Why does every hotel room come with a Bible?

[clairobscur]

@Hadrian0117

Do hotels other coutires do this?

I never seen a bible (or any other book, religious or not, for that mattter) in any french hotel room.

[Peter_Morris]

@continuity eror

Hypothetical: If the Scientologists tried to get Dianetics into hotel rooms, and the hotel refused, would they have any rights under the law to force the hotel to accept their book?
(P.S. This could apply to any religious group, but I chose the Scientologists because AFAIK they don’t have any sacred rules involving how their book should be handled.)

It’s a moot point. The Gideons spend their own time and money to give you Bibles for free, because they want to save your souls. The Scientologists will try to sell you Dianetics because they are in business to make money. They will never provide free copies, there’s no profit in it.

[scotandrsn]

I wish there were a group that would provide other published works for free.

I so often forget to bring something to read when I stay at a hotel. The Bible? Been there, done that.

It would be great to open the nightstand drawer and find, say, the Top Five of that week’s NYT bestsellers.

[BurnMeUp]

I have also done some travelling in Asia.

In Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo they had the Teachings of the Buddha in the hotel rooms.

In India they had the Bhagvada-Gita.

[Rube_E.Tewesday]

I once stayed in a hotel in Hawaii that had a bible, the Book of Mormon, and the teachings of the Buddha all in the same drawer. Might have been another one, too, can’t remember. Lot of spirituality for a place where people basically came to drink Mai Tais and have sex with strangers.

[Anaamika]

I have to say, out of all the obtrusive and sometimes offensive ways certain so-called Christians have tried to enforce their religion on me, I rather approve of the Gideons’ way. They leave it there, if you’re interested. It’s very unobtrusive, and I can easily ignore it or even forget about it.

That being said, I do wish they would put bestsellers in or something.

[Acsenray]

@Iceland_Blue

And even sven, where’s Chenni? I’ve not heard of it and it’s not in my atlas

I’m guessing it’s Chennai, formerly known as Madras, the capital of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

[Acsenray]

@continuity eror

Could such a group force the Gideons out of business?

No, this is purely a matter of private agreement. A privately owned hotel can put whatever it wants in its rooms (provided that there is no violation of hotel regulations).

And for that matter, what’s stopping a hard-line member of another faith (or an atheist) from suing a hotel based on “religious persecution”?

There is no law preventing a hotel from engaging in religious persecution, as you put it. As a public accomodation, they can’t discriminate against you by denying you services based on your race, etc., but once they let you in they can expose you to whatever ideas they wish.

[passengerpigeon]

@MidnightRadio

I think Hadrian0117 thought that by unoccupied or empty, you meant rooms that people had checked into, but weren’t in at the time, leaving their luggage and personal belongings in there.

Oh.

Wow, that didn’t occur to me at all. I would never call those rooms unoccupied, mostly because I have no way of knowing which rooms actually have people in them. No, I didn’t let the Gideons into any rooms that anybody was staying in.

–p

[PoorYorick]

@scotandrsn

I wish there were a group that would provide other published works for free.

I so often forget to bring something to read when I stay at a hotel. The Bible? Been there, done that.

It would be great to open the nightstand drawer and find, say, the Top Five of that week’s NYT bestsellers.

I stayed in a small hotel, but darned if I can remember where (Denver?). Along with the rest of the usual tracts (room service menu, what-to-do-around-here, etc.), was a small collection of “best short stories” by well known authors. It seems to have been published by the hotel chain.

It was a life saver for the boring after-dinner-before-bedtime hours.