Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
The American Family Association's latest freakout: some hotels are not allowing Bibles to be placed in every room. And rather than doing what any sane person with a strong preference would do and just not stay at those hotels whose accommodations they don't like, they want to make sure that no one else gets to have their own favorable accommodations either. The Worldnutdaily reports:
"Now is the time to let the motel chains know that you want them to keep the Gideon Bibles," said its e-mail alert. "For Accor, providing travelers with sexual paraphernalia is more important than the Bible. Accor hotels owns several chains including: Motel 6, Sofitel, Pullman, Novotel, Mercure, Suitehotel, Ibis, All Seasons, Etap, Formule 1. While these chains are mostly located in Europe, Accor is expanding to many U.S. markets."AFA said that "without action now, it is simply a matter of time before other chains remove the Bibles."
This whole thing is just stupid. Why is it not enough for these people that they can read the Bible in their hotel rooms if they choose and others can choose not to? Imagine the freakout if a hotel decided to put other books in hotel rooms besides the Bible. Why not put great literature in them? Why not put the Grapes of Wrath in one room and the collected works of Shakespeare in another? No, only their favorite book will do. And of course, they've got their panties in a wad about hotels providing useful things as well:
"Edgier chains like the W provide 'intimacy kits' with condoms in the minibar, while New York's Mercer Hotel supplies a free condom in each bathroom. Neither has Bibles. Since its recent renovation, the Sofitel L.A. offers a tantalizing lovers' dice game: roll one die for the action to be performed (for example, "kiss," "lick") and the other for the associated body part," Newsweek said.
Imagine that, providing condoms in the mini-bar. Guess what? Using condoms is a good thing. Some of the people using condoms and using that lovers' dice game will no doubt be married to each other. And if they're not? It's none of your goddamn business. You just sit and read your Bible and let others do what they want to do.
Comments
Wow! "W" sounds like a lotta fun for me and my spouse!
I mean, we're used to getting away to a hotel every once in awhile for . . . time away from the kids. Imagine our surprise when we checked into a Marriott Residence Inn, ordered up some adult movies . . . and found they were hard "R" at most.
We won't be going back to a Marriott to recharge our marriage . . .
Posted by: frustrated | November 18, 2007 9:45 AM
Yeah Ed, but some of the people using the condoms and the dice game might have "THE GAY" and then good God fearing people might catch it ... kids might catch it not knowing what the dice were ... oh the horror!
Oh I'm bad, just had a mental image of one of these bible thumping families having their kid come out of the bathroom chewing the "bubble gum" the hotel left for them. [chuckle]
Posted by: dogmeatib | November 18, 2007 10:17 AM
Doesn't Marriotts supply hotel guests with both a Bible and a Book of Mormon?
Posted by: The Professor | November 18, 2007 10:27 AM
I love reading the Bible so much that I appreciatively take every Gideon's I find in my room home with me.
Let them spend more of their outreach on printing costs I say.
Posted by: Gingerbaker | November 18, 2007 10:46 AM
Gingerbaker,
Great idea. Then they get to waste more trees.
Posted by: Anonymous | November 18, 2007 10:59 AM
I completely support The Gideons in placing Bibles in hotel rooms. They're paying for it. It's out of sight. However, if someone wants to read it, it's available.
I wouldn't have a problem with other organizations placing any other book they like in hotel rooms.
Posted by: Andrew Chamberlain | November 18, 2007 12:58 PM
Which hotels have the Kama Sutra in their bedside drawers?
Posted by: Pierce R. Butler | November 18, 2007 1:04 PM
As I recall, due to the various religions represented by their guests, some chains provided no particular book(s) in the nightstand, just a list of books they make available at the front desk.
Who goes to a motel to read books, anyway?
Posted by: Bill Ware | November 18, 2007 4:00 PM
If AFA's boycott against these hotel chains is as effective as their boycott against Disney in the mid-1990s (re "gay-days" at Disney World), I suppose we can expect the hotel company's stock price to go through the roof. Plan ahead.
Posted by: raj | November 18, 2007 5:06 PM
But if America tolerates this open sexuality, God will stop shielding us from the terrible Terror- er,I mean Hurri- Er, droug... er. Well, God wouldn't have let all those terrible things happen if we hadn't let the Gays take control and allowed evilutionists to teach our children!
Posted by: Suricou Raven | November 18, 2007 6:30 PM
"I love reading the Bible so much that I appreciatively take every Gideon's I find in my room home with me."
