Hotels Separating Church and Stays
Jennifer Billock December 11, 2015
Books of faith may soon be disappearing from hotels near you – and some are already gone.
Whether at the hands of a nontheist organization or an overall lodging brand, books of faith – namely Bibles – are disappearing from hotels across the world. The trend starting as early as 2001, with religious material placement in rooms in luxury properties dropping nearly 18 percent over the next five years. Since then, the trend has spread to Kimpton Hotels (whose main concern is to be more environmentally friendly by saving paper), the Gansevoort Hotel Group, the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa, and Travelodge Hotels Limited, who opts to remove all religious materials so as not to discriminate against any faith.
But the number may be increasing soon at the hands of nontheist group Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), which has launched a crusade against hotels of the world to encourage them to remove Bibles from rooms. The organization wrote letters to 15 different hotel companies with a combined 33,000-plus locations in the United States alone. FFRF Co-presidents Annie Laurie Gaylor and Dan Parker consider having religious material pre-stocked bad business. Here’s an excerpt from their letter.
“It’s simply bad business to promote divisive religious teachings to a diverse clientele. Many of your guests are freethinkers — atheists, agnostics, skeptics or Nones — who are offended to be charged high fees only to be proselytized in the privacy of their own bedrooms, to be told, for instance, that they are “fools” who can do no good (Psalm 14:1). The nonreligious find it inhospitable for the hospitality industry to promote a book calling for killing nonbelievers, apostates, gays, ‘stubborn sons,’ and women who transgress biblical double standards.”
The group would instead prefer that hotels offer a selection of local resources – including secular ones – for guests who need some comfort.
[Photo: Getty]
"[N]ontheist group Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), which has launched a crusade" Well, that'll be a first, then... More seriously: I object to opening a drawer, to find someone else's religion awaiting me. I neither want nor need that. (No, really, I don't - whatever the evangelists might believe.) The purpose of placing these books in rooms is far less to do with helping the converted than it is about trying to convert. If you don't believe that, go take a look at the Gideons' website. I appreciate that having a Bible, or Koran, or Bhagavad Gita (etc.) can be a great comfort to travellers of those respective beliefs. The solution is for the hotel's Reception to stock faith books for a broad selection of religions, and make them available on request for those fervent travellers who have unaccountably forgotten to bring their own.
Who cares if there is a book in the drawer? FFRF will be sending letters to libraries in a few years asking them to remove all religious books because they are offended. BTW, it is good business to offer religious resources because the majority of people believe in some sort of religion. These "free thinkers" should start thinking of ways to help people. Why are they always attacking other beliefs?
If a bible offends one, a church would offend even more, am I right? I am an atheist.
I will be disappointed if my favorite brands fall to this pressure. Very often, my hotels have magazines highlighting local shopping, restaurants or bars. It is my choice if I want to read them or not. I do not take offense if a magazine in my room promotes an expensive jewelry store or local theater that may not be to my taste. I appreciate having the Bible in my room, and I am not offended by a side-by-side copy of the Koran or other testaments. Lets resist attempts for a minority to mandate their position.... current events show the dangers of where such 'minority-rule' thinking can lead.
Just bring your own if reading that kind of thing floats your boat....