Why Seventh-day Adventists are so often vegan or vegetarian (2024)
Christianity is often regarded as a staunch opponent of veganism – after all, most Christian denominations are highly carnivorous in their dietary ethics. Many proclaim liberty to consume animal flesh as they assume animals to be a gift created for food by God.
The Bible’s depiction of human-animal relations has been used to justify this position. According to the book of Genesis (1:26), God entrusted humans with dominion over the animal kingdom. For centuries, this text was used to justify slaughter and meat consumption by many who understood it to imply rulership.
However, there have been some contemporary challenges to this interpretation. Several Christian communities teach that instead of ruling and dominating, humans should think of themselves as having stewardship over the planet and every creature. Among these is the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which highlights that right next to the Bible’s text on dominion is a passage saying that God created plants, seeds and fruits to be human food, and therefore human diets should be entirely plant-based (Genesis 1:29).
I am fascinated by this topic as I am both an Adventist community member and an academic who researches food and sustainability in spiritual communities. So here’s why Adventists came to be often entirely plant-based or vegetarian, and what others might be able to learn from them. How do they challenge and impact dietary choice across the world, and what more could they do?
First registered in the US in 1863, the Seventh-day Adventist Church today claims more than 20 million members worldwide across nearly 100,000 different churches. Through its history, the church has paved the way in the promotion of meat-free lifestyles.
Founding member and prolific writer Ellen White encouraged the community to abstain from animal products to maintain good health. Although her focus was on human health and wellbeing, her statements about compassion towards animals as sentient beings were almost unprecedented at the time. For example, she wrote in a 1905 book chapter titled Reasons for Discarding Flesh Foods:
[The animals] manifest sympathy and tenderness toward their companions in suffering. Many animals show an affection for those who have charge of them, far superior to the affection shown by some of the human race. They form attachments for man which are not broken without great suffering to them. What man with a human heart, who has ever cared for domestic animals, could look into their eyes, so full of confidence and affection, and willingly give them over to the butcher’s knife? How could he devour their flesh as a sweet morsel?
Since the 19th century, Seventh-day Adventists have established hospitals, educational institutions and lifestyle centres worldwide. Historical health businesses such as Kellogg’s (cornflakes were first developed for patients at an Adventist-run sanitorium), Loma Linda Foods, Worthington Foods and Granovita were formed. Although not mandatory, a vegetarian or entirely plant-based diet is followed by many of its members, making the community a special sampling target for medical research.
A longevity study conducted by the church’s associated university and published in 2001 showed that Seventh-day Adventists live around six years longer than the average citizen (for specifically vegetarian Adventist males, it’s almost a decade). Demographers have even identified Loma Linda, a small city in California where about a third of the population is Adventist, as one of five so-called blue zones of the world where people live the longest. Many Adventist centenarians living in the town testify to the benefits of a plant-based diet among other lifestyle practices related to prayer, sports or work.
Apart from the focus on personal health, the church’s official statements on environmental protection talk about the threats caused by emissions of “destructive gasses” and the depletion of non-renewable resources. Leaders of the church call for “respect of creation, restraint in the use of the world’s resources, reevaluation of one’s needs, and reaffirmation of the dignity of created life”.
However, despite these occasional messages, it seems that Adventists themselves still most commonly cite human interests as their reason for plant-based diets. I recently conducted a pilot study involving 12 health professionals employed by the worldwide church. The following results are due to be published in a peer-reviewed journal later in 2022.
I showed all these people a photograph of a pig with her piglets confined in a tight cage in which she could hardly turn around. Asked to express their diet-related opinion by reflecting on the photo, ten of the 12 solely mentioned health-related concerns about eating such an animal, while only one referenced animal compassion and another one environmental problems. These proportions also appear to reflect the church’s publications and online communication channels relating to diet and lifestyle.
So while there may be room to learn from Seventh-day Adventists if you’re aiming for a longer life, Adventists themselves could also extend their sphere of interest and influence to include animal compassion and environmental concerns into their communication about a meat-free lifestyle. By fostering conversations from a wider range of perspectives, plant-based practitioners could attract a higher number of friends and followers willing to benefit people, animals and planet all at once.
