Seventh-day Adventist Church is the Third Largest in the Cayman Islands
by AT News Team
The latest census for the Cayman Islands was released April 18. It included data about the religious affiliations of residents which reveal that nine percent of the population report membership in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Only the Church of God and the Roman Catholic Church have more adherents, 22 percent and 14 percent.
Adventists were found much more often among citizens of the Cayman Islands than the expatriates. This contrasts with many places on the globe, including the United States, where the percentage of Adventists among immigrants is significantly higher than among native-born citizens.
The official government census report also includes the fact that eight percent of the residents identified themselves as Presbyterians, another eight percent as Baptists, seven percent as Pentecostals, and four percent as affiliated with the Anglican Church. Five percent are affiliated with nondenominational Christian congregations, eight percent report membership in a number of other, smaller denominations and less than three percent identified themselves as part of non-Christian faiths.
The Cayman Islands are a British Overseas Territory in the western Caribbean where tourism is the largest industry. The country has a total population of about 54,000 and consists of three islands. It was first reported by a European in 1503 during the fourth and final voyage of Christopher Columbus and remained uninhabited until the 17th century. There is no archaeological evidence of indigenous people.
This is part of a larger sociological reality: Adventist membership tends to be relatively larger in island nations. No explanation of this reality has been published by social scientists.
