Adventist Youth Step Against Drugs And Crime And Step To Christ During Christiansted March

ST. CROIX — Seventh-day Adventist youth from the U.S. Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, Anguilla and St. Martin took a stand against drugs, violence and abuse Saturday afternoon while marching through the streets of Christiansted.

They represented the Adventist Youth Society, Pathfinder Club, Adventurer Club and Eager Beaver Club – groups that aim to cater to the holistic development of a young person at every stage from age three to 35.

The uniformed youth and their leaders made their way from the Bassin Triangle towards the Christiansted Bandstand, where the march ended with a ceremony. Their route took them through the John F. Kennedy Housing Community and the Water Gut community.

The chanting and rhythms from the V.I. Pulse Drum Corps reeled spectators onto the streets to see the marchers and the messages they bore on their placards.

Cassandra Rammidi and her boyfriend, Brendon Kuch, were walking the Christiansted streets Saturday while vacationing from their Michigan home. The sounds of the drum beats got their attention. They looked on while Rammidi’s brother, Theophilus, joined participant Reata Randolph in marching and chanting.

“They bring so much energy to it. It’s just so fun, and they speak what they feel,” Mr. Kuch said. “I love the drum line.”

Miss Rammidi agreed that the rhythm was a powerful way to bring attention to the participants’ message because music “brings connections to everybody.”

“I think that it’s really great that they’re bringing notice to the problems on St. Croix and the fact that they are speaking against it,” she said.

‘No Jesus; no peace. Know Jesus; know peace.”

Within the last month, there’ve been at least five homicides on St. Croix. Three were the result of gun violence.

During Saturday’s march, some participants held signs denouncing drugs and crime while others toted placards about the love of an all-powerful God who they believe is both just and merciful.

One placard read: “Say no [to] drugs/crime/violence/guns. Say yes to Jesus.”

Another read: “No Jesus; no peace. Know Jesus; know peace.”

The twofold message represented a stand to uphold universally accepted morals but through a medium that is widely debated: religion, particularly Christianity.

Sheradon Stevens, a St. Martin native, visited the island to attend the annual Adventist Youth Camp where young people ages 16 to 35 from Caribbean islands within the region meet for an experience of social bonding and spiritual development. The march was the culmination of a week of community service activities that the campers engaged in under the theme “Impact St. Croix for Christ: Mission Possible.”

On Saturday, Mr. Stevens said he felt proud to represent a stance against violence and crime as an Adventist Christian.

V.I. Pulse Drum Corps

“People look at Christianity as if it’s a bondage, as if we’re throwing rules and regulations in your face, but they don’t understand that it was created for – not control – but for a better life,” he said. “If more people was thinking about joining Christianity, the amount of violence wouldn’t be happening because of the lifestyle that we live.”

The 23-year-old said he accepted the message of Christ as a personal savior when he was 15. His brother had recently passed away, and there were drug-related problems plaguing his family.

“I was kinda losing faith in life and purpose on earth,” he said.

But then his father started bringing him to church, and it made all the difference, according to Mr. Stevens. After becoming a baptized Adventist Christian, his outlook was different.

“I basically found a reason to live,” he said.

‘I don’t think that there is a god.’

A Danish tourist and onlooker who wished to be called Niels for the sake of anonymity believes that is exactly what religion does for people and nothing more – it gives humanity a reason to live even if the idea of God isn’t real.

“If someone says to me, ‘Do you believe in God?’ I really have a problem because around the globe there are more than a thousand gods. Do we have something special in mind?” Niels said. “I don’t think that there is a god. I think that man made God in his own picture; that’s the opposite of Bible, you see.”

Janelle Royer, AY Society member.

Niels said that he and his wife, Anne Marie Skagen (whose maiden name will be used), wouldn’t consider themselves religious people, but they try to be good people. Although religion could be used as a way to divide people, he said that he thought it could, sometimes, be necessary for human development and “to give life meaning.”

