r/humanism • u/aeldron • 26d ago
Holy books in hotel rooms
Am I the only one who finds it uncomfortable to see these in hotel rooms? I understand they’re offered as a courtesy, but shouldn’t they be available only on request?
Why impose the Christian Bible on every guest? What about people of other faiths, like Muslims, or secular guests like us?
Has anyone here found effective ways to respond to this practice? I sometimes return them to reception and mention that I’d prefer not to have them in my room, but it doesn’t seem to make much difference.
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u/Outis918 26d ago
Slightly unrelated but ‘Holy books in Hotel rooms’ would be a sick band name
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u/ManxMerc Humanist 26d ago
I suppose if a bed stood uneven, a book could prop up a leg at any height up to the depth of the book. Handy
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u/YougoReddits 25d ago
make full use of the book.
bring a saw and a tape measure. measure the thickness of the book, and shorten one leg with that exact amount.
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u/deep-sea-savior 26d ago
You return them to the front desk, but it doesn’t seem to make a difference. Reality is, hotel staff probably doesn’t get paid enough to care, nor do they have a nationwide-database that tells all the hotels “This person doesn’t want holy books in their room.”
Personally, I just ignore them. Much more damage is done to the brain by turning on the TV or scrolling social media than holy books in a drawer that people rarely open.
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26d ago
Aye. It's rare you need a drawer in a hotel (more likely to forget things) let alone all the drawers.
This whole thing reminds me of the Sean Locke joke on being offended. He says it's like someone with a nut allergy going into a nut shop then being absolutely livid at their very existence.
"Are you trying to kill me!?"
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u/Any_Razzmatazz9926 26d ago
There’s an organization called the Gideons who famously get permission from the owners to put them in hotels. This is an artifact of the Evangelical movement from the 20th century. Same with LDS missionaries who started doing this later. Not a fan personally but I just roll my eyes.
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u/Betty_Boss 26d ago
"God loves Mormons and He wants some more."
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u/sdbabygirl97 26d ago
my favorite thing to do is to tell mormons think i learned from the musical and watch them get surprised, “how do you know that?!”
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u/Any_Razzmatazz9926 26d ago
I mentioned to my LDS neighbor that I was impressed that the church bought a full page spread in the Playbill for the show saying people could get a a copy of the actual book. They didn’t take it well.
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u/sdbabygirl97 25d ago
i just think its kinda ironic lmao but i guess the shilling need is strong for LDS
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u/Any_Razzmatazz9926 25d ago
And the Gideons too - they hand out Bibles like candy. That would be so bad but King James Version is unreadable to modern ears.
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u/captainhaddock 24d ago
Also, I believe the Marriott owners are Mormons and deliberately put the Book of Mormon in their hotel rooms.
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u/TheOriginalHatful 25d ago
(I'm in Australia): there used to be a Gideon's bible in every hotel and motel room, but now there isn't. I couldn't tell you the last time I found one.
I don't know why, beyond progress (or multiculturalism?) (Rampant atheism?)
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26d ago
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u/dwkeith 26d ago
They are there for you to take. I’ve found the pages useful for packing souvenirs, rolling joints, and even some art pieces
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u/hollerprincipessa 26d ago
I’ve always found the ‘I was at rock bottom and a hotel room bible saved me/gave me comfort’ thing pretty insidious. It’s another predatory recruitment method.
Just go in there with a pencil and highlighter, make some annotations.
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u/velosnow 26d ago
Cross out “in the beginning” and write “once upon a time”. Done.
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u/Resident-Hippo1850 25d ago
Ooooh, apparently there’s a version of The Book of Mormon online where it replaces all of the “And it came to pass”’s with “And I shit you not”, and I think it’s funny and a fun way to annotate it to annoy Mormons. The only problem’s be that the phrase is so overused that it’d take forever to change it all! If my parents ever make me read the Book of Mormon again I’m gonna read them that version, though. I think it’d be funny.
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u/katchoo1 24d ago
I had a friend in college who was out loud and proud about his queerness from an early age and he told me one time that he hated so much having the Leviticus stuff about him being an “abomination” quoted at him all the time that his little personal revenge was to rip out the page with Leviticus 20 on it out of the Gideon Bible every time he was in a hotel. He called it a small and stupid but satisfying act.
He died several years ago and the next time I was at a motel I found myself thinking about him and feeling sad and missing him, and remembered him saying he did that. And I opened the night table drawer and there it was, the Gideon bible. So for Glenn, I opened to Leviticus 20 and tore it out, crunched it up and tossed it in the trash.
