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For over 100 years, travelers have checked into US motel rooms and found the Gideon Bible
- Founded in 1899, Gideons International began placing Bibles in hotel rooms in 1908 after a member checked into a Montana hotel, eventually distributing more than 2.5 billion Bibles worldwide.
- One member's 1908 request to place a Bible at a Montana hotel desk expanded into a broader initiative alongside American road culture and Ford Motor Co.'s Model T, enabling mass travel for the first time.
- Author Lori Anne Ferrell calls the Bible "a peculiarly and amazingly American object," while Paul McCartney explained The Beatles referenced them because they "were in every hotel in America."
- Expanding beyond hotels, the group presented its 100 millionth Bible to President Richard Nixon in 1971 at the White House, cementing its status as an American Protestant tradition in Broadway shows and film lyrics.
- Although distribution in schools and hotels has diminished, the Bible endures in motel nightstands across America, remaining a quiet source of comfort in secular settings despite the advent of Wi-Fi and television.
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24 Articles
The Gideon Bible has been a steady presence in U.S. motel rooms for over 100 years
For more than a century, countless have found it in the bedside drawers of American hotel and motel rooms. It has become a symbol of America's roadside culture and Protestant tradition.
·Washington, United States
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Associated Press News+22 Reposted by 22 other sources
For over 100 years, travelers have checked into US motel rooms and found the Gideon Bible
The Gideon Bible has become a symbol of America's roadside culture and Protestant tradition. Paul McCartney noted its presence in American hotel rooms in The Beatles' song “Rocky Raccoon,”, a sight unfamiliar in England.
·New York, United States
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Total News Sources24
Leaning Left10Leaning Right1Center13Last UpdatedBias Distribution54% Center
Bias Distribution
- 54% of the sources are Center
54% Center
L 42%
C 54%
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