Save trees: Annotate. Draw attention to all the 'You shall slaughter all the babies in my name' bits.
Posted by: Suricou Raven | November 18, 2007 6:41 PM
I once found a Book Of Mormon in a hotel (forget the name) I stayed in with my family, and took it home with me for some reading. I am not Christian and don't have a good knowledge of what is written in the Bible, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to broaden my knowledge a bit on the stories it featured (instead of just going by the bits and pieces mentioned in websites).
Although it was the Book of Mormon, I figured that starting from page 1 (Genesis) and reading straight through would get me the Old and New Testaments shared by most other Bibles. (I attended a "Sunday School" thing when I was younger, which was most likely because it was the only daycare-like thing available at the time, and had been annoyed at how the teacher would skip around in the Bible instead of reading even a single chapter completely through.)
So, I started reading...
Around 30 pages later I threw the book into a dusty corner and have since forgotten where it went to. The things in the Old Testament portion alone left me stressed and angry at how much of a jerk God is/was. The story of Yacob and Esau (in which jerky Yacob takes hard-working Esau's birthright) especially ticked me off in how Yacob was favored by God in spite of all the cruel things he did against his brother.
If there is a way to get someone to turn away from Christianity, actually having him/her read the Bible (without skipping) is a sure-fire way of accomplishing it. No, I will not skip to the New Testament just to get to whatever Jesus supposedly did or say. They should have dropped the entire Old Testament if that was supposed to be the point.
Posted by: Monimonika | November 18, 2007 7:13 PM
Note to The Professor: If you go to a hotel in the western US, you're quite likely to find a Book of Mormon along with the Gideon Bible. And not just in Utah, either. But it's not a feature of all Marriott Hotels. Personally, I've always found it hilarious that good Mormons like the Marriotts have made so much money selling booze to lots of non-Mormons staying at their hotels.
Posted by: David | November 18, 2007 7:16 PM
What? No more free rolling papers? Oh well...
But in all seriousness, let them boycott. I am willing to bet that the majority of Americans who stay at hotels don't even know that a Bible is in the room, let alone where it is located.
And heaven forbid if hotels/motels are attempting to advocate safe sex. I think it's a wise investment; it will keep the customer coming.
Posted by: Shawn Wilkinson | November 18, 2007 8:28 PM
Apropos of Ed's tongue-in-cheek suggestion that hotels randomly place great works of literature in guest rooms, has anyone ever read Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next novels? In that universe, an entire dresser drawer in each hotel room is full of sacred texts and Shakespeare - the implication is that the minilibrary of edifying texts is required by law. Perhaps the AFA could get behind such a legislative proposal?
Posted by: AnneS | November 18, 2007 8:39 PM
What I never understood is, if somebody wants to read the Bible that much on his trip, why doesn't he just bring a copy with him? I'm not personally offended by finding a Bible in the dresser, but I never got the point of it, either.
Posted by: Brandon | November 18, 2007 8:58 PM
The point of putting a Bible in every room, Brandon, is to reach the non-Christians or the lapsed Christians. The idea here that people could bring their Bibles if they want to read it while at a hotel would just get a blank stare from these people. Having Bibles in motels is just another form of conversion strategy. If they could force every guest in every hotel room to read the Bible, they would do it.
Posted by: bc | November 18, 2007 9:29 PM
I am reminded of my old comic buddy Geechy Guy's line: "I was in a hotel room recently and I started reading the Gideon Bible in the drawer. I got so engrossed in the story that I took it with me when I checked out. I feel really bad because I just got to that part. You'd think they'd move that don't steal part closer to the front. At least in the hotel version."
Posted by: Ed Brayton | November 18, 2007 10:02 PM
Brandon, as bc stated, the whole point is a conversion strategy but it's a little sleezier than that. Many who are all about conversion will use whatever they can and emotional conversions are generally a sure thing. They want them in hotel rooms because people who may be going through an emotional time will be staying there. Imagine a man going through a tough divorce having to stay at a hotel briefly until he can find some place permanent or a woman fleeing an abusive husband. This is also why you find people looking to convert at airports, bus stations and collages: all three are filled with people either running from problems or in a new place where they know no one and hey, these guys have the answers to their problems or can introduce you to all the friends one will ever need.