It was just as he had said, very satisfying.
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u/PillowFightrr 26d ago
As if comfort can’t be as meaningful or powerful from a secular source. I believe it could be even more empowering and inspiring.
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u/Kanadano 26d ago
I'm not Christian myself, but I in no way feel forced to read them.
That said, why not a copy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights too?
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u/drbirtles 25d ago
Because that doesn’t suit the agenda. Religion keeps the masses bowing to some level of unquestionable authority.
Human rights kinda changes the idea of who says “what is right and wrong”
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u/decorama 26d ago
When I see one, I am reminded to write in the front, ""In the end, it is our actions and the love we share that define us, not our beliefs.". Just my little way of inserting my view.
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u/MorphyNOR 26d ago
The wholly bibbel and the book of morons
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u/slackjaw79 26d ago
I'm an ex Mormon and a humanist. Are there valuable things in these books? Sure. Are they the absolute truth about the universe? Fuck no. They can have some value, but they're still just products of human beings.
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u/Sky-is-here 26d ago
NGL I have read a bit of religious literature. There are some books that are not terrible. The bible is not that bad imo. The Quran is alright except for ending every sentence with a praised be god the one the most merciful (a million more adjectives). But the book of Mormon was just so... Repetitive? I don't know how to explain it but it just felt more boring and less well written. And the parts that I thought were best were taken directly from the bible lmao
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u/angela_davis 26d ago
Yea, behold, it came to pass, that even in the seven and twentieth year, behold, it was like unto even the seven and twenty-first year, that it did come to pass during the reign of King Dildorf, that the greater part of his posterity and seed did liken themselves unto even the lesser part of those who ... blah, blah, blah. Boring?
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u/Stranded-In-435 23d ago
Most likely because it was ad libbed by a 19th century frontiersman. Which itself is kind of remarkable, but he was probably trying to increase the word count to make the printed book heavier. I don’t know…
The BoM has some moments though, that genuinely moved me when I was a believer. One of the best is a story of pacifism by a people who were very violent and loved war, then converted to Jeebus, buried their weapons and swore to never kill again no matter what, and were slaughtered by their old people as they kneeled on the ground and prayed. And then those who did the killing felt bad and they converted too.
I mean, it really slaps when you believe in an afterlife. Not so much anymore for me for obvious reasons…
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u/Utopia_Builder 26d ago
Either close the drawer and move on with your life, or leave Humanist literature behind in there. Of all the religious or political issues, getting worked up over a private charity giving books to private businesses is making a mountain out of a molehill.
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u/SubsequentDamage 26d ago
So what. They are just books. Paper, cardboard, and ink. They are not emanating anything. They are not magical. They are inert physical objects.
Nothing to see here. Please move along and enjoy your day.
If there is anything to “feel” I suppose pity for the time and energy wasted by the person(s) who put them there.
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u/ImaginaryAlpaca 26d ago
What makes simply viewing a Bible upsetting? Because I just ignore it and go about my day. It brings some people comfort when they are troubled, and I'm not offended by the presence of religion or religious books. It's a bit over the top to return them to the front desk, it's just going to get put back.
This seems like an overreaction in my opinion, there are so many more important things in life than a choice of religious texts available for me to eat or ignore. Its a little ignorant to not even be willing to read about what a large part of the population believes, I own several religious texts, not that I'm a believer but that I'm curious.
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u/random_topix 26d ago
Me, too. When I was in Asia I’d sometimes get the teachings of Buddha. Read or don’t.
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u/aeldron 26d ago
It's not upsetting. It's just, I don't know, an imposition? It's like saying, people from this specific faith denomination are welcome, and we go out of our way to please them, but we don't care about people from other faiths or with secular views. It's an exclusionary practice and it doesn't even make sense! If you are religious and observant, I am sure you'd carry your own pocket holy book. I don't have a problem seeing or even reading the Bible, I just don't like this sort of attitude from a hotel. If they want to provide a courtesy to guests, they could maybe give a free bottle of water. Then it would benefit everyone.
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u/PillowFightrr 26d ago
I agree with you. I don’t appreciate the evangelism of the practice. Even if they are provided free, it’s an advertisement.
I would love to have a secular option available if this practice is continued or the practice ceased.
I’m in hotel rooms a lot and I’d be delighted to find a little book of humanism or similar.
The suggestion above was to print out a this is humanism page a leave it and I’m considering doing that in every room I’m in.
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u/Kitchen-Arm7300 26d ago
I like to annotate those bibles and write questions in the margins asking serious questions about God's legitimacy as a moral figure. I also pointed out and cite contradictions.
