A group of atheists has successfully campaigned to remove Bibles from rooms at a hotel in Arizona.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) complained about the Bibles and had them removed from rooms in a hotel run by Arizona State University.

The atheist group has previously said that it would rather see Charles Darwin’s ‘On the Origin of Species’ than the Bible in hotels.

Complaint

Attorney Madeline Ziegler wrote to the university complaining that making Bibles available “sends the message that ASU endorses the religious texts”.

She added: “State-run colleges have a constitutional obligation to remain neutral toward religion.

“When a government entity like ASU distributes such material to visitors, it has unconstitutionally entangled itself with a religious message, in this case a Christian message.”

Gideon Bibles

The FFRF claims that a member of staff was offended by seeing one of the Bibles in a room.

The Bibles had been placed by Gideons International in the rooms of the Thunderbird Executive Inn.

They have now been removed but remain available at reception.

Travelodge

Iowa State University and the University of Wisconsin removed Bibles from their campus-affiliated hotels in 2014 after the FFRF complained.

In the same year, the UK’s Travelodge chain removed Bibles from rooms, despite having not received any complaints from its guests.

The hotel company said the move was made “in order not to discriminate against any religion”.