On whether he thought life actually had meaning, the 80-year-old said: “If it has, I haven’t figured what it is. But I like life, and I enjoy it, and I try to live a good life.”

Niels said it was hard to express his feelings on what it was like to see people speak out against societal ills through a religious medium in a foreign language. He did say, however, that the march was unlike anything he would find at home in Denmark.

“We don’t see that sort of things at home,” he said.

‘Why are we here?’

Ms. Skagen seemed to have a deeper, emotional response to the parade than her husband did. She also held a different perspective regarding the idea of God.

“I think more than he does,” she said. “Because why are we here? Who have made us? It is not from nothing. There must be a God.”

Ms. Skagen said she was touched by the youth march and that it reignited her hope in humanity.

“I think maybe we have a chance,” she said.

Jesus: The Only Way?

For twenty-six-year-old Michelle Adams, the march represented a refreshing change for religious groups.

“I think it’s good that they actually made themselves known in the community what they’re doing because, normally, I feel like churches they kinda keep their community just within the church,” she said. “I think that’s important – to make people feel welcome.”

But while the Loma Linda University doctorate student supports the idea of giving young people “a moral compass,” she doesn’t believe that Christianity is the only way to do that.

“My personal honest opinion on that is that it’s not the only way – like going to church or believing in God is not the only way for you to live a moral life because if you live in India, you’re probably a Hindu; if you were born in China, you’re probably a Buddhist and so on. And they find different ways to live a life that’s pure and, you know, a positive life,” she said. “So if this is the avenue that works for different people, works for you, works for the youths here that need it, then wonderful, but I don’t think it’s the only way.”

Reata Randolph, Cassandra Rammidi, Brendon Kuch and Theophilus Rammidi (from left to right) pose for a photo after ‘March of Witness’.

Awareness to Educate and Strengthen Resolve

The local, religious community recently came under fire after many expressed opposition for the LGBTQ Pride Parade held on June 9. In response, many of the parade’s supporters commented on social media forums that the religious community had failed the community at large by being silent on important topics such as violence and crime. Supporters suggested that those things should be church leaders’ focus instead of opposition to the Pride Parade.

North Caribbean Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Youth Director Vincent David said Saturday’s march was “absolutely not” an attempt to appease that group of people. He said that for the past four years, he’s led Adventist young people on similar marches against societal challenges. According to Mr. David, community service is a normal part of the Adventist lifestyle.

“For Adventism, it’s a regular thing,” he said.

Adventist Youth hand care packages to seniors.

Last week, Adventist Youth campers from the territory and wider Caribbean participated in two beach cleanups facilitated by the Department of Planning and Natural Resources and offered care packages to seniors at the Sunny Isle Elderly Housing and the Herbert Grigg Home for the Aged. On Wednesday, the AY Society hosted free health screenings for the public at the Sunny Isle Shopping Center in partnership with the V.I. Departments of Health and Human Services. The group also participated in the ongoing renovation project at the Island Center for the Performing Arts.

At the bandstand ceremony following Saturday’s march, Caribbean Union Conference Youth Director Anthony Hall congratulated the AY for their efforts during these community service activities.

He told them, “that is what being a Christian is all about.”

According to Mr. David, these activities are meant to benefit the public, but they’re also meant to help AY grow. He said that by taking a stand against broken families, substance abuse and crime and by offering solutions to those problems, AY would benefit from a strengthened resolve.

On Christianity being a channel to morality, Mr. David said he believed that peace is found in the “presence of Jesus.” However, he didn’t think that people who didn’t believe in Jesus couldn’t live moral lives.

“All through the ages of time, there are individuals who have never heard about Jesus, but there’s a god-ness in all of us, whether it is known or unknown, that reaches out to a higher power that says ‘What I know to be right, I live by’,” he said. “If those individuals based on knowledge are sincere to that which they conceive, then I believe God accepts that – until knowledge comes.”