The Seventh-Day Adventist Church Is the Most Diverse Church Group in America, Says Study

On a scale of 1 to 10, the Seventh-day Adventist Church in America is at a 9.1 when it comes to racial diversity and that number makes it the most diverse religious group in the United States, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center.

In the new analysis looking at 29 religious groups including mainline Protestant denominations and others, the Pew Research Center measured the distribution of Hispanics, non-Hispanic whites, blacks, Asians as well as mixed-race Americans and concluded that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is the most diverse of all.

A breakdown of the racial fabric of the church shows that among its adherents in the U.S., 37 percent are white, 32 percent are black, 8 percent are Asian, 8 percent are mixed race, while 15 percent identify as Hispanic.


Muslims, Jehovah's Witnesses, Buddhists, and a group identified as "Nothing in particular" rounded out the top five diverse religious groups in the U.S., respectively. Jehovah's Witnesses and Catholics are the only other Christian groups with a higher racial diversity index than the general U.S. adult population.


Reacting to the study in an Adventist News Network report last Thursday, Gary Krause, director of the Office of Adventist Mission for the Adventist world church, said diversity was a huge component in the church's mission of preparing all people for Jesus' Second Coming.

"We're not an American church. We're not an African or Asian church. We're not a European church," said Krause. "We're a worldwide movement with a mission to all people groups."


He said even though the Adventist Church is operational in 215 countries and territories around the world, he still isn't satisfied with their work.

"We're not happy about it because the United Nations lists 22 more where we don't have established work," he said. "We're all God's children, and we love to welcome people from all races into our family."

Some 83 percent of the 318.9 million people in the U.S. identify as Christian and, according to Daniel Weber, communication director for the Adventist Church's North American Division, 1.2 million of them are Adventists. He also noted that globally the Adventist Church is 18.5 million people strong. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ch...se-church-group-in-america-says-study-142236/ The article goes on about church and it’s gospel commission. With all the talk of how churches are so segregated it’s refreshing to see it’s not so in several key denominations. The faith community is the key to racial togetherness.

 

Churches with a world wide mission and influence with the commission to spread the gospel to all the world seem to be more ethnically mixed in the USA as well. The whole idea that the 11:00 AM hour Sunday morning being America’s most segregated hour is a myth.

 

It is a really 'good' thing for The Adventists to be doing this; bringing more awareness of The Holy Bible.

The history of Sabbatarianism does not begin with Seventh Day Adventists though.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabbatarianism

Sabbatarianism is a view within Christianity that advocates the observation of the Sabbath, in keeping with the Ten Commandments. Its historical origins lie in early Christianity, later in the Eastern Church and Irish Church, and then in Puritan Sabbatarianism, which delineated precepts for keeping Sunday, the Lord's Day, holy in observance of Sabbath commandment principles. This observance of Sunday as a day of worship and rest is the purest form of first-day Sabbatarianism, a view which was historically heralded by nonconformist denominations, such as Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Methodists, and Baptists, as well as many Episcopalians; although its impact diminished in popular culture, traces and influences remain today, e.g. Sunday laws...

Seventh-day Sabbatarianism is a movement that generally embraces a literal reading of the Sabbath commandment that provides for both worship and rest on the seventh day of the week. Seventh-day Baptists leave most other Sabbath considerations of observance to individual conscience. The Seventh-day Adventist Church and Church of God (Seventh Day) have similar views, but maintain the original, scriptural duration as Friday sunset through Saturday sunset. The Orthodox Tewahedo Churches in Eritrea and Ethiopia, observe the seventh-day Sabbath, as well as Sunday as the Lord's Day. Likewise, the Coptic Church, another Oriental Orthodox body, "stipulates that the seventh-day Sabbath, along with Sunday, be continuously regarded as a festal day for religious celebration."

 

Interesting points. If I recall Christian history, I believe historically that the Waldensians, the early Irish church around 400-800AD, and some Christians in India before the Portuguese arrived kept it as well. My original point was that world wide church movements are more racially diverse here as well but this discussion is interesting too.

 

There are still more muslims in the U.S. than there are Seventh Day Adventists, Amish, and Mennonites combined.

 

That is true of course. But what is the point of Mennonites and Amish being brought into the discussion? They are very local to areas of the country and are not diverse at all.

 

Interesting. The religion is clearly diverse but the study days nothing about the diversity of the individual congregations. Their appears to be a bit of deliberate confusion that pretends that diversity of the total membership of the religion indicates tolerance and diversity of the congregations and the racial tolerance of the members of the religion.

 

It likely depends on the location of the individual congregation.

 

And the individual congregations could be just as segregated as any other religion.

 

with the numbers listed for the most diverse denominations such widespread segregation as you seem to wish really existed is virtually impossible. The article it seems was meant to deal exactly with people who hold views about believers as you presented.

 

Nope. It has nothing to do with the mix of races in individual congregations. You can have one all black church and one all white church and that stupid study would still show 50/50. Suggest you read it again.

 

My experience in all the churches in my area is that membership in them pretty much reflects the community I live in and there are no segregated churches or neighborhoods here.

 

Obviously you don't actually go to church. Experience with all the churches in your area is a dead giveaway. Nobody goes to all the churches in their neighborhood.

 

In all the churches in my area that I attended they were all close to a match of the city they are in. There are no segregated neighborhoods here. Quit hating on Christians.

 

Not hating on Christians just explaining why your data source proves nothing. IF you don't actually understand the fallacy in your use of the data it isn't my problem.

 

https://www.google.com/amp/www.pewr...-racially-diverse-u-s-religious-groups/?amp=1 The research here shows that at every level things are moving away from what you are describing.

 

In my personal observations the 'non-denominational' churches seem to have the most diversity in local congregations. These would be the Pentecostal and 'Word Of Faith' types, and Baptists; contrary to popular opinion, Baptists aren't an organized denomination, and they blend into other sects as far as certain doctrines go. They aren't 'mainstream', so any study that labels them that will be erroneous right off the bat. Also, many congregations left the Baptist Convention when a cadre of right wingers seized control of the Treasury and began using it to directly support a political party, a violation of one of the three founding planks of the Baptist sect, but they are still Baptists in practice and tenets. I would say the U.S. doesn't lend itself well to accuracy in these kinds of studies; too many indies and variables.

 

Many in fact do, especially in small towns and suburban communities. I've been in all of them in my town, and I'm not even a Christian. Go troll somewhere else.

 

I'm not aware of any Christian churches who discriminate by race and ethnicity. There are probably a few cults and political fronts who do somewhere, but those are non-existent in any practical sense and numbers.

 

I've attended Seventh Day Adventist meetings in several towns here in Nova Scotia and frankly.........
they have got to be the friendliest people that I have ever met.........
Even though technically I was a member of the Worldwide Church of God... .they
respected that my group also observed the weekly Jewish Sabbath and they were phenomenally welcoming.......
If I was wealthier I would probably attend their services but at this time I concentrate on taking my wife to whatever church she wishes to go to and she is Pentecostal at this time.