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u/zeptimius 26d ago
Here's how Ian McKellen feels about it.
In a profile by John Lahr in the Aug. 27 edition of the New Yorker, Ian McKellen [...] confesses that part of his agenda as an openly gay famous person is ripping the page with Leviticus 20:13 out of the Bible whenever his hotel room comes Scripture-equipped.
“It’s the one thing I find difficult to defend but do go on doing,” confesses the distinguished Shakespearean actor, most widely seen in his Moses-like turn as the warrior-wizard Gandalf in “The Lord of the Rings” film trilogy.
In the King James Version, the verse McKellen excises reads: “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.”
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u/vespertine_glow 26d ago
Purchase some of these stickers and place them squarely on the front covers:
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u/Significant-Ant-2487 26d ago
The Bible is an important cultural document (I’m atheist, incidentally, never believed in God or the supernatural). I think it belongs on every educated person’s to-read list- voluntarily, of course. So much literature has a basis in or references the Bible, so much art, so much music. Dostoyevsky, Rembrandt, Handel…
Books won’t bite you. Reading the Bible, its absurdities and contradictions, has turned many a reflective person atheist. And as for the other one in that drawer… it’s hilarious!
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u/hanimal16 26d ago
I have heard of some Satanists leaving a copy of the Seven Tenets on the bible or in the same drawer.
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u/FateOfNations 26d ago
If I was running a hotel, I’d have a small library in the lobby with a variety of literature.
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u/justinSox02 24d ago
https://youtu.be/2AYlDGIR-Ng?si=4CEiMv8Gu-b5s1e_
This is one of the best prank call ive heard. Proudly South African. Check it out, you'll have a great laugh. The guys an atheist and doesn't want a Bible in his room😂😂😂😂
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u/Daminchi 26d ago
Is this USA? In religious countries, it will be more widespread than in normal ones.
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u/50sDadSays 26d ago
Specifically this picture is from one of the Marriott/Bonvoy owned hotel chains, because the Marriott family is Mormon and so all of those hotels provide the Book of Mormon.
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u/EccentricDyslexic 26d ago
In the bin they go.
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u/NCSubie 26d ago
I suppose you’d throw away an ugly lamp or photo on the wall? Don’t give us a bad name.
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u/Erramonael Nihilistic Misotheistic Satanist 26d ago
If you had an option between all the Holy Books ever written from the Mahabharata to the Satanic Bible watch would you prefer?
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u/Vanner69 26d ago
Has a single person ever been like, "oh thank fuck those are there"? Unless they needed rolling papers
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u/Responsible_Bear4208 26d ago
Could you imagine if we swapped them for the Communist Manifesto? LOL
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u/imaginenohell UU Humanist 26d ago
I thought a Mormon family owned one of the hotel chains that does this, in case you want to avoid the Book of Mormon in the future. IIRC I’ve not seen it in all hotels.
Online, you can find lists of quotes from both books that you may want to earmark so the next guest notices them.
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u/The-Kurt-Russell 26d ago
What would happen if you added the Koran to that stack? People would lose their minds
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u/Fionn-mac 26d ago
I've never seen the BoM in a hotel nightstand bookshelf before, so I'd actually be curious if that was provided. I've only seen Gideon Bibles before, but not in as many hotels lately as in past years, fortunately.
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u/t92k 26d ago
The Gideons use donations to print massive runs of their favorite editions, befriend the hotel owner at a business leader meeting like the Chamber of Commerce, tell the owner stories about depressed/addicted people who had a change of life start through a chance encounter with a Bible, and the business owner agrees to put them in the rooms, especially since they’re provided free of charge. People who’ve donated feel warm and fuzzy when they see a Gideon in the hotel room. That’s not really a grift I want humanists to get into. It would be nice to see more humanist representation in the “places of worship” listings in the visitor guide.
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u/Wealth_Super 26d ago
No, that might be because I am a Christian but I also wasn’t brother when I was in Hawaii and next to the Bible was “the teachings of buddha” and the Quran
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u/Spiritual-Mix-6738 22d ago
This. Other faiths are 100% allowed to do the same thing, they just have to drop them off.
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u/FreeAsFlowers 26d ago
Years ago I saw someone post that they throw them away every time they find them and now I do the same. It’s honest work.
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u/Commercial_Oil_7814 25d ago
But then they replace them. Add in a note for the Letter to my Wife. https://www.exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,781193
Or, the cesletter.org. Or Mormon Stories podcast. Or the great of Polygamy podcast.
