FBI Surveillance of the Adventist Church: Faith and Reason Sabbath School

(10:00 a.m. eastern time / 7:00 a.m. Pacific time)

Faith and Reason Sabbath School at the Sligo Adventist Church

This Sabbath, Kevin Burton presents on the FBI Surveillance of the Seventh-day Adventist Church during World War I, when scores of Adventists, both lay and clergy, and many of their institutions, were regularly watched by government agents and citizen spies. The Bureau infiltrated local Adventist congregations, gathered witness reports from anti-Adventist neighbors and/or colleagues, detained Adventist immigrants at various entry points, and confiscated Adventist publications.

Adventists were also targeted by the federal government because of their numerous non-combatant members and their supposed religious fanaticism and enthusiasm. Not only does this information reveal valuable information about Seventh-day Adventist history, but Burton adds that it also “bears directly on important questions about state security, the separation of church and state, civil liberties . . .  and the treatment of political dissent.” Burton is the director of the Center for Adventist Research at Andrews University and an assistant professor of church history at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary.

If you would like to attend this class via Zoom, email alexander@spectrummagazine.org to request the link.

Upcoming

March 18:  Dilys Brooks, Keough Lectureship.