Free Republic

New York's famed Plaza Hotel reopened in March after a $400 million, two-year lobby-to-roof renovation. Every room features 24-karat gold-plated sinks and fixtures. And inside every Louis XV-inspired nightstand sits a Bible, courtesy of the Gideons. The same goes for the Motel 6 in Abilene, Texas, where you pull off I-20 onto Shirley Road, park at your room's front door, open the drawer of the nightstand, and there it sits, the Bible, courtesy of the Gideons. Since 1908, sixty years before the Beatles' Rocky Raccoon went into his room, only to find it, the Gideon - distributed Bible has been...

EDINBURGH University is set to ban Bibles from its student halls of residence amid concern that the Holy Book is “discriminatory” and makes students of other faiths feel unwelcome. The move is the result of protests from the students’ association and is being considered in an effort to pursue a policy of “evenly supporting all faiths”, a university spokesman said yesterday. A Gideon Bible is traditionally placed in every new student’s room at the start of the academic year and there are currently around 2,000 Bibles in the Pollock Halls campus on the edge of Holyrood Park. Their distribution is...