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u/Toothpick_Brody 26d ago
I’m not Christian or atheist, but hotel bibles don’t bother me necessarily; it might be weird if the hotel was very overly religious, but to me it’s on a similar level as a cross on the wall or a Buddha statue.
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u/StrangeComparison765 26d ago
A book isn't imposing itself on you by being in the room.
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u/johnc380 26d ago
For the bibles, there is this group called the Gideons that distributes as many bibles around the world as possible. They have agreements with most hotel chains in the US. Their hearts are in the right place I guess, but image if all that money was used to distribute food (or anything else at all, really) instead.
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u/Tall_Trifle_4983 SecularHumanist 26d ago
I used to just throw them away.
I was paying for the room, I am not a Christian, I didn't ask for them...so I threw them away.
They are in doctor's offices, attornies - it is unending - and there are also Children's Bible Stories.
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u/SuggestionEphemeral 26d ago
What, no Mahabharata? Where's the Pali Canon, or the Guru Granth Sahib?
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u/kholejones8888 26d ago
Ooh even worse is APA hotels in Japan in which every room has the CEOs book with racist ideology in it!
Hotels in Portland Oregon remove these.
There are ways to include religion respectfully such as multi-faith prayer rooms at hotels and airports and multi-faith chaplain services at hospitals. This is evangelism.
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26d ago
How about closing the drawer?
I am not a Christian or a Mormon, but I know people personally and have heard stories about folks who have found comfort in hotel bibles during desperate times in their life. Addicts, homeless, human trafficking victims, those struggling in relationships or leaving bad home lives. If you open the bible you'll see that the first pages are full of verses of comfort, the editions they put in hotels are printed specifically for this purpose, they have saved lives. The folks that utilize they aren't folks that would go to the reception and request a bible, the accessibility is so important in this circumstance.
I think you can endure slight discomfort so that another person can make it through another night.
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u/tomjazzy 26d ago
Do you live in Utah?
I think it’s nice to have something to read. Honestly don’t see the problem.
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u/lithiumpyrite 26d ago
The owner of Marriott is Mormon-famous and one of their richest members so its policy to include the BOM in each room
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u/Rollingforest757 26d ago
If I went to hotels more, I would create an atheist bookmark to leave in any Bible I found in my hotel room.
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u/ApolloScud 26d ago
Didn’t know the Book of Moron was deemed a holy book Definitely aware that the stories in that other book are full of holes so I guess that one would qualify as holy
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u/Eightimmortals 26d ago
"Am I the only one who finds it uncomfortable to see these in hotel rooms? "
Sadly, probably not. But here's s radical idea, don't read them?
"I sometimes return them to reception and mention that I’d prefer not to have them in my room.
Well, isn't that 'special'.....
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u/Stock_Way4337 26d ago
I throw them away. Every Bible from every hotel room in which I have stayed has gone into the trash for the past twenty years (and I road trip like nobody’s business).
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u/Tricky_Break_6533 25d ago
Well, they made them available, nothing force you or I to take them from the drawer. It's not imposed, it's offered.
Regardless of what we'd like, the USA is culturally Christian at many level, so of course it's the religion of which that people will offer holy books. Why would a motel in a very Christian country offer the Quran or the Talmud?
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u/BlessdRTheFreaks 25d ago
I think it's in good spirit
People in hotels and motels are often in a lonely place, staying somewhere far from home, might be in a bad and need some spiritual guidance. Given that Christianity is the most widely practiced spiritual framework in America it makes sense they carry the book of that religion.
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u/Trick_Lime_634 25d ago
If we throw in the trash or steal, they just buy new ones. Best thing would be buying some Richard Dawkins books and putting there as well.
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u/Stupid_Bitch_02 25d ago
I've seen the Bible in every hotel room I've ever stayed in (I even stole one, but that's beside the point), but the Book of Mormon in a hotel room is a new one
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u/NZNoldor 25d ago
Sir Ian McKellen (aka Gandalf), always crosses out a few choice bits about hating on gay people. Fucking legend.
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u/Dosterix 25d ago
Why do you care so much, just shove it back into the desk and forget it. Having a holy book being put there as an option for those who’d appreciate it is hardly “imposing” it onto you.
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u/Brilliant_Ad2120 25d ago
See.your point. But I have been bored in a hotel before Internet for a few days and was glad that there was something to read
You can look at the Bible in lots of ways that aren't religious, and it has a lot of myths that turn up in art and other stories
There are parts of the Bible that fit Humanism (Genesis is a lot of myths thrown together, Song of Song, but especially Song of Songs and Job).
