Do Adventists think that the media persecuted the church during the Lindy Chamberlain incident?

The Lindy Chamberlain incident will forever be entrenched in the memories of people. 25 years after the incident, the media still routinely talks about it or makes reference to it.

The fact that the Chamberlains are Seventh-day Adventists, and that Lindy was the wife of a Seventh-day Adventist pastor, never failed to get mentioned. Lindy has participated in many interviews since the incident and many of the questions she has to answer are usually on what she believes.

The media back then were investigating the Seventh-day Adventist Church with the view that Lindy was guilty and that the church was “strange”. As a result, many erroneous statements about the beliefs and practices of the Seventh-day Adventist Church were reported.

There were certainly damaging after effects. The media is often one of the sources upon which public opinions are made. Many people now still see the Adventist Church as “different”, and with strange practices. A lot of these impressions date back to that time.

That is slowly changing, but without actually having done an extensive research, it is difficult to say how huge the impact was.

A few of the misconceptions of Seventh-day Adventists that were published by the media included:

• We do not give and accept blood – this resulted in baby Azaria dying because she was “spear-tackled” by Lindy in a Mount Isa supermarket and was refused a blood transfusion.

Adventists actually promote good health practices, including the use of blood transfusions. We run a network of more than 500 hospitals and clinics around the world – Sydney Adventist Hospital is one of these hospitals – where blood transfusions are given.

• We practice ritual infanticide, and that the name Azaria meant “sacrifice in the wilderness.”

Adventists are mainstream Protestant Christians who reject any form of ritualistic killing or such practices. The name Azaria is derived from the male Biblical name “Azariah” and means “helped by God” or “blessed of God”.

• We are a “weird cult” because we worship God on a Saturday.

We go to church on Saturday because we believe in the Bible which asks us to “remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy”. We spend Saturdays, or Sabbaths, with our families and friends, worshiping in churches and resting. We see it as a weekly time to get off the treadmill, refocus on God and as an opportunity to set our priorities straight. This does set us apart from most other Christian denominations, but, generally speaking, Adventist beliefs are however in line with the traditional teachings of Christianity as derived from the Bible. We are certainly not a cult.

• We are obviously familiar with ritual killings since Lindy appeared unaffected by the death of her daughter during interviews and the trial.

Adventists have a strong and unwavering faith in the goodness of God. Lindy’s belief in God and on what happens when someone dies gave her the calm and ability to rest and rely on God. Lindy was able to speak openly about forensic and scientific evidence because of her practical personality and her belief in God that gave her strength and peace of mind.

How did the media portray the Seventh-day Adventist Church?

It was a period during which Seventh-day Adventism was a little understood religion. People were unfamiliar with our beliefs and hence treated the church and our beliefs with suspicion. They believe we were a “weird cult” and that Lindy was a witch. We were portrayed with prejudice.

How accurate was the media’s presentation?

Many news services chose sensationalism over accuracy. The claims regarding the beliefs and practices of the church were not thoroughly investigated, which resulted in perpetrating numerous misconceptions.

People did not take the time to research for themselves what the media was portraying the church to be. They took the media accounts on face value. The church itself did not do a very good job of educating the public during this period of time. It chose to say very little, which in retrospect, made the situation worse.

Television interviews only showed footage of when Lindy was calm and collected (which she was, to a certain extent), cutting to her husband when she did show signs of distress. This caused many people to believe that she was not behaving as they thought a grieving mother should.

Later, forensic evidence indicated the Chamberlains were innocent and that a dingo had indeed killed baby Azaria. There are several media productions – an opera, a movie, a television series – that depict much of the Chamberlain story.

1. Do Adventists give and accept blood?
2. Do Adventists meet on Saturday just to be different?
3. Do Adventists promote alternative health remedies and diets above conventional medical treatments?
4. Do Adventists believe they need to do good works to go to heaven?
5. Do Adventists believe Ellen G. White and her writings to be as important as God and the Bible?
6. Do people have to be vegetarians to be Adventists?
7. Do Adventists believe that only 144,000 people will go to heaven and that they will only be Seventh-day Adventists?
8. Do Adventists consider themselves to be the only true, remnant church?
9. Do Adventists belong to a cult?
10. Do Adventists believe in a pre-determined date for the second coming of Jesus Christ?
11. Do Adventists dislike Catholic people?
12. Do Adventists have their own edition of the Bible called the Clear Word?
13. Do Adventists believe in the same things as Jehovah's Witnesses?
14. Do Adventists think that the media persecuted the church during the Lindy Chamberlain incident?