Nestled in the picturesque Lake District of northwest England, the Damson Dene Hotel seems, at first glance, like the typical English countryside hotel. But its bedside tables contain a shocking secret. Instead of the traditional bedside Gideon Bible placed at arm\u2019s reach, its forty rooms each contain a copy of E.L. James\u2019 bestselling erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey .<\/p>\n
Jonathan Denby, owner of the hotel, told NBC News he felt that in a secular society, it was \u201cwholly inappropriate\u201d to put a religious book in someone\u2019s bedroom. He confessed the novel wasn\u2019t his first choice of replacement. In fact, he hasn\u2019t even read it. \u201cI was thinking originally of putting in a book by Ayn Rand \u2014 Atlas Shrugged was my first thought,\u201d he said, but \u201cbecause everybody is reading Fifty Shades of Grey , we thought it would be a hospitable thing to do, to have this available for our guests, especially if some of them were a little bit shy about buying it because of its reputation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fifty Shades of Grey traces the relationship between a business magnate and a young college graduate, featuring explicit depictions of bondage and submissive acts. Since the Damson Dene\u2019s dirty little secret has emerged, the hotel has received dozens of angry emails \u2014 not from Britons, but from Americans \u2014 demanding that the Bibles be restored beside the beds.<\/p>\n
Unsurprisingly, the move has also attracted the ire of local parish priest Rev. Michael Woodcock, who told the Westmorland Gazette, \u201cIt is a great shame that Bibles have been removed from rooms and very inappropriate to have been replaced by an explicit erotic novel.\u201d He added, \u201cThe Bible remains a source of comfort and inspiration that many people do find helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, Wayne Bartholomew, manager of the hotel has been quick to point out that, \u201cThe Gideon Bible is full of references to sex and violence, although it\u2019s written using more formal language, so James\u2019s book is easier to read.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ironically, the previous owners of the hotel were a Methodist group, who were responsible for first putting the Bibles in bedrooms.<\/p>\n
======================<\/p>\n
Another version by Illustration Exchange, 8\/8\/2012:<\/p>\n
Modern Culture In Shades of Grey<\/p>\n
A British hotel owner is replacing bedside copies of the Gideon Bible with copies of the best-selling \u201csoft\u201d porn novel FIFTY SHADES OF GREY.<\/p>\n
\u201cTonight\u201d said the hotel\u2019s owner Jonathan Denby, \u201cmillions of women will be curling up in bed with a good book and you can bet your life it won\u2019t be the Bible. More likely than not it will be Fifty Shades of Grey. I haven\u2019t read the book yet \u2013 I\u2019m not in the target audience \u2013 but I\u2019m told it\u2019s a ripping good yarn and everyone who\u2019s in the target audience loves it. This made me wonder about the sense of providing a book, the Gideon Bible which no one reads, and many dislike, in the bedside cabinet of our hotel bedrooms, instead of a book which everyone wants to read, such as Fifty Shades of Grey.\u201d<\/p>\n
Denby said he didn\u2019t make the switch for any religious of philosophical reasons. He just thought it was time for a change and to give his patrons a more appealing option. He cited a recent NBC online poll \u201cwhich drew nearly 32,000 responses to the question \u2018Which book would you be more likely to pick up in your hotel room?\u2019 As of Thursday, 42 percent said Fifty Shades of Grey and 37 percent said the Bible, with the rest expressing no preference.\u201d<\/p>\n
Denby says he hasn\u2019t all together given up on the Bible. He will keep a copy available at the front desk for guests who request it.<\/p>\n
FIFTY SHADES OF GREY wasn\u2019t Denby\u2019s first choice to replace the Bible. \u201cI was thinking originally of putting in a book by Ayn Rand \u2014 Atlas Shrugged was my first thought,\u201d Denby told NBC News.<\/p>\n
How appropriate, though, was his choice of the best-selling FIFTY SHADES? Indeed, GREY is the shade which best describes our Post-Christian culture as it moves increasingly away from its Judeo-Christian heritage toward ultimate moral relativism.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll a man\u2019s ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs the heart\u201d (Proverbs 21:2). \u201cThere is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death\u201d (Proverbs 14:12, cf. Proverbs 16:25).<\/p>\n
________<\/p>\n
Source: \u201cBritish hotel replaces Bibles with soft-porn \u2018Fifty Shades of Grey\u2019\u201d by Nancy Trejos, USA Today, Jul 26, 2012<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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