Wednesday, Oct. 7, 1998 | 11:13 a.m.
Mormons started Las Vegas.
A small group of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was sent to Southern Nevada from Salt Lake City in 1855. They were the first white people to arrive. After struggling in efforts to convert Paiute Indians and settle the harsh land, they went back to Salt Lake after a couple of years.
By 1905, the Las Vegas area was home to a railroad stop and a few growing saloons, and Mormons returned to establish their community. They built schools, ran the dairy, opened grocery stores. In 1915, they opened the first Las Vegas branch of the Mormon church.
In time, members of the Mormon church played key roles in the development of the Strip -- lending money that allowed for construction of prominent casinos.
As Las Vegas grew into its modern form, Mormons influenced votes on many public policy issues -- from the initial defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment in 1975, to the curb on neighborhood gambling in 1996.
Mormons also made up the inner circle of caretakers to Strip tycoon Howard Hughes. Later, a case would be made that Hughes willed a portion of his fortune to the Mormon church -- but the claim was determined to lack merit.
Today the city is rife with Mormon social services -- from food banks to neighborhood clean-up efforts. It also is stacked high with Mormon public officials -- from the superintendent of schools to state legislators and city council members.
At the junction of vice and piety, where the decadence of the Las Vegas Strip meets the modesty of the city's suburbs, the Mormon church stands -- and has always stood -- affecting the flow of development, the standards of neighborhoods, the delicate balance between an entertainment-based economy and conservative residential values.
"Our faith is very strong. It is a way of life that influences a community," said Ashley Hall, the church's public affairs director in Clark County.
"LDS people have certainly played a significant role in Las Vegas in maintaining a community and a moral climate in which to raise families and do business," Hall said. "Along with many other good people."
In Clark County, about 6.6 percent of the population is Mormon, according to UNLV's Cannon Center for Survey Research. Many religious leaders say that the Mormon population is actually higher -- about 10 percent of Clark County, compared with 2 percent nationwide.
Although faithful Mormons do not gamble -- ("The church officially opposes gambling on the traditional Christian basis," said Doug Nehring, an assistant recorder at the Las Vegas Temple) -- the Mormons' tradition of civic involvement and business acumen helped establish and maintain the tourist city based largely on the appeal of casinos.
"You can raise the question of 'How can good Mormons be involved indirectly in gaming?'" Hall said. "But to us, business is business. Gaming is not illegal in Nevada."
Hall echoes the sentiments of one of the key figures in the development of the Las Vegas Strip, banker Parry Thomas.
Thomas, a Mormon whose wife is a direct descendant of famed prophet Brigham Young, financed dozens of casinos through the Bank of Las Vegas beginning in the 1950s. Thomas worked with Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa to finance some casinos using union pension funds in the 1960s, and later procured casinos for Howard Hughes. At one time, Thomas owned the Riviera hotel-casino.
"I personally feel that Parry Thomas is primarily responsible for the growth of Las Vegas," developer Irwin Molasky told the British Broadcasting Company in a television interview this year.
When Thomas was asked about the apparent conflict between his religious principles and his involvement in gambling, he said that before starting to finance the casino industry, he struggled with the moral imperative:
"Should we extend credit? Should we do business? Should we accept deposits? Should we be in any way be involved with gamblers -- these dirty, filthy gamblers?" Thomas recounted in the BBC's 1998 documentary "Las Vegas and the Mormons."
"Well finally it dawned on us that in Nevada, gaming was legal, and as bankers, we were entitled to support every legal entity."
(SUBHEAD HERE: Family and Discipline)
The $18 million Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Las Vegas Temple rises 119-feet out of the base of Sunrise Mountain. A gilded angel Moroni stands atop the highest spire, overlooking the lights of Sin City in the valley below.
The grounds around the temple are a sanctuary of trim green grass and shade trees, cement benches and ambling walkways, all separated from the neighborhood by a tall wrought iron fence. An American flag flies out front.
The building is a testament not only to the wealth and productivity of the Church, but also to the rigors of the faith Mormons practice. Worldwide, the Church is worth an estimated $5.9 billion, has some 10 million followers, and is growing one third every year, according to church officials.
Hinckley and other Mormons say that the biggest draw to the Church is its emphasis on family and discipline in an era of rogue individualism and moral relativism.
