Outside the Fold: Leaving, and life after Adventism

Welcome to the survey of former, or ex-Seventh-day Adventists. We’re glad you’re here!
 
This survey is part of a research project being led by a small faculty team from Elon University in North Carolina, USA. If you would like more information about this project or about the researchers, we invite you to visit this site https://blogs.elon.edu/eighthdayfreedom/
 
Our goal is to learn from former Seventh-day Adventists what led (all of) you to leave the Adventist movement, what that experience of leaving was like, and what life has been like for you since leaving. We are also very interested in capturing the responses of those who no longer believe, but who remain part of the Adventist system, whether inside the formal structure, or simply part of the community of Adventist believers. All of this, then, is with the hope of identifying common themes in the collective experience of ex-Adventists and common issues in the lives of those who leave the movement.
 
This survey is for you: a chance to share your experiences to the extent that you’re willing to do so, and to be heard.
 
Your safety and well-being are  primary concerns for us. As researchers we are bound by high ethical (and in some jurisdictions, legal) requirements regarding the manner in which we conduct this research. This survey as well as the overall concept of this project have been reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB #23-150) of Elon University. We also want to assure you that we make no attempt to gather personally identifying information from anyone who takes this survey: no email address, no social media username or “handle”, no IP addresses from whatever device(s) you may use to complete this survey.
 
Your participation is absolutely voluntary, and you can quit the survey at any time.
 
For questions you may have regarding any aspect of this research, please contact the principal investigator for this project, Dr. Tom Arcaro. Those contact details can be found here: https://blogs.elon.edu/eighthdayfreedom/the-research-team/
 
This survey contains 62 questions, with a mix of multiple-choice and open-ended or narrative responses. Most demographic questions are at the end of the survey. Depending on how quickly you answer and how much you choose to share in the open-ended portions, it may take up to 30-40 minutes or longer, so we suggest blocking out some quiet time to complete the survey. Once you click “Thanks!” your results have been submitted.
 
We plan to leave this survey open for about 3 months, to capture responses from as many former or ex-Adventists as possible. We encourage you to share the survey link with any ex-Adventists in your life, post it on social media, etc.
 
We encourage you to check in regularly at https://blogs.elon.edu/eighthdayfreedom/ for ongoing updates, events, appearances, and publications related to this project.
 
Thank you so much for taking the time to complete this survey!
 

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* 1. What is your current relationship to Seventh-day Adventism?

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* 2. How old were you when you realized you no longer believed the doctrines and teachings of the Seventh-day Adventist Church?

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* 3. Which below best describes your primary (pre-K through grade 8) education?

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* 4. Which below best describes your secondary education (high school, grades 9-12)?

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* 5. Which below best describes your college/university education?

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* 6. If you attended SDA schools, did you live away from home? (Check those which best apply.)

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* 7. Which response below best describes your work relationship with the formal SDA structure, past or present?

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* 8. Which response below best describes your relationship status?

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* 9. Please check all that apply to you.

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* 10. Were you born into Adventism, or did you join Adventism?

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* 11. If you were born into Adventism, which below best describes your history?

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* 12. How long did you continue to participate in Adventist community life after you realized that you no longer believed in the tenets of Adventism?

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* 13. Which of the following best describes your world view right now?

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* 14. Which of the following best describes your relationships and interactions with Seventh-day Adventist communities and networks, excluding immediate family.

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* 15. Which of the following best describes how you present as a non-Adventist to the Adventists in your life?

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* 16. Which of the following describe(s) your situation, whether currently or at some point in the past? (check all that apply)

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* 17. Which of the following apply to your close relationships?

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* 18. Which best describes how your close relationships have changed?

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* 19. Which of the following were factors in your decision to become ex-Adventist? (Check all that apply to you)

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* 20. How did you act out against Seventh-day Adventist rules, norms, and requirements when you were still Seventh-day Adventist? (Check all that apply):

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* 21. Have you acted out against Seventh-day Adventist rules, norms, requirements since leaving? (Check all that apply)

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* 22. Which of the following best describes why you act(ed) out against Seventh-day Adventist rules and norms?

