Published: April 29, 2008 07:42 pm         

RANDOM THOUGHTS: Here's to another 100 years with the Gideons

This year marks 100 years of Gideons International quietly going about their business. The first Gideon Bible was given to the Superior Hotel in Superior, Montana in 1908. The idea of having a Bible in hotel rooms began with three traveling salesmen. Judges 7 was the inspiration for their mission. It tells the story of an ordinary farmer willing to do exactly what God wanted him to do.

George Zepp, a Tennessean columnist, answers questions about Nashville history. Recently, he received a question about the Gideons International headquarters located in Nashville. It was in 1964 when they relocated from Chicago to Tennessee. They chose a site on Lebanon Road and were there until 2003 when they moved to a building at 50 Century Boulevard.

They shy from publicity because they teach that God gives the honor. They do the work but do not brag about it. Their membership now is more than 250,000 in 187 countries. In their century of service they have distributed 1.4 billion Bibles and New Testaments world wide. The main recipients of these Bibles are hotels, motels and prisons.

This year a break came in that tradition of a Gideon Bible in hotel rooms when a chain of hotels based in Oregon discontinued the practice. Provenance Hotels are now offering a “spiritual menu” to guests. They may call room service to order a variety of books from other faiths and beliefs.

Their explanation is that they have guests from many different cultures and they want to make them feel comfortable. There was no mention that a room service delivery would include a tip. The question is whether other hotels will follow this break with tradition.

There have been many stories on what the Gideon Bible has meant to troubled hotel guests. One of the humorous tales happened on Christmas Eve, 1968. A Japanese reporter was covering the Apollo 8 flight from his Houston hotel room. That was the night one of the astronauts read from Genesis during the television segment from space.

The reporter, anxious to get his story right, called the public affairs office at NASA requesting a copy of that reading. When the official learned the reporter was in a Houston hotel he directed him to open the desk drawer and turn to page 1 of the Gideon Bible. The reporter was very impressed and reported to his paper that NASA was so effective they had a mission transcript waiting in his hotel room.

Early in their history Gideon Bibles were given to public schools. That was before there was much emphasis on the separation of church and state. About 50 years ago that challenge arose and no more Bibles were given to schools.

Just last week a story by AP appeared. It stated, “A federal judge ordered a public school system to stop allowing in-school Bible giveaways, saying the practice violates the First Amendment separation of church and state.” The verdict was in response to a suit brought by the ACLU of Louisiana against the Tangipahoa Parish School Board.

Gideons International members visited a middle school in May, 2007 and the principal notified fifth-grade teachers they would be on the grounds all day giving away Bibles. She stressed students should be told they did not have to take one.

One student told her parents she took a Bible because she feared her classmates would call her a “devil-worshipper” if she refused. The parents contacted the ACLU. The school board has decided to appeal to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Longtime syndicated columnist Georgia Anne Geyser travels the world to report on important happenings. Recently she had some disturbing thoughts on what is happening in our country. She pointed out that we pride ourselves on observing the separation of church and state. She said, “We accommodate religious traditions from countries, most of which do not even permit Christian worship and many of whose citizens are now following their most radical brethren’s cry – not to pray for conciliation with America but to wage war against it.”

May Gideons International serve humanity another hundred years.