This page presents a summary of the connections between official statements released by the General Conference and United Nations agendas, events, and documents. Download the free ebook The Captive Bride for an in-depth analysis of this topic.

Since 1980 the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists has issued numerous official statements on a wide variety of religious, civil, and social issues. The first of these statements, “Peace Message to All People of Goodwill,”¹ was adopted by the delegates of the 1980 General Conference session. The remaining fifty-eight statements listed on the Adventist.org website were issued either by the President of the General Conference, the General Conference Executive Committee, or other committees and leaders associated with the GC.²

The official statements are published under the General Conference section of the Adventist.org website,³ and are linked to in the home page menu heading “What We Believe” under other submenus titled “What the Bible Says About” and “Official Beliefs” (see image below). The placement of this link suggests that the official statements reflect official biblical beliefs of the church. However, while many of these official statements do express sentiments in harmony with Biblical principles, many others were issued on subjects, and were published within timeframes, that correspond with concurrent agendas and issues being promoted by the United Nations.

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in consultative status with the United Nations are expected to comply with requirements outlined in ECOSOC Resolution 1996/31. Articles 1.2 and 1.3 of this resolution stipulate conformity with, and promotion of, United Nations’ principles and agendas.

ECOSOC Resolution 1996/31

Article 1.2. “The aims and purposes of the organization shall be in conformity with the spirit, purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.”

Article 1.3. “The organization shall undertake to support the work of the United Nations and to promote knowledge of its principles and activities, in accordance with its own aims and purposes and the nature and scope of its competence and activities.”⁴

Similar requirements for members of the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI), which the GC is part of, read as follows:

NGOs and the Department of Public Information (DPI)

“NGOs associated with DPI disseminate information about the UN to their membership, thereby building knowledge of and support for the Organization at the grassroots level. This dissemination includes:

• Publicizing UN activities around the world on such issues as peace and security, economic and social development, human rights, humanitarian affairs and international law;
• Promoting UN observances and international years established by the General Assembly to focus world attention on important issues facing humanity.”⁵

The table below lists General Conference official statements that reflect agendas being promoted by the United Nations near the same time the statement was issued, in compliance with the ECOSOC and DPI requirements quoted above. The link to these official statements appears under the “What We Believe” menu heading on the church’s website. This has led many to question to what degree the United Nations principles and agendas are influencing and shaping the beliefs of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.

Significant controversy surrounding the 2015 “Immunization” statement released by the General Conference Administrative Committee (ADCOM) has caused division within the church since the global pandemic.⁴⁰ This statement was corrected during the 2025 General Conference Session after being posted online for ten years. It now reads as follows:

“The Seventh-day Adventist Church places strong emphasis on health and well-being. The Adventist health emphasis is based on the Bible, the inspired writings of Church co-founder Ellen G White, and is informed by peer-reviewed scientific health literature. As such, we encourage responsible immunization/vaccination, and have no religious or faith-based reason not to encourage our adherents to responsibly participate in protective and preventive immunization programs. We value the health and safety of the population, which includes the maintenance of what is known as ‘herd immunity.’

We are not the conscience of the individual church member, and we recognize individual choices. These choices are exercised by the individual. Refusal of immunization is not and should not be seen as a teaching nor a doctrine of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.”⁴¹

The immunization statement was issued on April 15, 2015, nine days after the General Conference president and other officers met for a historic first meeting with the UN Secretary-General on April 6.^{42, 43} According to an article in the Adventist Review, church officials and the Secretary-General discussed several issues including healthcare.

“…the first Adventist Church president to meet with a UN chief, noted that the church has long supported religious liberty and said it was willing to team up on initiatives that followed Christ’s ministry of helping people physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually.”⁴⁴

The initiatives that the GC was willing to partner with the UN on appear to have included the World Health Organization’s World Immunization Week which took place on April 24-30, 2015. The website of the World Health Organization (WHO) explained the purpose of this global initiative.

“The World Immunization Week, which was held from 24-30 April 2015, will signal a renewed global, regional, and national effort to accelerate action to increase awareness and demand for immunization by communities, and improve vaccination delivery services. This year’s campaign focused on closing the immunization gap and reaching equity in immunization levels as outlined in the Global Vaccine Action Plan, which is a framework to prevent millions of deaths by 2020 through universal access to vaccines for people in all communities.”⁴⁵

Following the meeting between church and UN officials, the GC’s Public Affairs and Religious Liberty director, who was part of the meeting, made the following comments.

“‘The impressive portfolio that the Seventh-day Adventist Church has developed for service to the whole human family remarkably resonates with the Millennium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN,’ [the religious liberty leader] said in a statement.”⁴⁶

During the height of the pandemic, when many church members were seeking religious exemptions from vaccine mandates for reasons of conscience, the GC and various church departments and entities reaffirmed the 2015 “Immunization” statement. The reaffirmation statement concluded, in part, that

“claims of religious liberty are not used appropriately in objecting to government mandates or employer programs designed to protect the health and safety of their communities.”⁴⁷

While the scientific and health-related merits or dangers of vaccines in general, and the COVID-related vaccines specifically, are sharply contested, the reaffirmation statement’s refusal to support personal religious liberty convictions is clear. This community-focused interpretation of religious liberty falls into line with the United Nations’ definition of human rights found in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Click the link below to read more about the UDHR and its impact on the Seventh-day Adventist Church and its position on religious liberty.

