# You can take Gideon Bibles from hotel rooms, but what about this? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 29, 2010, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-take-gideon-bibles-from-hotel-rooms-but-what-about-this/555426 "2010-09-29T02:50:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-take-gideon-bibles-from-hotel-rooms-but-what-about-this/555426/21 "2010-09-30T00:51:29Z")
I found a Playboy in the hotel drawer once. That was MUCH better than religious dogma any day. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-take-gideon-bibles-from-hotel-rooms-but-what-about-this/555426/22 "2010-09-30T03:11:36Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > I always hope to find a copy of _Jimmy James, Macho Business Donkey Wrestler_. So far, nada. Sorry, I swiped that one. ---
**Author:** ![palindromemordnilap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/db5fbb/32.png) [@palindromemordnilap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/palindromemordnilap)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-take-gideon-bibles-from-hotel-rooms-but-what-about-this/555426/23 "2010-09-30T13:25:06Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I wonder if any hotel rooms contain books preaching atheism. I opened a drawer in a hotel room nightstand and there was nothing there. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-take-gideon-bibles-from-hotel-rooms-but-what-about-this/555426/24 "2010-09-30T14:05:08Z")
So the agnostic literature is something like a Schroedinger’s drawer? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-take-gideon-bibles-from-hotel-rooms-but-what-about-this/555426/25 "2010-09-30T14:54:48Z")
> [@Ruby](#): > > I found a Playboy in the hotel drawer once. That was MUCH better than religious dogma any day. 🙂 “All acts of love are acts of worship.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cumberdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumberdale)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-take-gideon-bibles-from-hotel-rooms-but-what-about-this/555426/26 "2010-09-30T15:59:17Z")
If I had my pick, I’d prefer them to leave _Bullfinch’s Mythology_. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-take-gideon-bibles-from-hotel-rooms-but-what-about-this/555426/27 "2010-09-30T17:48:39Z")
> [@Angel\_of\_Doubt](#): > > Was that the title? I’m hearing Conrad in a leprechaun voice. Missed this one earlier. [Yep!](http://www.amazon.com/Be-My-Guest-Con-Hilton/dp/B000GRFBUG/ref=sr_1_1?s=gateway&ie=UTF8&qid=1285868796&sr=8-1) This is the exact version that was in my room. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-take-gideon-bibles-from-hotel-rooms-but-what-about-this/555426/28 "2010-09-30T17:56:10Z")
> [@Student\_Driver](#): > > > [@Angel\_of\_Doubt](#): > > > > Was that the title? I’m hearing Conrad in a leprechaun voice. > > Missed this one earlier. [Yep!](http://www.amazon.com/Be-My-Guest-Con-Hilton/dp/B000GRFBUG/ref=sr_1_1?s=gateway&ie=UTF8&qid=1285868796&sr=8-1) This is the exact version that was in my room. He’s funnin’ ya because you said it was _Be **Me** Guest._ [QUOTE=You] My last stay in a Hilton turned up not only a Gideon Bible, but also Conrad Hilton’s autobiography, Be Me Guest. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-take-gideon-bibles-from-hotel-rooms-but-what-about-this/555426/29 "2010-09-30T18:33:44Z")
As a person who’s worked almost his whole life in hotels, I can tell you they don’t want you to take it, but they aren’t unhappy when you do. The whole point of this is to get you INTERESTED. So the religious groups figure, if you take it and read it at your home, it’s a very cheap investment. It’s like matches or anything else, it’s there for you use in the room. But if you take them when you leave no one really minds, why? 'Cause the matches are cheap advertising as well. So religious groups don’t want you to take it if you’re going to throw it out, but if you’re going to use the book to study and show further interest, they wouldn’t mind at all. They also realize if you do take it and like their cause you’ll probably be making a dontion to them in the near future. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-take-gideon-bibles-from-hotel-rooms-but-what-about-this/555426/30 "2010-09-30T18:44:19Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > > [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > > > My copy of the Book of Mormon came from a hotel room in SLC. > > > > I tried reading it. It was dull. > > We had to take one with us, they were _such_ fun to read aloud. I think we found one chapter with seventeen consecutive sentences that began with, “And it came to pass…”. That “it came to pass” phrase, repeated so many times, is what turned me off to reading The Book of Mormon. It seemed so obvious that someone had been trying to copy the language of the King James version of the Bible. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-take-gideon-bibles-from-hotel-rooms-but-what-about-this/555426/31 "2010-10-01T03:09:16Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > BTW, I’ll be in Temple Square sometime this week - I’ll be sure to score a Book of Mormon. I assume they give them away? You should ask the young women who prowl the grounds, but I don’t know if they’ll give you a free Book of Mormon on the spot. Not because the books are expensive or that Mormons don’t love giving away Books of Mormon, but they prefer to get you involved with the missionaries before giving you the free book. They’ll want to get your home address in SC and send the missionaries to visit you after you get back from vacation. Those guys will “deliver” your free Book of Mormon along with an “inspiring” message about “families.” Unless you want these guys showing up and bothering you, DO NOT WRITE DOWN YOUR ADDRESS ON THE CARD. If you insist (and don’t give them your address) then they may relent and give you a copy. –Signed, the guy who used to bother people who wrote down their address. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-take-gideon-bibles-from-hotel-rooms-but-what-about-this/555426/32 "2010-10-01T03:15:23Z")
They’re basically the same as the pizza menus. For all legal purposes, they’re yours to do with as you see fit. I have a Hari Krishna version of the Bhagavad-Gita I once found in a motel room (in New York City, I think) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-take-gideon-bibles-from-hotel-rooms-but-what-about-this/555426.md?page=1)