The hotel owner helpfully explained that, since private bedrooms are no place for Bibles, he has replaced them with tenth-rate pornography. No, I haven’t read Fifty Shades of Grey and have no intention of doing so even if its popularity does suggest that, contrary to expectations, it may actually be third-rate pornography.
Besides, I’d rather read the Song of Songs.
From here:
A hotel in England has replaced in-room bibles with the erotic bestseller “50 Shades of Grey.”
Instead of the standard Gideon bible, the owner of Damson Dene opted for the steamy novel known for its explicit sexual content because he thought it was the hospitable thing to do.
“Because everybody is reading ‘Fifty Shades of Grey,’ we thought it would be a hospitable thing to do, to have this available for our guests, especially if some of them were a little bit shy about buying it because of its reputation,” hotel owner Jonathan Denby told NBC News.
The hotel said it discretely stashes the bestseller in the bedside table for guests to discover –the place one reserved for the bible.
Denby told NBC he found religious books a “wholly inappropriate” choice for private bedrooms in England’s modern, secular society.
You’d reckon he might at least give room patrons a choice. in Australia and , I gather, most of the rest of the world, Bibles are provided free of charge by Gideons International. Novels like “Fifty Shades of Grey” would have to be purchased by the hotelier. I suspect that people might be more likely to take a Gideon Bible home than they would a novel of that calibre and content.
There was a time when the market place would determine the failure of a business, if individuals choose not to patronize a business that was contrary to their standards, or beliefs, and a hotel/motel that removed Bibles, in favour of “secular smut”, would suffer accordingly.
Unfortunately in todays market place, people will beat a path to this establishment’s doorstep, falling into their marketing ploy for advertisement and increased sales.
On my next trip to England I will claim sanctuary at a conservative, evangelical, spirit filled church,(if I can find one), and sleep in a pew with easy access to a pew Bible. I would try this at an Anglican church, but I know they wouldn’t have me.