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Gideons Bibles

joesixpack

Illuminator
J
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Feb 26, 2005
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When My wife and I bought our hotel last summer, there were at least 2 bibles in each room (some rooms had 4, fer chrissake), plus, we had another two dozen in a box in the hotel office. I asked the old owner why she had so many, and she told me that the gideon society people were pushy (which is saying something, 'cause she was a real church-lady) and nosey. They actually would try to get into the rooms to check that the bibles were there and in good shape.

Well, over the last 10 months, most of those bibles have dissapeared (oops!) but aparently, it's gideon season again, because the guys keep showing up to ask how our bible stock is doing. I keep blowing them off and saying that I'm too busy or that the rooms are occupied and they aren't allowed into them. I tell 'em I have a few dozen extras, too. But they keep wanting to come back "later, when you're not so busy". Frankly, I think they're a bit intimidated by me because I'm sort of gruff with them, but I get real nervous whenever whenever they come around.

I don't want the things in the rooms. But I also don't want to be the object of some christian coallition boycott, either. What am I gonna do?
 
You could add your own sheet to them, with links to JREF and other skeptic sites, just to be fair ;)
 
You could contribute them to a paper drive - or for appropriate use on Guy Fawkes day-or to help build a reef.............(I mean the Gideups on the last one or two!!!
 
I'm assuming that Gideon's, not the hotel, pays the costs of the bibles. If so, what's the big deal? If I owned a hotel, and Harlequin offered to provide free trashy romance novels in my rooms, I'd say sure, what the heck. Guests who like them will appreciate it, and everyone else will just ignore them.

As an atheist, I've never been bothered by the presence of bibles in hotel rooms. They're stuck away in the drawer, for crying out loud -- you really have to search them out.
 
Sell the bibles on the internet. Every time they come by tell them all the bibles are gone and that you really appreciate having four in each room because the customers are taking them so quickly. Sell them for 4 bucks a pop on the internet and use the money to buy a couple dozen subscriptions to skeptic magazine, and then leave those in the rooms.
 
You could add your own sheet to them, with links to JREF and other skeptic sites, just to be fair
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That sir is hilariously brilliant. Turnabout being fair play and all.
 
...Or you could agree to allow them in each room provided you can stick this disclaimer on the cover of each...
 

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I'd go with the let them leave them in the rooms option.

Not a big deal, and certainly not worth the potential money loss from some Fundy getting wind of your refusal, and causing trouble.

While I don't hold much stock in the bible, I do sometimes pick one up when I'm board, just to remind myself how foolish the thing is. ;)
 
If I’m in a strange town, I like to get back to the hotel room after dinner & drinks and read some Old Testament for entertainment. I say leave one bible in each room, accompanied by an interesting essay on scepticism. If you are worried about the guests’ unlikely conclusion that you’re promoting Christianity, you could also leave a sheet with a short description of other religions – though that may be taking it a bit far, especially in terms of resources.

As for handling the visiting Gideon folk, remember you are in charge in your hotel. Treat the meeting like any other business meeting. You could set it up in your office for a pre-specified amount of time. Thank them for stopping by. Tell them how many copies (for example, number of rooms + 10%) you keep. Make an appointment with them for 6 or 12 months time to replenish your stock and replace any damaged. Keeping it all business-like will increase your confidence, and reduce the amount of wriggle room they have for creeping in.

Anyway, those are my two pennies. :)
 
joesixpack said:
I don't want the things in the rooms. But I also don't want to be the object of some christian coallition boycott, either. What am I gonna do?
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??That sounds awfully like blackmail to me. Does your business depend on Christian customers?

I wouldn't give in to Mafia tactics. For every person saved by religion, there's a person hurt by it (or so my own experiences have led me to believe), so by allowing Gideon to leave their bibles because you are afraid of the business repercussions of not doing so, you are not only allowing your hotel to become a recruiting ground for Christianity, but you are encouraging them in their bullying tactics.