Among these is the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which highlights that right next to the Bible's text on dominion is a passage saying that God created plants, seeds and fruits to be human food, and therefore human diets should be entirely plant-based (Genesis 1:29).
One of the most notable practices of Adventists is their commitment to a plant-based diet. While not all Adventists are vegetarian, only 40% choose to abstain from eating meat. In this article, we will explore the reasons why some Seventh-day Adventists choose not to eat meat.
The vegetarian lifestyle is viewed as part of the Seventh-day Adventist Christian lifestyle. Adventists believe that God introduced a vegetarian lifestyle since creation (see Genesis 1:29) (Seventh-day Adventist Diet, 2022).
The Seventh-day Adventists believe God calls them to take care of their health. They don't have a strict diet plan but believe in the following principles: Balance and moderation are the keys to wellness. Too much of anything, even something good, can be harmful to your health.
The Seventh-day Adventist diet is a plant-based diet that's rich in whole foods and excludes most animal products, alcohol, and caffeinated beverages. However, some followers choose to incorporate some low-fat dairy products, eggs, and low amounts of certain “clean” meats or fish.
While the Seventh-day Adventist Church does promote a vegetarian diet as part of a healthy lifestyle, most of our medical centers do serve meat to patients. Rather than impose our dietary habits on those we care for, we do everything we can to create a comfortable, healing environment for those we serve.
Adventist men who do not eat meat outlive American men by seven years. Adventist women who do not eat meat outlive American women by five years. Many Adventists do not eat meat, but even those that do outlive their peers thanks to the amount of vegetables, fruits, and other healthy foods they eat.
Tuna, salmon and trout are “clean,” as well as any other fish that have both fins and scales. Only sea creatures that have scales and fins are suitable for food, therefore this would eliminate oysters, shellfish, crabs, lobsters, shrimp, and many other types of seafood as foods safe to eat.
Seventh-day Adventists differ in only four areas of beliefs from the mainstream Trinitarian Christian denominations. These are the Sabbath day, the doctrine of the heavenly sanctuary, the status of the writings of Ellen White, and their doctrine of the second coming and millennium.
There are a few certified celebrities who grew up Adventist, such as Little Richard, Prince, Art Buchwald, and Joan Lunden. And, for the record, that rumor about Ozzy Osbourne and pals polishing their Black Sabbath metal in the halls of Monterey Bay Academy is false.
Currently, the largest church in the entire global Seventh-day Adventist Church is led by a female pastor. Additionally, one of the largest conferences in the North American Division in number and in tithe is led by a female pastor.
In 1 Corinthians 8:13 Paul said, "Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend." So for Paul vegetarianism was a way of not offending vegetarian hosts, but was not an explicit command of God.
Ultimately, we don't want the outward appearance of our jewelry to distract us or others from God and His principles. It can't be denied that what we wear potentially sends a message to others. Jewelry and other extravagant clothing could send the wrong message, even unintentionally.
Over a period of 10 years, in which these data were studied, there were 11 deaths in males and 24 deaths in females. Mean age at death was 71.9 years among men and 75.1 among women.
According to Klinger, the Loma Linda Blue Zone diet is mainly lacto-ovo vegetarian, which includes beans, legumes, nuts and an abundance of fruits and vegetables, more water intake, no smoking, no alcoholic beverages, no caffeinated drinks, no pork and no shellfish and a day of rest on the Sabbath.
It's in the Bible, Deuteronomy 14:10, NKJV. “And whatever does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.” Does clean and unclean meat only matter for the Jews? No, clean and unclean meats have been known since the time of Noah, before Jews existed.
6 The rabbit, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you. 7 And the pig, though it has a divided hoof, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. 8 You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you.
Vegetarianism, for Ellen White, was a policy based upon at least two principles: (1) "Preserve the best health," 48 and (2) "Eat that food which is most nourishing," 49 doing the very best possible, under every immediate circ*mstance, to promote life, health, and strength.
Adventist men who do not eat meat outlive American men by seven years. Adventist women who do not eat meat outlive American women by five years. Many Adventists do not eat meat, but even those that do outlive their peers thanks to the amount of vegetables, fruits, and other healthy foods they eat.
Introduction: My name is Arielle Torp, I am a comfortable, kind, zealous, lovely, jolly, colorful, adventurous person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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