Posted on 12/09/2015 10:40:38 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The Freedom from Religion Foundation, America's largest association of atheists and agnostics, began a campaign Monday to rid all hotel rooms of Bibles distributed by The Gideons International and replaced with copies of Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species."
The Gideons International is well known worldwide for their work with hotels but according to their website, they predominantly share Scriptures in schools and colleges, prisons and jails, hospitals, and medical offices. The group is also an association of Christian business and professional men and their wives dedicated to telling people about Jesus through sharing personally and by providing Bibles and New Testaments.
In a release Monday, however, the FFRF charged that Gideons International was "exploiting hotels and motels to proselytize a captive audience," and informed the American Hotel and Motel Association that they wanted the Bibles removed.
The FFRF also sent letters to a number of companies, including Wyndham Worldwide, Intercontinental Hotel Groups (Holiday Inn), Choice Hotels International (Quality Inn), Hilton Worldwide, G6 Hospitality (Motel 6), Marriott International, Best Western, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group (Radisson, Carlson, Country Inn) and Starwood Hotels and Resorts (Sheraton).
"Those who must read the Bible every day will surely take precautions to travel with their own copies. The rest of us deserve a break from mindless evangelizing when we are on vacation," wrote FFRF's Co-Presidents Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor on behalf of the organization's 23,000 nonreligious members.
"Many of your guests are freethinkers -- atheists, agnostics, skeptics or 'nones' -- who are deeply offended to be charged high fees only to be proselytized in the privacy of their own bedrooms. Not only that, the Bible calls for killing nonbelievers, apostates, gays, 'stubborn sons' and women who transgress biblical double standards," they added.
The organization said Gansevoort Hotel Groups provides them with a friendlier environment because that company only provides Bibles upon request. A number of boutique hotels also do not offer Bibles as standard practice.
The U.K.'s Travelodge removed copies of the Bible from its hotel rooms in 2007 to make guests who don't subscribe to Christianity more comfortable.
"Travelodge made the decision to move copies of the Bible from its hotel rooms and place them at reception for customers to borrow in 2007. This decision was based on customer research and the fact that we live in a multicultural society," said a statement from Travelodge to TheBlaze. "Therefore in order not to discriminate against any religion, customers who would like a Bible can pick a copy from any one of Travelodge's 500 hotel reception desks across the country, whilst staying at the hotel."
The FFRF said the 15 companies they contacted about the removal of the Bibles are responsible for more than 33,000 hotels in the U.S. and more than 4.1 million rooms internationally.
Don’t open the drawer. Problem solved.
Keep the bibles, get rid of the atheists and Muslims.
They seem to be admitting the power of the Word of God, if they are saying they are “deeply offended” by, and a “captive audience” to, a book quietly sitting in a nightstand in their room. Perhaps they should ponder that power and their response to it.
I'd also invite them to do something with themselves which is anatomically impossible.
I would like an atheist-free public zone safe for Christians. Atheism has become the official religion of the Democrats, government and schools.
Or isn't that what they meant? We can simply stroll down the street, and if we see some atheist standing there with a sign, we can simply batter them to death, since they don't want this whole Bible thing to affect them. It's not like they want to be considered human.
"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." just wouldn't apply. I'm pretty sure they aren't kosher, tho, so disposal becomes a problem...
Why not demand the full title:
“The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life”
BAM!
Love it.
What a bunch of nasty little people.
What is so captive about the bible in a drawer I don’t open or pick up? If it’s so awful knowing there’s a bible in the room somewhere, all they have to do before reserving or checking in is request the bible be removed. No different than double beds or king, or non smoking etc.
These people are so hateful and petty. They just want to make everyone else is miserable as they are. What a way to go through life.
atheists , the other kind of Muslim
If they put Darwin’s book in, they should use his full original title:
On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life
And on the back cover, put endorsements from Hitler and Marx.
put want in one hand, and crap In the other and see which one gets filled up first
Don’t they have enough indoctrination centers in public the schools and universities? Last time I looked, hotels are privately owned and can leave any book they want in their rooms.
I stay at Marriott properties a lot, the Mariott's being Mormon, use to have the Book of Mormon in all hotel rooms, not just in Utah.
I found this to be highly offensive and I was unable to sleep at night knowing that book was just inches from my head. Yet I continued to stay at their properties, night after night after night.
There has to be a solution to this dilemma.
(and yes I am being sarcastic).
Seriously though, I have not checked in ages to see if this is still true, as I rarely open the nightstand.
If God does not exist, why are the atheists afraid of having Bibles in hotel rooms?
The hotel industry is not owned by the government so they can do whatever they want—it is none of the atheists’ business.
But as we have seen all to often in the last 20 years, we start with a ridiculous premise, and the pressure never lets up until the object of the pressure caves.
NO MORE!
I believe the history of a bible being in a hotel room started with the Gideon bible group giving them to hotels for free. If some atheist group wants to spend the money to print up Darwin’s origin of the species and distribute it to hotels for free they can do it.
Atheists will get their way, because the judges in this nation are too stupid and PC to admit this is substituting one Bible for another bible. ... The Republic is doomed.
On a lonely night in a hotel, Darwin would sure comfort.Blech!!!!!!
The few times I have stayed at a Mariott they had both the Bible and the Book of Mormon.
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