Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Seventh-Day Adventists and Interracial Marriage

The computer reports that somebody out there found this web site while searching for material about "Seventh-Day Adventists and interracial marriage." Which means they were searching hard, because, although I've posted some things about Seventh-Day Adventists and some things about interracial marriage, I've not posted anything about that combination of topics.

In case that reader, or those readers, are still searching, I'll share this. The Seventh-Day Adventist church does not ban interracial marriage. It's a global church, and although U.S.-born White males still hold a disproportionate number of paid jobs in the church administration, efforts have been made to make all races and nations feel represented.

Some of those efforts have been controversial. Yes, in places where there are enough Adventists to make it reasonable for one city or county to have more than one Adventist church, there is likely to be a "Black church," a "White church," a "Spanish church," and in really large Adventist communities there may be additional churches that hold services in other languages too. In the 1980s some people thought the English-speaking churches ought to try to force racial integration. To some extent they are integrated--if you want to visit a church where most people will look and sound different from you, invitations are easy to get. The consensus of opinion among Adventists was that the English-speaking "Black" and "White" churches had evolved two distinct styles of services, both of which Adventists wanted to preserve.

Mention should perhaps be made of an assembly program I remember from my first year at an Adventist college. All full-time students in residence were supposed to have attended this program. Two employees of the college administration went on stage, with their spouses. There was an Anglo-American woman with an African-American husband; they said they had grown up in the same city, met at school, and spent time at each other's homes before they married, but because they looked very different, people thought it was strange that they liked each other. There was also a Latin American man with an Asian wife; they said they hadn't spoken any of the same languages or lived in the same countries before college, but because they had similar skin colors, people seldom gave them a second look.

Seventh-Day Adventist ministers are expected to warn young couples about the way any and all personal differences, even different opinions about where to set the thermostat, can undermine a relationship. Most ministers will advise against an interracial or international marriage.

Some very odd people are attracted to the Seventh-Day Adventist church, often for the wrong reasons, so there may be Adventists who show prejudice against odd couples who are already married. I never observed that, though. Older people will warn couples about all kinds of potential problems with anyone they are or are not even dating, but after the wedding ceremony Adventists are supposed to support each other's marriages.

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