a long time and they hope that the people in the room will read it and leave it, but they say explicitly (if I recall correctly) that if you really want to you can take the Bible home with you.

The one I’m looking at right now says on the inside front cover:

this Bible  
is placed by The Gideons

If you desire to contact Gideons in this area,  
please consult the local telephone directory

The facing page has:  
HELP IN TIME OF NEED

And below it are listed relevent verses dealing with salvation, loneliness, sorrow, suffering, decision, danger, fear, turmoil, weariness, temptation, indifference, and conviction.

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