British hotel replaces Bibles with ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’

 A hotel owner in Britain swaps Bibles for the racy novel "Fifty Shades of Grey." And the local vicar isn't too happy.

The change was made earlier this month in all 40 guest rooms at the Damson Dene Hotel in the Lake District of England, USA Today reported.

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"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," hotel owner Jonathan Denby wrote in a blog post. "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 denied making the change for any religious or philosophical reasons.

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That didn't stop parish priest the Rev. Michael Woodcock from publicly denouncing the decision. He called it a gimmick intended only to drum up more business in an interview with the Westmoreland Gazette.

"'Fifty Shades of Grey' is all the rage but is likely to be a passing fad," a Diocesan spokesperson said in a statement. "The Bible is a classic, shaped and reshaped by Jewish and Christian communities over many centuries; it is also an enduring source of comfort to travelers around the world and, we believe, the words of life.

"It is unclear why anyone would think it appropriate to replace the latter with the former."