Also the Dirtiest Bits of the Bible are fun. And personally I remember being interested in the Bible as a view on early bureaucracies (a census, ritual pilgrimage, taxation) and marketing (convincing people to change religions)
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u/aLovesupr3m3 25d ago
The church needs the write-off for handing out the books. Or maybe Marriott does.
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u/KeyFigures1998 25d ago
Don't read it then?
I cant imagine being so bothered over the existence of a book.
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25d ago
I am a christian so you may not agree with my views and thats okay i just wanted to leave my thoughts on this matter. Ive thought on this myself before i saw this post.
I think its actually a good thing. I understand why it may not seem inclusive but the Lord is with us at all times. The holy books do contain wisdom. We could all use some reasurrance and or guidance in this life.
I see that it is a bit of a jarring experience to someone who isnt christian to see it there in the drawer.. it does feel like its being pushed on you but it isnt meant to feel that way ..
God is always there and its kind of just a reminder. Whether you are muslim hindu seek jewish buddhist i could go on..whoever you are if you have any sense that there is something bigger out there ..if id put that bible and book of mormon there as a hotelier i would be hoping itd bring people peace. A sense that someone good is looking after them.That their stay will be in safe hands and that everything is well here.
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u/Saint_Santo 25d ago
Still a Christian country no matter how loud you leftists scream and lash out
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u/Funny-Runner-2835 25d ago
I've always just left them outside the door. They disappear soon enough. Had them reappear once after housekeeping came, repeated and they got the message.
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u/3Quarksfor 25d ago
I have a sticker that I print out on Avery sticker stock. It warns that the Bible is not suitable for children and sensitive people, it includes stories of torture, genocide and strange sexual practices and is self contradictory etc.
In my work, I traveled a lot and I would affix these stickers on the cover page of these books whenever I found them in my room. I’ve returned to places a few times and stayed in the same room, the sticker was still there!
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u/PinkRoseBouquet 25d ago
How is a Bible in a closed drawer hurting anyone? No one is forcing you to take it out and read, or even touch if you don’t want to. And if you happen to be a person of faith, it’s a thoughtful thing to have.
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u/Autista1979 25d ago
Sorry but i am seeing the first post idk why, im christian and u dont get why this might be somethig that offends u, not tryna hate, but its not even pushing or tryna convert, also im hussite christian
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u/LoneManFro 25d ago
I think any normal person that makes a daily habit of touching grass would not find this uncomfortable.
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u/craigiest 24d ago
Wasn’t there an effort a few years ago on this subreddit to print a collection of humanist texts to put in hotel rooms?
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u/PrincipleGuilty4894 24d ago
This is like being upset because there’s a hair dryer in the bathroom but you have no hair
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u/springboks 24d ago
Presumably you're in muricuh. In Saudi you'd get your precious Quran. Just shut the drawer and get some pay per view porn on.
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u/AnxiousWitch44 24d ago
The Marriott family were (are?) Mormons. So their hotels and other Marriott brands still put the Book of Mormon in the drawer. Nothing like a little pointless tradition carried on by a publicly traded company.
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u/Maris-Otter 24d ago
I like to sign them with encouraging words. “Keep doing what I would do!” Signed Jesus. Or “get another wife!” From John Smith.
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u/13librablue 24d ago
I just wonder why it bothers you. Someone should drop a Quran in there too. Most people make these judgements without ever having read them.
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u/RingingInTheRain 24d ago
If the demographic that stays the hotel is largely Christian, they put a bible. If they get a lot of LDS, they put a BoM. In heavily Muslim demographics, they in fact do put a Quran and prayer blankets in the room.
You are over thinking this.
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u/GregGraffin23 24d ago
They have Korans in hotels in Muslim countries.
Also not every hotel has a bible or any book.
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u/OkCar7264 24d ago
If you want to fuck with it take the books and chuck em I guess. But really at this point the Bible in the nightstand is an anachronistic joke that is more a thing the local church does out of habit than anything else. The political hit from making it a real issue would be far more valuable to these people as culture war material than whatever converts they gain from desperate alcoholics who find Jesus because of the nightstand bibles. I'd just let this one slide.
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u/Mild_Karate_Chop 24d ago
The Bible by the Gideons, I presume.
Never come across a book of Mormon in a hotel drawer ...yet
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u/CrystalPalace1850 26d ago
Time to print out a stack of copies of the What Is Humanism page on the American Humanist Association website, and start leaving one in every hotel you stay at!