Dec 3: Where have all the Gideons gone?

A recent story by ABC-TV and several other articles online have indicated that more luxury class hotels are no longer putting Bibles in their guest rooms.

A few weeks ago I stayed at a Holiday Inn on the west coast of Florida where there was a Gideon bible in each of the bedside table drawers. Both of these two bibles were opened to a particular page in Psalms. I wasn’t sure which of the passages was to be read as it wasn’t marked. (Was the maid or a previous guest trying to send me a message? I was actually looking for the telephone directory.)

I first heard about Gideon bibles in that old Beatles tune “Rocky Raccoon”.
The lyrics went something like: “Rocky raccoon he fell back in his room only to find Gideon’s bible. Gideon checked out and he left it no doubt...to help with good Rocky’s revival ...”

When years later I was heading up the local hotel association, I learned more about the Gideons. As you probably know, Gideons International is an evangelical Christian organization dedicated to distributing copies of the Bible. They concentrate on distributing to five primary areas including hotels and motels. Providing bibles to any hoteliers who request them is done without charge. Of course, a small donation to the organization was most appreciated to cover some of the cost, but is not required.

Supposedly the national hotel association has surveyed its members and according to one of the online articles, luxury hotels are now less likely to have bibles in their guest rooms while “economy” hotels are more likely to include them. So South Florida are we following this national trend? Do your hotel rooms still contain a Gideon bible?