The Gideon Bibles, found in very many hotel nightstands, remain property of Gideons International. GI supplies these bibles to hotels upon request. “Men who are members of our association, or Gideons, volunteer their time to place Bibles in hotels.” These books have a six year lifespan. “Gideons will periodically check hotels to make sure that they are stocked and also check rooms (as they are available) to make sure the Bibles are in good condition.”
Is it okay to take a Gideons Bible from a hotel room? “It is our intention that the Bibles remain in the rooms for use by the guest. However, if someone is in need of a Bible we are happy for them to take the one from the room.”
Some back story: This all came up because of some rumor that Christopher Hitchens had claimed to possess a Gideons Qur’an. So I asked them directly (among other things) whether such a book even exists. It does not.
As far as the question about the Qur’an, the Bibles that are placed by the Gideons in Pakistan are in the Urdu language which is based off the Persian-Arabic script.
Digging further, I discovered an email address for Mr. Hitchens, and emailed him on Feb 5, 2010:
I’m hearing second hand that you’ve said you have a “Gideons Qur’an” that you picked up in a hotel in Pakistan. Can you confirm this?
The Gideon Bibles, found in very many hotel nightstands, remain property of Gideons International. GI supplies these bibles to hotels upon request. “Men who are members of our association, or Gideons, volunteer their time to place Bibles in hotels.” These books have a six year lifespan. “Gideons will periodically check hotels to make sure that they are stocked and also check rooms (as they are available) to make sure the Bibles are in good condition.”
Is it okay to take a Gideons Bible from a hotel room? “It is our intention that the Bibles remain in the rooms for use by the guest. However, if someone is in need of a Bible we are happy for them to take the one from the room.”
Source: I asked them directly in Feb 2010.
Babe, new Gideons lore just dropped!
Some back story: This all came up because of some rumor that Christopher Hitchens had claimed to possess a Gideons Qur’an. So I asked them directly (among other things) whether such a book even exists. It does not.
Digging further, I discovered an email address for Mr. Hitchens, and emailed him on Feb 5, 2010:
He replied the same day: