We’re at yet-another-sci-fi-convention this weekend, and my daughter has found a new fun thing to do in the hotel room — find dirty stuff in the bible! She looks on-line, finds entries with poop or sex or death penalties, and marks them. It’s analogous to what I do with the buy-bull, except I find inconsistencies, and she just finds, well, stuff that’s funny to 11-year-olds.She has her own buy-bull now (courtesy of Marriott and the Gideons) and she’s got it all marked up with sticky-notes and highlighter. I’ve made it clear that she can and should read the book when she wants to, but she has made it clear that she’d rather just skip to the good parts.Ahh. I sense a new father-daughter activity.
There is no beter argument against christianity than reading the bible. Bible drills are what gave me the knowlege I needed to reject religion.
I feel your pride in the wonderful job you are doing!
Why dont you just put the bible in the hotel rooms trash bin like I do? Its free and unsolicited trash that belongs there.
Tell here about the verse in the bible that says “and a little child shall lead”.
And here I thought I was alone in reducing the number of bibles in hotel rooms. Good for us!
I hope that when I have children they do just the same.
Thats awesome though.
Wow, this post was placed over an hour ago — no trolls?
I used to put the hotel buybulls in the trash or in the hall. Now I take them to the hotel recycling bin. Such a waste of natural resources.
I once asked a hotel clerk for a non-smoking non-evangelizing room. Just got the expected dumb look.
You can now buy Warning stickers for those pesky hotel bibles too:
http://www.zazzle.com/bible_warning_sticker-217586842335457670
Yet another example of the waste of human capital caused by religion.
From their site, there are currently 260,000 Gideons and Auxiliary members* wasting their time distributing bibles at a rate of 2 books per second.
They claim to have distributed 1.3 billion books since they started. That’s more than a couple of acres of forest gone right there.
Now, if all these people had instead dedicated themselves to teaching about this world or researching disease and environmental stewardship, we might have been in a much better place by now.
A mind is a terrible thing to waste, and filling it up with religion is one of the worst wastes of all.
* Apparently only men can be Gideons. Women have to join the Auxiliary to be able to contribute in this organization.
Tsk, tsk, Alex. Recycle.
It’s more satisfying to rip it in half, then put it in recycling.
That way it won’t find its way back into the hotel room drawer.
Do the GiddyOnes ask for the permission of the hotel owners before depositing their refuse in their hotel rooms?
Comment from: DD Dropout
DD…
What have you dedicated yourself to teaching about?
What would be “a much better place by now”?
So you’re all offended by a book in a closed drawer….enough said on that…
So, if a believer stayed at a hotel, and destroyed the free pamphlets directing tourists to clubs and bars, you’d have no problem with that?
By the way…
Good fatherly instincts Dave…
Nice to see you teaching your daughter to respect others beliefs, even if they aren’t your own…
Just wait until that’s turned upon you…
I seem recall that happened to the Patriarch of AA…
I doubt atheist books would last long in hotel rooms. If the hotel owner didn’t immediately throw them away, housekeeping would. Either that or the first xian to look in the drawer would probably start a boycott.
I usually toss it out into the hallway. To paraphase a too-oft quoted statement, a rude gesture left unexamined is not worth doing. Whenever I get a check at at restaurant that has “god bless america” printed at the bottom (which happens surprisingly often since 9/11), I carefully tear that part off and stuff it into the remaining ice from my drink. But…
I am concerned, Dave, that you’re risking turning your daughter into a convert some day. My girls are both really young yet, but I’ve thought long and hard about this since I firt knew the first was on the way and it seems to me that the this tactic could very well turn against you, and maybe just isn’t a good idea.
I’m not suggesting there isn’t a crucial and important distinction between what you’re doing and the “equivellent” scenario of a parent actively ridiculing atheists or Jews or Muslims together and marking up science books where ever they find them, but I can bet that like me, your first response to hearing that they do that isn’t anything to the effect of “fair’s fair”.
You’d probably think they were maybe damaging their kids somehow, thinking “those kids don’t have a chance!” And no doubt they’d think the same of you. Yeah, there’s a philosphical difference and of course I’m on your side of that difference. But on some level, the objectionable thing here isn’t the stance, but how that stance is made, right?
Are you 100% certain your daughter shares your views because they come from her, or does she share them because you’re her dad and she’s never experienced anything else?
Some beliefs arent worth respecting, only of ridiculing.
Her mom is a theist, and she gives the ‘yeah but’ side.
I hear your fear though (cynic), and I can’t dismiss the unfortunate fact that phreedm raised. I’m trying to make it non-dogmatic, to give her enough room for thought and criticism. The bible idea was totally hers.
If she rebels against me, she’ll go toward her mother (a reform Jew), which I can handle. There is no way she’ll every be a Christian — she’s learning too much!
Great– if ever I spit out a child, I’ll make sure she knows her dogma. I’m fairly certain that my Catholic upbringing and education are the only reason I am as adamant an atheist as I am.
phreedm, you’re a fucking idiot. I’m so tired of your bullshit babble.
You say that you want others to respect beliefs? Respect fallacious beliefs? I don’t think so. Your belief in a god is bullshit, and it should NOT be respected! Also, you have shown to be an ignoramus, so you deserve no respect either.
An older friend of mine in Florida has a rubber stamp with a quote by Thomas Paine which he stamps into hotel Bibles. He teaches a workshop titled “The Bible Rated triple X in which he exposes all the filthy parts of the Bible– but always ends up with something nice and beautiful from the Bible. Go figure. . .
Dave
by trying to be nice you are confusing your daughter.
she needs to learn that a good wife has a duty to obey an respect the husband.
Hmmm….say Mush,
Why would you not respect another’s “right” to believe whatever, regardless if it doesn’t line up with yours?
Comment from: David Silverman
Wow…sounds eerily similar to quotes made by many others…
Madilyn O’Hare, CS Lewis, Josh McDowell…
It’s amazing what happens when one reads the bible casually…
Why else would there be such opposition to using it as a textbook…?
Nice try, Phreed.
Why would there possibly be opposition to using it as a textbook?
How about the fact that it’s useless as a textbook? It’s not about fearing its power– it’s about being a waste of time and resources. You know that as well as anybody here.
Nice try at derailling. Carry on.
Ha, ha! Good to hear you all do similar to what I do. I look forward to vacations even more now that I write comments in the wholly babbles that are in my room. Such as “this is all bullshit.” I have a Sharpie in my travel case for this purpose.
The really good news is that every babble I have picked up has never even been cracked open before!! My comments may never get read, but I am happy the grim fairy tale gets largely ignored.
And in response to the ever retarded phreeky, the printed materials placed in hotel rooms are usually free for the taking anyhow. They encourage it to generate more business.
So much for following what one believes…
It’s funny to see you all promote the exact behavior you always rail against…
So where is this superior understanding and higher moral call that you claim to have…?
Phreeky is having extreme difficulty understanding the difference between respecting the right to believe and respecting belief. Is he really that stupid?
I got a 4 on the AP european history exam, and at no point was reading the bible nessicary.
Best bible quote: “Thus she lusted after her paramours, whose members where like those of donkeys, and emissions like those of horses” Ezekiel 23:20
Comment from DD:
Sorry I screwd up my blockquotes again. Guess I should look that stuff up on the internet
Haha, loving it! It’s awesome your daughter is a healthy, logical-thinking member of society.
Respecting beliefs? Well, I think I respect their beliefs to a certain extent…at one point I had some atheist images on my bebo, like “Thank you for not littering your mind”, and one from exchristian.net. Well, it was kind of a response to people who had Jesus skins on their pages. A soon as I uploaded, people basically started questioning me. “Is there really a need?! Soz, being Christian and all…” Seriously! A Christian can express their views openly, no questions asked, but Atheists get endlessly questioned. I don’t think that’s respect. So rather than have half my friends hate me, I deleted the pictures. I’m trying to be religiously tolerant. http://www.religioustolerance.com. I need to stop telling people I’m an atheist. It’s way too controversial. And I’m 14. I can’t imagine what the world will be like when I’m older.
