Adventist Church in North America Issues Response to Fringe Group Newspaper Ad Mentioning Church

On June 21, 2020, the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s North American Division issued the following statement after a full-page advertisement was published by a fringe organization on the same day in the Nashville Tennessean, a Gannett-owned newspaper.

“The Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America is deeply disturbed by the two hurtful ads recently published in the Nashville Tennessean.

“The claims made against the Muslim community have caused pain and strife. We soundly reject these hateful and dishonest words. Further, we need to be clear: there is no connection between the Seventh-day Adventist Church and this group and their teachings, which serve to hurt and cause disharmony.  

“One of the Adventist Church’s Fundamental Beliefs states, ‘In Christ we are a new creation; distinctions of race, culture, learning, and nationality, and differences between high and low, rich and poor, male and female, must not be divisive among us. We are all equal in Christ, who by one Spirit has bonded us into one fellowship with Him and with one another; we are to serve and be served without partiality or reservation’ (Fundamental Belief 14, Unity in the Body of Christ).

“The Seventh-day Adventist Church requests that the Nashville Tennessean repudiate the advertising and publicly state there is no connection between the Adventist Church and this group.”

Not only does the ad briefly mention the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the group used quotes from Ellen G. White, one of the Adventist Church’s founding members, out of context. “The Ellen G. White Estate rejects any interpretation of Ellen White’s writings that suggests she predicts a specific target of impending disaster, the timing of any such event, or a connection to the Muslim, or any other, faith group,” said Jim Nix, director of the Ellen G. White Estate, an entity of the Seventh-day Adventist Church world headquarters.