"There are a lot of people here who are very concerned that the family is falling apart," Hinckley said in a speech in Georgia last spring. "We put emphasis on the family. I think they appreciate us and they're coming forward to us."
Last weekend at the Church's Semi-Annual General Conference in Salt Lake City, Hinckley elaborated:
"People are looking for a solid anchor in a world of shifting values ... They are put to work and given responsibilities ... they expect their religion to be demanding (and to) require reformation in their lives."
Hall cited the family centered structure as a large appeal in Las Vegas.
"Our emphasis on family is paramount," Hall said. "Many people who move to Las Vegas want to move to our neighborhoods because they see the value of our family emphasis. We are a tight-knit community."
Despite their traditional values, members of the Church are fighting a public relations battle in their attempt to be accepted as Christians. Most Protestants do not consider Mormons to be Christians. Although Mormons believe in the Bible, their beliefs diverge from traditional Christianity in that they support the Book of Mormon as a sequel to the Bible.
"When anything begins to grow, it is perceived as a threat," Nehring said. "Theologically, there will be opposition. People in the United States are concerned, but they don't understand. We are trying to educate people."
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe in God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost. They further believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet who received revelation from God and Jesus Christ in the Palmyra, N.Y., woods in 1820. Through that revelation, the Church was founded, and members believe it is the only true Church and that its leaders are prophets. The Book of Mormon is considered to be another testament of Jesus Christ.
Mormons believe that if they lead moral lives and make the necessary vows in the temple to their family members, they will live for eternity as a family in one of three levels of Heaven -- the Celestial, Telestial, or Terrestrial.
"We believe they are all three wonderful places," said Linda Rawson, a Mormon and fourth generation Southern Nevadan. Rawson also represents the Las Vegas Mormon community on the interfaith council of the National Conference of Community and Justice (formerly the National Conference of Christians and Jews), and is married to former Mormon stake president Sen. Raymond Rawson, R-Las Vegas.
"But in the Celestial Kingdom, you live in the presence of the Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ," she said.
To get into the Celestial Kingdom, adults must have been "sealed" in the temple to a spouse during their earthly life.
But to get into the temple one first has to have a "temple-recommend" card.
And to get the card, Mormons have to be active members of the church, attending the smaller chapels, for at least a year.
On Sundays at the chapel, Mormons take the sacraments of bread and water -- body and blood of Christ -- administered by members of the Aaronic priesthood who are generally teenage boys.
They share prayers, sing, listen to a lay speaker or two, talk about gospel principles, and then split up for Sunday school. Veterans go to Gospel Doctrine classes; new Mormons go to special classes to familiarize them with basic principles of the faith.
After doctrinal classes, the group is divided by gender. Women attend a meeting of the charity-focused Relief Society; men attend a priesthood meeting. Each Mormon has a church-related job; there is no clergy.
Mormons also must maintain certain behaviors to be temple-worthy: tithe 10 percent of their income when possible, be totally honest, recognize the LDS president as a "Prophet, Seer, and Revelator," live in chastity when not married and be faithful when married, and otherwise fully subscribe to Mormon theology.
Each year, card-carrying members must go to their bishop and discuss their adherence to these precepts in order to have their card renewed. Records of each member's temple-recommend status are kept on file with the church, and follow members when they move.
"Once you're firm in your belief and in your practice, it isn't hard to maintain," said Rawson, who has an active temple recommend card.
As followers of the faith, Mormons enjoy a vast network of social and business connections -- from LDS credit unions to counseling and job placement assistance.
"It is definitely a lifestyle, a lot more than just a faith," Rawson said. "But it is really the home, and the family, that is most important.
"Our leadership in Salt Lake encourages that our home should be a holy place. Each family prays together every day. Usually it's first thing in the morning, when the children are getting ready for school. In my house, that's when we did it, and we had Scripture reading then, too. We try to give the children that spiritual embrace before they head out to face the world."
Rawson said that to her, the most important part of her faith is her eternal link to her family.
"I believe that the family will go on forever," she said. "My husband and I have been sealed in the temple, and all of our children and grandchildren have been sealed, and that is a tremendous comfort to me.
"In life there is always the chance that something will happen -- a car accident or illness, and you will lose someone. The comfort is the knowledge that we will have the opportunity to be together again."
SUNDAY: Nondenominational Christian churches pitch consumer-friendly theology and draw thousands to amphitheater-style churches.
archive