I forgot to mention the Christians in my cultural groups like choir and barbershop. Singing their worship songs on the bus on trips. Drives me insane. I feel sad for some people. They’re so smart and talented, yet one of them wastes her songwriting and composition talent on worship songs. Grr.
Does anyone know if there is a hotel chain which does not put Bibles in the rooms?
I would patronize that one.
Bible-free Hotels
Accor Hotels decided to replace the Gideon Bibles with “intimacy kits.” For Accor, providing travelers with sexual paraphernalia is more important than the Bible. Accor Hotels owns several chains including: Motel 6, Sofitel, Pullman, Novotel, Mercure, Suitehotel, Ibis, All Seasons, Etap, Formule 1. While these chains are mostly located in Europe, Accor is expanding to many U.S. markets.
http://www.afa.net/emails/transform.asp?x=hotels_111407&m=11&y=2007&s=browser
sunshine
I have been telling people I was an atheist since I was your age and have not lost a single friend that I wanted to keep.
Here’s a thought: When you encounter a hotel room with no bible, leave $1 on the table with a note telling housekeeping that you appreciate the lack of religious propaganda. If 5% of hotel patrons did this, you’d see a lot less bibles!
Better thought: Leave a printout devastating every argument for the existence of God folded up inside each bible.
You mean like the author of this blog has stated that he’s done? What’s your point?
So you’re willing to break the law in attempt to subdue a view inconsistent with yours?
What I don’t understand is why you all are so insulted by the presence of a bible. I don’t feel the need to throw away the Koran, Book of Mormon, Talmud when I see one. Why does it bother you so much? They aren’t assuming *anyone* is Christian, it’s just that a large percentage of people checking into hotels are Chrisitan, and many would like a Bible available. It’s easier for the hotel to just have a Bible in every room than have every resident who wants one to come down to the desk. This would probably just annoy guests and cause them to want to stay at hotels who did have Bibles.
sunshine:
Yet again I don’t understand why this would make you mad. If you’re an atheist, life in general is pointless. I’ve never understood the use of the word “waste” in an atheists’ vocabulary, outside of temporal happiness. And so if the girl’s singing and songwriting makes her happy, what does it matter to you if she’s writing about Jesus, doo-wop, bling, drugs, sex, trees, apricots or something completely abstract?
I’m curious what you guys think of the other side of the “inconsistencies” claim, which is taking every verse in the bible in context? The Bible is the most unfairly, hastily criticized book in history.
Anyone who truly takes the Bible seriously and studies it, and interprets it without rigid fundamentalism (”Jesus says that his word is a mustard seed. ERROR #146! Words cannot be seeds!”), whether or not you believe it is true, you will realize that it truly does tell one unified story. But if you approach it with a hardened heart, as the author of this blog does when he spends time with his “buy-bull”, the result will be whatever you want it to be.
uoflcard:
“Yet again I don’t understand why this would make you mad. If you’re an atheist, life in general is pointless. I’ve never understood the use of the word “waste” in an atheists’ vocabulary, outside of temporal happiness. And so if the girl’s singing and songwriting makes her happy, what does it matter to you if she’s writing about Jesus, doo-wop, bling, drugs, sex, trees, apricots or something completely abstract?”
What, why does being an atheist make life pointless? Please enlighten me. I see a lot of point in my life. Just because someone’s an atheist doesn’t mean they can’t have a family, study in uni and get a degree get a job helping others, doing good in this world. Yeah, I think there’s a lot of point to this life.
But I will have to agree with you, if it makes her happy, she can go write about trees, apricots, or abstract.