Sin City's dirty little secret: It's full of churches

Las Vegas has a dirty little secret it’s hiding from many of the 35 million tourists who come to cut loose in a place where sin is celebrated and sold with messianic zeal.

Las Vegas has churches. Lots of them. Mosques, temples and synagogues, too, representing vibrant faiths from all over creation.

And each and every Sunday these prayerful halls are filled with devout worshippers whose idea of big stakes differ vastly from those who pray for a lucky roll of the dice.

I think America would be surprised by the huge religious undercurrent that runs through Las Vegas,” says Dr. Mark Wickstrom, senior pastor at the 3,700-memberCommunity Lutheran Church of Las Vegas.

“A Baptist church in Henderson (just outside of Las Vegas) recently surveyed how many churches of all denominations were within a 2-mile radius of its location. In that 2-mile circle, it found 102 churches. God is everywhere. Even here in Las Vegas.”

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Some surveys over the years have even included Las Vegas among lists of cities with the most churches per capita. A recent Internet search revealed listings for more than 500 churches in the city.

You don’t find that nugget touted on any of the splashy websites hawking near-naked show girls, games of chance and the gaudy secular temples where you can find it all. Prominent and otherwise comprehensive guide books such as Fodor’s and Lonely Planet detail laws regulating Nevada prostitution and where to find the best strip clubs, but fail to include helpful mention of where someone needing spiritual assistance ought to go.