The Gideons supply 900,000 Bibles a year to hotels, hospitals and students in England. They reportedly offered to place notes with every Bible placed in a hospital locker, giving a phone number for patients to call if they wished to be supplied with holy texts of other faiths.

Managers also say the Bibles could play a role in spreading the MRSA superbug, a claim refuted by medical studies.

They have even rejected an offer by Gideons International, the evangelical group which provides the Bibles, to make copies of the Koran and other holy scriptures available to any patient that asks for them.

Furious Protests

The proposed ban, at the three main hospitals in Leicester, has provoked furious protests from Christian clerics and derision from leaders of other faiths.

Iqbal Sacranie, of the Muslim Council of Britain, called the idea "ridiculous and extreme" and warned that respect for other faiths could not be achieved at the expense of Christianity.

Professor Harminder Singh, of the Sikh Divine Fellowship, said: "In 30 years working with interfaith groups this has never been an issue." Church of England hospital chaplains accused managers of neglecting their duty.

The Bibles are provided by the British branch of Gideons International. Its director, Ian Mair, said: "I have yet to receive a single letter, email or phone call from any member of another faith to say they have been offended by a hospital Bible. Even local leaders of other faiths disagree with the proposal."

The University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust admitted it was "not aware" of any complaints about the Bibles but confirmed that discussions were under way about removing them.

The trust said it was "committed to religious diversity and equality" and added: "There is a possibility that Bibles could give offense."

Its statement went on: "Discussions are currently taking place between the Chaplaincy, Infection Control, Service Equality and Volunteer Services departments to determine whether religious texts will continue to be provided in patients' bedside lockers at Leicester General Hospital, Leicester Royal Infirmary and Glenfield Hospital." It said Bibles would still be available through hospital chaplains.

Minority Faiths Respond with Dismay

Leicester has one of the biggest Asian populations of any city in Britain, but Christians are still a majority. Census figures from 2001 show the area's people to be 54 percent Christian, 11 percent Hindu, seven percent Muslim and four percent Sikh. Leaders of the minority faiths responded with dismay to the Bible ban.

Mr. Sacranie said: "This is undermining respect for diversity at the cost of the spiritual comfort of patients in hospital. Just because other faiths do not provide scriptures for hospitals does not mean we should deny Christians the right to do so."

Ramesh Kallidai, general secretary of the Hindu Forum of Great Britain, said: "We haven't been offended by the Bibles but now Christians might be offended by their removal. The situation should not have been allowed to get to this.

"The hospitals shouldn't be deciding what is insulting to us without consulting us. A more positive approach might have been to offer other religious books."

Professor Singh said: "The only objection to having Bibles on hospital wards is if you are being forced to read them. But this is not the case. If it is in the bedside locker who can complain? Only a fanatic and if they don't want it there, the nurse can take it away."

A Matter of Political Correctness

The Gideons, whose British base at Lutterworth is only a few miles from Leicester, supply 900,000 Bibles a year to hotels, hospitals and students in England.

Mr. Mair said they had offered to place notes with every copy giving a phone number for patients to call if they wished to be supplied with holy texts of other faiths.

He added: "I think this is a matter of political correctness. I have seen a copy of an email from the trust chairman in which he says the main reason is race relations. I feel sad that in this country, which has been a Christian country for so many years, we have got people that consider the Bible to be offensive.'

'Low' Chance of Contracting MRSA

Medical experts said the chance of patients contracting MRSA from a Bible was "low."

Professor Peter Hawkey of the West Midlands Public Health Laboratory said: "It is a possibility, as it is very difficult to sterilize or clean books. But the risk is low. And this also raises the question of newspapers and library books."

The head of the Church of England's Hospital Chaplaincy Council, the Reverend Edward Lewis, said: "We are all concerned about MRSA, but when you look at any patient's locker, it is a mass of printed material including hospital leaflets."

The chairman of the Leicester trust, retired shoe industry executive Philip Hammersley, declined to comment.

The Bible ban is the latest indication that Christianity is now regarded as offensive in Leftwing and some official circles. It follows a trend to remove Christianity from Christmas which saw Birmingham rename the festival Winterval and job centers and the Red Cross ban trees and decorations.

Helping Travellers Keep the Faith

The Gideons were the brainchild of two travelling salesmen forced to share a room in a crowded hotel in Wisconsin in 1898. John Nicholson and Samuel Hill, both evangelical Christians, started an organization for commercial travellers the following year.

A third founder, Will Knights, chose the name Gideons after the hero of chapters six and seven of the Old Testament book of Judges. The Biblical Gideon slaughters his enemies in battle but was chosen as a figure who placed faith and obedience to God before his own judgment.

An idea of supplying Bibles to hotel reception desks became a grand plan to put one in every hotel room in the US. The first was the Superior Hotel in Iron Mountain, Montana, in 1908.

The organization, backed by the wealthy U.S. evangelical movement, soon spread to become one of the world's best-known religious foundations. It has 236,000 members, operates in 179 countries and distributes more than a million Bibles a week in 80 languages.

The British branch opened in 1949.

The Gideons even appeared in a Beatles song: Rocky Raccoon finds himself alone with a Gideon Bible in Paul McCartney's composition from the 1968 White Album.