Racism

A brief Seventh-day Adventist perspective

One of the world's worst evils is racism, the belief or practice that treats certain groups as inferior and therefore the object of domination, discrimination and segregation. The consequences of racism are devastating because it easily becomes institutionalised and legalised and can lead to persecution and ethnic cleansing.

How does faith overcome barriers of diversity?

The Seventh-day Adventist Church deplores all forms of racism. As a worldwide community of believers, we aim to show that faith overcomes barriers of diversity; that in the church family the unity found in being sons and daughters of God transcends differences of culture, geography, skin colour and language.

Adventists aim to be faithful to the reconciling ministry of the caring Christian churchs. One of our fundamental beliefs states that, "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."

Any other approach destroys the core of the Adventist message.

The worldwide Seventh-day Adventist Church released a statement on racism in 1985.