SAN FRANCISCO (RNS)—Reports that Al Gore has replaced God—at least in one California hotel—have been greatly exaggerated, the hotel's developer said.
The Gaia Napa Valley Hotel and Spa, located 35 miles north of San Francisco, made headlines after a media report that each of the hotel rooms contained a copy of Gore's environmental book, An Inconvenient Truth, but no Gideon Bible.
Commentator Rush Limbaugh jumped on the story in his radio show, claiming the hotel treated environmentalism as a religion.
But developer Wen-I Chang explained Gaia had not “replaced” the Bible with Gore's book, as has been claimed by some media outlets. Instead, he said, the hotel staff overlooked providing Bibles in their haste to prepare for the official grand opening.
Chang, a Taiwanese immigrant and a Buddhist, said as soon as the issue came to his attention, he instructed his staff to put Bibles in the hotel's nightstands. Copies of Buddhist scripture also will go in the drawers.
The Gore book went in the rooms because it matched the hotel's image as “the first eco-friendly hotel in the Golden State,” he explained.
Gaia was built using sustainable wood and recycled materials. Water, energy use and emissions are kept to a minimum.