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* 23. How would you describe the pace that you left Adventism? 

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* 24. In what(s) ways was leaving difficult for you?  (Check all that apply)

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* 25. Did anyone try to prevent you from leaving?
If “yes”, who? (Check all that apply)

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* 26. In what way(s) did people try to prevent you from leaving? (Check all that apply)

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* 27. In as few or as many words as you like, please tell us about your process and experience of leaving Adventism.

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* 28. To what extent do you hold anger or resentment toward the Seventh-day Adventist Church?

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* 29. Do you or have you struggled with any of the following, whether as an Adventist or ex-Adventist? (Check all that apply)

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* 30. Do you see the issues you checked in the last question as linked to the fact that you were or are Adventist? Please elaborate:

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* 31. What do you miss about Seventh-day Adventism or about being Seventh-day Adventist (if anything)? (Check all that apply)

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* 32. Are there any Seventh-day Adventist cultural practices that you continue, even though you no longer believe? (Check all that apply)

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* 33. To what extent did your experience as an Adventist impact your political views?

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* 34. Have your political views changed since leaving Adventism?

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* 35. How do you think Adventist teachings about end-times impact most believers' opinions related to the climate crisis and other environmental concerns?

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* 36. How do you think Adventist teachings about end-times impact most believers' opinions related to social justice issues like racism and women's rights?

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* 37. To what extent do you feel that your critical thinking skills (e.g., awareness of scientific knowledge) were diminished while a member of the SDA?

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* 38. With regard to your overall mental health and quality of life which below best describes how you feel?

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* 39. In my opinion the Seventh-day Adventist church has an overall positive impact in the world.

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* 40. In my opinion, the Seventh-day Adventist church is cult.

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* 41. Based on what you know about Seventh-day Adventism, Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW), and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) (“Mormons”), which of the following statements best represents your views:

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* 42. Are you aware of instances of psychological abuse by Seventh-day Adventist church leaders (e.g., pastors, deacons, employees of the church, teachers in Adventist schools).

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* 43. Are you aware of instances of psychological abuse by lay members of the Seventh-day Adventist church.

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* 44. Regarding instances of psychological abuse by Seventh-day Adventists of which you are personally aware, what was done about the situation?

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* 45. Are you aware of instances of sexual abuse by Seventh-day Adventist church leaders (e.g., pastors, deacons, employees of the church, teachers in Adventist schools)?

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* 46. Are you aware of any sexual abuse perpetrated by lay members of the Adventist church?

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* 47. Regarding instances of sexual abuse by Seventh-day Adventists of which you are personally aware, what was done about the situation?

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* 48. Did you ‘come out’ as other than straight or cis-gendered while you were a Seventh-day Adventist? If so, and you wish do so, please tell us about this experience

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* 49. Can you describe ways in which your life has improved since leaving Adventism?

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* 50. Can you describe ways in which your life has become worse since leaving Adventism?

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* 51. On balance, how do you now view your decision to leave Adventism? Good decision? Poor decision? Made at the right time?

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* 52. If you were to advise someone struggling with the decision to leave Adventism, what would you say to them?

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* 53. Is there anything else you would like to share or elaborate about concerning your experience as a Seventh-day Adventist, the experience of leaving, or what life has been like post-Seventh-day Adventism?

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* 54. With which gender do you identify?

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* 55. What is you highest level of formal education?

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* 56. Which best describes your current livelihood?

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* 57. In what region of the world do you currently live?

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* 58. What region of the world do you think of yourself as being from?

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* 59. To which generation do you belong?

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* 60. Which below best describes you?

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* 61. Please use the space below to (1) react to the inappropriateness of the choices in the question above and (2) describe how you identify yourself based on common cultural-linguistic, ethnic, racial, tribal, national or other categories.

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* 62. Please add any final thoughts about the survey, any of the questions we asked, or anything you think may be useful to our research team.

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