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Hotel Reading: the Bible, or ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’

Found at digital spy:

E L James: Fifty Shades of Grey

A UK hotel has replaced in-room copies of the Bible with the bestselling erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey.

All 40 rooms at the Lake District’s Damson Dene Hotel now contain a copy of EL James‘s bestseller in place of the Gideon Bible, USA Today reports.

The hotel’s owner Jonathan Denby detailed the reasoning behind his decision in a blog post.

“Tonight millions of women will be curling up in bed with a good book and you can bet your life it won’t be the Bible,” Denby wrote. “More likely than not it will be Fifty Shades of Grey.

“I haven’t read the book yet – I’m not in the target audience – but I’m told it’s a ripping good yarn and everyone who’s 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.”

Denby has insisted that the decision was not an ideological one, but a local vicar has publicly decried the swap and dubbed it “a gimmick”.

Read at Digital Spy

What do you reckon? Publicity Stunt?

Whats going to happen when ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ is no longer popular?

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Something… self indulgent…

mmmmmm Cake

mmmmmm CakePlease excuse us for just one moment as we get… well fairly self indulgent.

Well… Its our second birthday today, and to celebrate we’re going to have a quick look at the… more interesting… search terms that people have used to arrive at The Church Sofa:

  1. “church sofa photo blog” – Now… this seems kinda odd. We’ve never had a photoblog… not really… We’ve done something for Christmas… but thats it… Would you like to see us do a photoblog at some point?
  2. “why beards are cool” – Because they are!!
  3. Now this is an interesting one, we’ve hosted a number of people on the sofa after they’ve done a search for the quote:

    “let’s just say this: right now, name for me the one young, good bible teacher that is known across great britain. you don’t have one – that’s the problem.”

    Not sure who said that, but I think it was some little known American preacher…

  4. “chat room for “lonely” people u.k.christians” – This search term ha led a few people to us. I hope you’ve found the company you’ve been looking for. Are there any online chat rooms you recommend?
  5. “what to do if your computer breaks” – I feel your pain if this happens to you… 
  6. “sofa blogs” – We are a sofa. We blog. Sounds fair enough…
  7. “what does a homeless person look like” – Interesting question. Maybe we should put an answer together one day…
  8. “god please find me a church in exeter uk” – Hopefully our Exeter Church List helps a little..?
  9. “cameron sofa” – Dear David Cameron, would you be available to be interviewed by us? If so, please use the contact form – or even jump on Twitter! We’d love to hear from you!
  10. “asbo elephants” – pardon? 

Well thats a little trip over the last 12 months. Hope you enjoyed, and didn’t find it to self indulgent.

Thanks for supporting The Church Sofa over the last 2 years, and we hope that you’ll join us on the new journey over the next 12 months!

What would you like to see more of from the church sofa lads?

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The ‘Pray-o-mat’

The Pray o Mat Prayer Booth

In Manchester?

Need a photo booth to pray in?

This could be the answer:

The Pray o Mat in Manchester

According to the Daily Mail:

Instead of waiting for a service at a local church or temple, worshippers can now pop into a ‘Pray-o-mat’ and pick up a blessing.

Believers can follow their faiths in a whole new frame of mind by saying their prayers in this ‘church’ made from an old photo booth.
Instead of paying £5 for a set of four passport snaps, people can now use the touch screen inside the converted booth to listen to up 300 pre-recorded prayers and incantations in 65 different languages.

As well as the Lords Prayer, there are Buddhist and Islamic benedictions; Aborigine devotional songs,Voodoo blessings and solemn chanting of an orthodox Jewish congregation.
Even Tom Cruise is catered for, with five minutes of Scientology prayers included too in the booth.

Users will step into the booth named the ‘Pray-o-mat’, scroll through a menu and make the selection on the touch-screen – before donating money in a nearby slot.

Read more at the Daily Mail (I personally love the voice over on the video)

Now this is part of a research project, so lets not take this to seriously, but can you imagine yourself using this?

If so, would you be able to take it seriously?

Can we expect to see technology automating, what would normally be a Church experience, more in the future? 

(hat tip to @@IdleHistorian)

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Weekly Roundup: The Lego Edition

Welcome to our round up of what we’ve been reading online this week:

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Tambourines in church…

Do you bring a tambourine into Church?

Be careful how you handle it…

From kfor.com/

A woman was apparently playing a tambourine too loudly during Wednesday night services.

When she refused to stop, the woman was escorted out by an off duty Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Deputy. 

Myers said, “He had to physically escort her outside the church. Once outside, she broke free from the deputy and tried to go back inside, there became a physical confrontation.”

According to the arrest report, the deputy was forced to pepper spray and tase the unruly woman.

Myers said, “She was not filled with the Holy spirit. She was not being very Christianly and this is why the folks decided to get her out as soon as possible.”

Witnesses said the combative Christian was staggering and had slurred speech.

Authorities did find prescription pain medication in her possession.

The video at kfor.com/ is also worth a watch.

What do you reckon of the above?