Well, they view Genesis as a literal account. I agree with you, though. As far as the latter point - it was mostly that, at least where I was, a desire to keep

Well, they view Genesis as a literal account. I agree with you, though. As far as the latter point - it was mostly that, at least where I was, a desire to keep government out of religion paired with a desire for religion not to be too involved in government. Among other things they knew that other denominations were more powerful than them and would have far more influence in government. I'm not an SDA booster (I'm not a member and haven't attended any church for 20 years, and found the insularity of the community stifling) but I still think it's a really interesting denomination.