The Gideons

[[File:Room19.jpg|thumb|right|165px|Where it all began]]
{{christianity}}

{{cquote|Rocky Raccoon<br>Checked into his room<br>Only to find Gideon's Bible|||The Beatles, "Rocky Raccoon", ''[[The Beatles]]'' (The White Album)}}

'''The Gideons''' or '''Gideons International''' are the people responsible for your finding a [[Bible]] in your hotel room.  They're pretty decent as [[missionaries]] go — they unobtrusively provide the message, and let you read as you see fit. As well as distributing Bibles to hotel rooms, they also provide them to military personnel free of charge, but not to the general public.<ref name=faq/> It's not a specific denomination, but is an organisation open to members of most [[Protestant]] churches who're approved by their pastors and aged over 21. There's one other requirement: you must be a man.<ref name=faq/>

It was founded around 1899 by John H. Nicholson and Samuel E. Hill, two businessmen of Christian persuasion who in 1898 had been forced to share a hotel room while travelling. Rather than do anything gay, they discussed religion and set up an evangelical organisation.<ref name=mentalfloss>[http://mentalfloss.com/article/30241/why-are-there-gideon-bibles-hotel-rooms Why Are There Gideon Bibles in Hotel Rooms?], Mental Floss, March 18, 2012</ref><ref name=wp>{{wpa|Gideons International}}</ref>

The organisation is named after {{wpl|Gideon||,}} a military hero who (after procrastinating a while) thumped the Midianites in the [[Book of Judges]], and is also praised in {{bible|Hebrews|11|32}}.<ref name=wp/>

==Bibles==
They started distributing bibles to hotels in 1908, beginning with the swanky-sounding Superior Hotel in Superior, [[Montana]]. Contrary to myth they don't sneak into rooms at night and slip the Bibles into desk drawers: they give a supply to the hotel manager.<ref name=mentalfloss/> They claim to believe that the Bible is "the inspired, infallible, inerrant Word of God".<ref name=faq>[https://www.gideons.org/faq FAQ], Gideons International, accessed June 24, 2019</ref> They also claim that around 25% of people who stay in a hotel room read the Bible.<ref name=faq/>

==The dark side of the Gideons==
While those outside of the [[Bible Belt]] believe the above, they do not know the <i>other</i> activities these folks engage in. The Gideons are well known for going as near college campuses as possible and very vocally proselytizing. Even worse, though, they often go into [[public schools]] to proselytize children, fifth grade and above.<ref group=note>An amusing story of this is recounted by [[Al Franken]] in his book ''[[Rush Limbaugh]] is a Big Fat Idiot''.</ref><ref name="ffrf">"[http://www.ffrf.org/faq/state-church/bible-distribution-in-public-schools/ Bible Distribution in Public Schools]."  Freedom from Religion Foundation.</ref><ref>Dave Bohon.  "[http://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/education/item/300-aclu-targets-tennessee-schools-over-christian-activities ACLU Targets Tennessee Schools Over Christian Activities]."  ''The New American''.  2011 May 13.</ref><ref name="Ontario">Charles Lewis.  "[http://life.nationalpost.com/2010/11/30/bible-distribution-in-classrooms-creates-friction-in-ontario-community/ Bible distribution in classrooms divides Ontario community]."  ''National Post''.  2010 November 30.</ref><ref> Leslie Newell Peacock.  "[http://m.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2009/10/30/more-preachin-in-school More preachin' in school]."  ''Arkansas Times''.  2009 October 30.</ref>  When school boards and their members that have explicitly endorsed the Gideons' actions have been confronted over its unconstitutionality by parents and legal groups such as the [[ACLU]], they have in certain cases responded that they are simply attempting to help the poor students,<ref name="Ontario" /> or that interaction between church and state is inevitable, so we might as well tolerate it. There has also been controversy over Gideons distributing Bibles in schools in the UK.<ref>[https://www.christian.org.uk/news/two-schools-block-gideons-offering-bibles/ Two schools block Gideons offering Bibles], The Christian Institute, 7 Apr 2011</ref>

Among the Gideons only men hand out Bibles; women are not allowed to become Gideons and can only serve the men as auxiliaries.<ref>Doug Koop.  "[http://www.christianweek.org/stories.php?id=1073 Gideons slow down pace of change]."  ''ChristianWeek''.  2010 September 22.</ref>

==See also==
*[[Abimelech Society]]
*[[Bible society]]
*[[Separation of church and state]]

==External links==
*[http://www.gideons.org/ The Gideons Offical Website]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9hLi3Q4ttE Who are the fucking Gideons?] Bill Hicks
==Notes==
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==References==
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