Posted by: Jeremy | November 18, 2007 10:22 PM
I'm staying in the Hard Rock Hotel right now, for the American Academy of Religion conference in San Diego. In the bedside dresser is a Gideon bible. In the desk drawer (amidst a lot of junk food) one may find the following: 1) a pair of tear-away boxers, 2) a "sex candle with pheremones", and best of all, 3) an "intimacy lovekit" containing a "vibrating couples ring," "magic lubricant," "Don't stop" massage oil, and two "safe is sexy" condoms.
So apparently you can have wild, crazy sex all night and then repent in the morning. Especially if you're at a national conference on religion.
Posted by: Gretchen | November 18, 2007 11:13 PM
Oh, by the way...can anyone tell me exactly what a "couples' love ring" is? Apparently it lasts 17-25 minutes for one use, and we'd like to get our money's worth.
Posted by: Gretchen | November 18, 2007 11:14 PM
Gretchen, if what you describe is what I am thinking, the ring is slipped onto the the penis and positioned between mid-shaft and the glans, turned on, and then intercourse commits. It is best to position the ring for maximum stimulation of the clitoris.
And, uh....don't ask me how I know... ;-)
Posted by: Shawn Wilkinson | November 18, 2007 11:40 PM
What's funny is that there were Gideon Bibles in 3 of the four hotels I've stayed in here in SE Asia... and one of them was in a VERY seedy neighborhood in Phuket.
So I guess you can get a 'baby massage' followed by reading our favorite Gospel... lol
Posted by: doctorgoo | November 19, 2007 7:54 AM
I stayed at a Westin in Toronto and photographed the Gideon Bible and "The Teaching of Buddha," that was in my room.
My last stay at a Marriott included, "The Spirit to Serve," by J.W. Marriott along with the Bible and Book of Mormon.
Good thing I brought my own books to read.
Posted by: MightyLambchop | November 19, 2007 10:59 AM
Maybe all those Gideons need the "good parts" bookmarked, highlighted and margin noted. There is some good stuff in Song of Solomon and if war, mass murder and rape is your taste then Numbers is for you. If someone has a listing of same, they could post it for copying and (actually) pasting in the flyleaf. ;-)
Posted by: TomDunlap | November 19, 2007 12:33 PM
Freedom from Religion Foundation has stickers you can put on the Gideon's Bibles to help people understand what a nasty character the biblical Gideon actually was. Old testament fun!
Posted by: Marty | November 19, 2007 2:04 PM
Staying at a Best Western in Utah, I found not only a Book of Mormon (there was no bible - bizarre!), but also an illustrated copy of the Bhagavad-Gita (the Hare Krishnas' thingie), annotated by His Divine Grace, Swami someone-or-another. Being curious, I took both books and have found them to be ridiculous as well as extremely boring. I did leave a copy of a Greg Iles novel in their place, just to be nice. Maybe I should type up some annotations, suggested above, and GLUE them into the books in the future. Or just take a prepared list of sections to highlight.
Posted by: RebekahD | November 19, 2007 3:26 PM
I just came home from a long trip (39 nights in assorted economy motels). Plenty of bibles. I did check out a few to see if they had been annotated. Nope.
I briefly entertained the idea of making them disappear, but I guess I'm not like the AFA folks who feel compelled to impose their beliefs (or lack thereof) on everyone else. The bible stayed.
Posted by: Gerry L | November 20, 2007 1:38 AM
On the subject of getting good books in your hotel room, check out the Library Hotel. "...over 6,000 volumes organized throughout the hotel by the Dewey Decimal System.* Each of the 10 guestrooms floors honors one of the 10 categories of the DDC and each of the 60 rooms is uniquely adorned with a collection of books and art exploring a distinctive topic within the category or floor it belongs to. "
Posted by: SpotWeld | November 20, 2007 11:40 AM
Our Nation is suffering the consequences of the attitutes that I see posted here. God will let people do their own thing, but His Day is coming. Not believing doesn't do away with fact. The only way things can get better is for people to repent and turn to God through the Only Way, His Son, Jesus. John 14:6
Posted by: Ron | November 20, 2007 3:57 PM
Ron said:
Neither does believing in God, despite what groups like the AFA say.
I fail to see how believing in an entity for which no evidence exists will magically stop our government from stomping all over our personal freedoms, or will somehow turn the tide of our declining dollar value, or will all of a sudden make our children smarter, or fix insert the consequences of whatever attitudes our nation is suffering from here.
Posted by: Jason I. | November 20, 2007 4:09 PM
Ron's only posting that claptrap because he's been brainwashed into believing his god of love will HURT him if he doesn't run his mouth. Ignore him.
Posted by: speedwell | November 20, 2007 4:36 PM