1. https://gc.adventist.org/official-statements/peace-message-to-all-people-of-good-will/
2. https://gc.adventist.org/official-statements/
3. See note 2.
4. https://www.un.org/esa/coordination/ngo/Resolution_1996_31/
5. https://www.un.org/esa/coordination/ngo/dpi.htm
6. https://gc.adventist.org/official-statements/tolerance/
7. https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/declaration-elimination-all-forms-intolerance-and-discrimination
8. https://gc.adventist.org/official-statements/religious-freedom/
9. See the article on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at https://faithfuladventist.org/the-universal-declaration-of-human-rights-restricts-religious-liberty/
10. https://gc.adventist.org/official-statements/smoking-and-ethics/
11. https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/179440/WHA49_R17_eng.pdf
12. https://gc.adventist.org/official-statements/family-violence/
13. https://docs.un.org/en/A/RES/50/166
14. https://gc.adventist.org/official-statements/child-sexual-abuse/
15. https://docs.un.org/en/E/CN.4/1996/100.
16. https://gc.adventist.org/official-statements/theological-and-academic-freedom-and-accountability/
17. https://www.unesco.org/en/legal-affairs/recommendation-concerning-status-higher-education-teaching-personnel
18. https://gc.adventist.org/official-statements/ethical-considerations-regarding-human-cloning/
19. https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/universal-declaration-human-genome-and-human-rights
20. https://gc.adventist.org/official-statements/50th-anniversary-of-the-universal-declaration-of-human-rights/
21. See note 20.
22. https://gc.adventist.org/official-statements/religious-minorities-and-religious-freedom/
23. See note 22. See also the article on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at https://faithfuladventist.org/the-universal-declaration-of-human-rights-restricts-religious-liberty/
24. https://gc.adventist.org/official-statements/nurture-and-protection-of-children/
25. See note 24 and https://www.unicef.org/sop/convention-rights-child-text
26. https://gc.adventist.org/official-statements/religious-liberty-evangelism-and-proselytism/
27. https://media.un.org/photo/en/asset/oun7/oun7532374
28. https://gc.adventist.org/official-statements/war-in-congo/
29. https://news.un.org/en/story/2008/12/284792
30. https://gc.adventist.org/official-statements/commitment-to-health-and-healing/
31. https://www.who.int/teams/health-promotion/enhanced-wellbeing/seventh-global-conference
32. https://gc.adventist.org/official-statements/global-poverty/
33. See https://news.un.org/en/story/2010/06/342172 and https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/publications/millennium-development-goals-report-2010.html
34. https://gc.adventist.org/official-statements/freedom-of-speech-and-defamation-of-religion/
35. See note 34 and https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/691944?ln=en&v=pdf
36. https://gc.adventist.org/official-statements/ending-violence-against-women-and-girls/
37. https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/691944?ln=en&v=pdf
38. https://gc.adventist.org/official-statements/immunization/
39. General Conference officers met with the UN Secretary-General for the first time nine days prior to the issuing of the “Immunization” statement. This meeting was reported in the Adventist Review and on the UN website. See notes 42, 43, and 44. World Immunization Week was observed April 24-30, 2015. See note 45.
40. https://interamerica.org/2022/06/motion-to-add-vaccination-to-the-agenda-defeated/https://www.fulcrum7.com/blog/2023/4/2/is-peer-reviewed-scientific-literature-a-basis-for-the-sda-health-messagehttps://adventist.news/news/delegates-vote-against-amendment-to-discuss-2015-statement-on-immunizationhttps://adventist.news/news/reevaluation-of-2015-immunization-statement-prompted-by-decade-long-inaccuracy
41. https://gc.adventist.org/official-statements/immunization/
42. https://media.un.org/photo/en/asset/oun7/oun7220247
43. The footnote to the 2015 “Immunization” statement reads, “This statement was voted by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Administrative Committee in Silver Spring, Maryland, April 15, 2015.” See also Adventist Review, April 7, 2015. https://adventistreview.org/news/adventist-church-president-holds-first-meeting-with-un-chief/; accessed November 11, 2025.
44. Adventist Review, April 7, 2015. https://adventistreview.org/news/adventist-church-president-holds-first-meeting-with-un-chief/
45. https://www.who.int/westernpacific/newsroom/events/world-immunization-week/2015
46. See footnote 44.
47. https://www.healthministries.com/reaffirming-adventist-church-response-to-covid-19/
    The reaffirmation statement explains that it was “produced by the General Conference Administration, Biblical Research Institute, General Conference Health Ministries, Public Affairs and Religious Liberty Department, General Conference Office of General Counsel, and Loma Linda University Health.”