An atheist group has persuaded two American university-run hotels to remove Gideon Bibles from guest rooms.
From 1 March, hotel rooms run by Iowa State University and the University of Wisconsin will not feature Gideon Bibles – following complaints from the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF).
An American religious liberty organisation has written to both universities, however, questioning the decision and said institutions should not “allow themselves to be browbeaten” over the issue.
Hostile
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) said the universities may have shown “hostility towards religion” by giving in to the FFRF’s demands.
It also said that “no court has ruled that universities who provide these Bibles” go against the US constitution.
In November the FFRF complained to the University of Wisconsin hotel after someone “encountered” a Bible there.
Remove
The FFRF, which is based in Wisconsin, has been pressuring the university to take away the Bibles since the 1980s.
FFRF Co-President Dan Barker commented: “We atheists and agnostics do not appreciate paying high prices for lodging, only to find Gideon bibles in our hotel rooms”.
In a letter to the FFRF the University of Wisconsin said: “After carefully reviewing your concern, we have decided to remove the Gideon Bibles from all guest rooms.”
In its response to the atheist pressure group the Iowa university said: “The concern you raised about the availability of Bibles in the guest rooms of the Memorial Union has been taken under advisement and, effective March 1, 2014, the Bibles will be removed from the Hotel rooms.”
Browbeaten
But ADF said the US constitution does not require universities “to purge something from campus just because it happens to be religious”.
In its letter to the universities, ADF said: “In reality, the First Amendment does not require you to remove these Bibles, and by removing them, you may have demonstrated the very viewpoint discrimination and hostility towards religion that the First Amendment prohibits.”
“Universities should not allow themselves to be browbeaten into taking unnecessary and potentially unconstitutional actions”, ADF also commented.