In most hotels, the Gideons supply them. This is an interdenominational Christian organization that exists to get the Bible into the hands of as many people as possible. So, they print up lots and lots of cheap ones, and give them out as gift items. (The next time you're in a hotel, steal it. It's okay. You won't burn in hell. They actually want you to.)
Out of that commitment, when I was a kid in grade school in the '60's, they also used to come around and give a little New Testament to each of the kids: needless to say, they had to cut that out after some people protested to the school districts about the implied breakdown of 'separation of church and state' in the public schools and messed it up for everybody, even the kids who liked getting the little New Testament every year or two.
The Gideons are a pretty large, widespread organization, so having a Bible in every hotel room is pretty much a norm, but it's their doing, not that of most hotel owners or managers. Many of those wouldn't bother, unless a franchise requires it, although nearly all permit the Gideons to do so.
The Bibles do see their share of misuse. For years, back in the past, scribbled into a nightstand Gideon Bible was the unspoken, usually-agreed-upon place where the local call girls left their name and number, and the men who would book them would know to look for it. We had a convention of Jehovah's Witnesses one weekend, and a man brought one to the desk to turn in that had quite a few blasphemous scrawlings and Satanic symbols drawn into the inside cover pages -- apparently someone had sat up in that room one night getting pretty bored. So we do have to have the housekeepers check them from time to time.
In many Marriott-branded properties, the Bibles aren't provided by the Gideons. They're thinner, with a blue cover, and are provided by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It's the same Bible that the LDS Church will send you a free copy of, for the asking, and put you down for some follow-up visits by the Mormon missionaries in your area. (The founding Marriott family is Mormon.)
Likewise, part of my company's stock is owned by a private foundation that supports church missions (Churches of Christ, not the Mormons), and they requested to be allowed to supply the Bibles instead. So you get a Bible that's a lot easier to read - and that we have to replenish much more frequently than the more awkward King James Version supplied by the Gideons.
Apparently, they do see quite a bit of their actual, intended use.
Originally appeared on Quora
Out of that commitment, when I was a kid in grade school in the '60's, they also used to come around and give a little New Testament to each of the kids: needless to say, they had to cut that out after some people protested to the school districts about the implied breakdown of 'separation of church and state' in the public schools and messed it up for everybody, even the kids who liked getting the little New Testament every year or two.
The Gideons are a pretty large, widespread organization, so having a Bible in every hotel room is pretty much a norm, but it's their doing, not that of most hotel owners or managers. Many of those wouldn't bother, unless a franchise requires it, although nearly all permit the Gideons to do so.
Likewise, part of my company's stock is owned by a private foundation that supports church missions (Churches of Christ, not the Mormons), and they requested to be allowed to supply the Bibles instead. So you get a Bible that's a lot easier to read - and that we have to replenish much more frequently than the more awkward King James Version supplied by the Gideons.
Apparently, they do see quite a bit of their actual, intended use.
Originally appeared on Quora
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