To put it another way: if I bully you enough, will you start leaving free homeopathic remedies and healing crystals in your rooms too? What about porn? If I send you a couple of dozen Barely Legals, will you put them in the drawers for those guests seeking guidance of the physical kind? Calling cards for local psychics, tarot readers or chiropractors?

I don't let anyone tell me how to run my business. I especially wouldn't let a religious group do it.

You don't want them in the rooms. Don't have them in the rooms.
 
Dunstan said:
I'm assuming that Gideon's, not the hotel, pays the costs of the bibles. If so, what's the big deal?
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They take up valuable drawer space that a guest might want to use. This may sound silly but I find that the case, especially if I'm staying somewhere for a few days - I want that drawer in my bedside table. At TAM4, there was no room in the drawer because of the stupid bible. So I threw it under the bed so I could put my book, glasses, etc in the drawer. Every day after housekeeping came, I'd find the bible back on top of the bedside table taking up valuable room.
 
I find them useful for jamming windows open and things.
Why not ask the local mosque for free copies of the koran as well?
You might add some back numbers of "Popular Mechanics" or "The Kama Sutra" as well. Choice is the thing to offer.

I once stayed in a motel that had a used paperback library in the reception lobby. You could take a book with you if you were still reading it when you left, but the owner asked that you left any spare book you had. It was great. He had a bunch of Asimov's collected science essays. Kept me happy for two very rainy days.
 
Soapy Sam said:
I once stayed in a motel that had a used paperback library in the reception lobby. You could take a book with you if you were still reading it when you left, but the owner asked that you left any spare book you had. It was great. He had a bunch of Asimov's collected science essays. Kept me happy for two very rainy days.
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Each of my rooms has a couple of shelves of books on the private porches, courtesey of the local bookstore. Here in SW Washington, the chance of a rainy day on your vacation is pretty good, so we try to make sure people have a diversion or two (aside from the obvious, i.e.). ;)
 
I have some very anti-Christian acquaintences (they are pagan) whose business used to have them travelling a lot. At each hotel or motel, they would take the Gideon bible (as it says you are encouraged to do) and bring it home with them. They would then use them for art and construction projects. They had a stick-man made of bibles with spikes sticking through the hands and feet that was pretty odd, but one piece of useful art was the spiral staircase they built for their kitties by gluing the bibles together and onto a central pole. It went from floor to ceiling and the cats just loved it. It was referred to as the "stairway to heaven".

Frankly, though, I disapprove of that. While it is true that the Gideons say you can take the bibles, it is certainly not true that they would approve of this sort of usage. If they want the hotels to have them and if the hotels agree, then that is their business. It is wrong to violate the intention of their generous offer.

I will confess, though, that once, when stuck in near terminal boredom in a podunk town due to a breakdown, my wife and I played "Mad Libs" with the bible (in pencil only). In case you don't know the game, one person looks at a passage in a book and says "give me a noun" or "give me a place name" or whatever part of speech you are looking at. He crosses out the word in the book and writes the substituted word over it, and when you've done a paragraph or so, you read it back.

The crucifixion was never so funny.
 
When someone gives you a gift, it is yours to do with as you wish!! So the pagans are perfectly in order there.

Love the Mad Libs idea!!! Well done!!!
 
Tricky said:
I will confess, though, that once, when stuck in near terminal boredom in a podunk town due to a breakdown, my wife and I played "Mad Libs" with the bible (in pencil only). In case you don't know the game, one person looks at a passage in a book and says "give me a noun" or "give me a place name" or whatever part of speech you are looking at. He crosses out the word in the book and writes the substituted word over it, and when you've done a paragraph or so, you read it back.

The crucifixion was never so funny.
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I am definitely playing that next time I stay in a hotel!
 
We had a fairly extensive discussion about Gideon Bibles in this thread:

http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51827

No one had a copy at hand, but my online digging indicated that the Gideons do not invite hotel guests to take the Bible home with them. At that time we did not have the benefit of joesixpack's participation; perhaps he could consult a Gideon Bible and get back to us on that issue.

I do not recommend defacing the Bible you find in your hotel room. Based on what factual information I have, my professional view is that nothing entitles you to do this.
 
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