Why a Bible in the telephone table drawer in motels? And, who puts them there. And, do non-believers object to them? Yikes…3 questions:confused:
Presumably a holdover from some tradition
Presumably the management
Presumably you would need to ask each individual non-believer.
Presumably yours,
Zev Steinhardt
They’re called Gideon Bibles. They’re put there by the Gideons International. They’re they’re for the taking. I don’t know how athiests, or other assorted infidels, feel about them.
They are placed by the Gideons, an evangelical Christian association. They place them because they believe that every lonely soul in a motel room should have a Bible handy. As an atheist, I think it’s silly, but I appreciate the thought (even though I occasionally feel like being a wiseass about it, and replacing the Bibles with a copy of something like the Humanist Manifesto or The Origin of Species).
Heheh. That’s pretty funny. I have a friend who used to do a lot of travelling for business and collected Gideon bibles that he stole from every hotel room he was in. He had a whole crate of them in his basement. Probably about 300 all together. Last I hears he was selling them on eBay.
They are there for the taking. It’s like trying to steal complementary mints.
You could always search the Archives:
Why is there a Bible in every hotel room?
Dang, you beat me to it.
Last shady motel I stayed in, the Gideon’s Bible had a nice cigar burn on it, along with several other burns throughout the room and what appeared to be bloodstains on the pillowcase.
I couldn’t really think of anything better to add to it.
I strongly recommend Penn & Teller’s How to Play in Traffic for anyone who would like to have some serious fun with their Gideon Bible and an unwitting roommate.
And here I thought I was a sinner for taking one.
Also I have been to hotels that had some Buddhist manuscript. I forget the title.
The Gideon’s figure that at some time, someone in a time of trouble may turn to the bible in their bedside night stand. Although I’m not a Christian, I can’t argue with the sentiment and if it helps someone, good enough.
In Utah, you usually find the Book of Mormon instead. Sometimes, you find both.
The second reason* I’m going to hell is that I usually sign them, “Thanks for reading me. {signed} God.”
I took a couple as reference books for qoutes. The only other bible I have is in Norwegian.
Whistlepig
- The First Reason I’m Going To Hell:
I was in a hurry to go to a meeting a couple of blocks from my office. Standing on the corner was a pre-school class on their way to the state capitol. The sign was flashing “Don’t Walk” but there were only a few cars coming and I could beat them across the street. I got about three steps off the curb and into the street when I heard a little voice behind me say,
“Teacher, why is that man going out into the street when the light is green?”
Yep, I jaywalked, into traffic, in front of preschoolers. I will go to hell willingly for that moment of stupidity.
As an aside, every Hilton I’ve ever been to DOESN’T have a Bible in the drawer. BUT they all have Conrad Hilton’s Biography.
Really? I looked at the Gideon’s website and it said nothing about that. Don’t remember anything written with the bible to tell people it was free for the taking. Wouldn’t taking one would deprive the next person (unless you told the front desk on checkout.)
They’re seriously complimentary? Damn, if I’d known that, I’d have quite a large stack of them by now. I’ll have to remember that next time I go travelling.
I have so got to try that the next time I go traveling! Great idea!
~ monica
Wouldn’t be the first time I was wrong. I’ll email them off the contact page and ask.
Hell, I thought in a motel room…whatever wasn’t nailed down was there for the taking! 
That’s why you don’t sign in w/ your real name right?
And if it you can pry it loose then it wasn’t nailed down.
I’ve always wondered who was low enough to steal those Bibles.