The Rhetoric and Logic of Risk in Religion: Las Vegas Experience

This paper explores how religious perspectives shape risk behaviorthroughout society, and how the logic of risk-taking influencesreligious groups and theologies. Analyzing data collected in a religious group in Nevada, along with a wide range of interdisciplinary scholarship on the subject, this research explores the intersections of religion and gambling/risk culture. I examine the academic literature on the macro-level effects of religion and gambling culture, and then explore through ethnographic research among religious practitioners in a Las Vegas megachurch how the rhetoric and logic of risk pervade the discourse of this religious group. This research contributes to an important and often unexplored field of research on the significant relationships among gambling, risking taking, and religion