Book of Mormon/DNA evidence

Criticism

DNA samples taken from modern Native Americans do not match the DNA of modern inhabitants of the Middle East. Critics argue that this means the Book of Mormon's claim that Native Americans are descended from Lehi must be false, and therefore the Book of Mormon is not an ancient record as Joseph Smith claimed.

Sources of the Criticism

• Thomas W. Murphy, "Lamanite Genesis, Genealogy, and Genetics," in Dan Vogel and Brent Lee Metcalfe, eds., American Apocrypha: Essays on the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002).
• Simon G. Southerton, Losing a Lost Tribe : Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2004).

Response

Before we discuss DNA, we need to understand a little bit about Book of Mormon geography. The Church has never mandated any particular view of the geography of the Book of Mormon, notwithstanding various leaders have had their own views on the subject. There have actually been dozens of different theories put forward since the Book of Mormon was first published, none of which is authoritative.^[1]

The traditional view of Book of Mormon geography is commonly referred to as the "Hemispheric Geography Theory" (or HGT). According to this view, in the Book of Mormon the land northward is all of North America, the land southward is all of South America, and the narrow neck of land is the isthmus of Panama. The usual assumption that goes with this theory is that all of North and South America was completely unpopulated at the time Lehi and his party arrived. In other words, the Book of Mormon migrations were the only ones to the New World prior to the coming of the Spanish.

Another view is commonly referred to as the "Limited Geography Theory" (or LGT). According to this view, Book of Mormon activities did not span the whole of the Americas, but rather took place in a much smaller area, probably no bigger than size of California. Different locations have been proposed, but most proponents follow the model put together by John Sorenson that focuses on Mesoamerica, in southern Mexico and Guatemala, with the isthmus of Tehuantepec being the narrow neck of land.^[2] The usual corollary to this theory is that there were already others in the land when the Book of Mormon migrations arrived.

Since the 1960s, virtually all serious students of the Book of Mormon have accepted the LGT. There are many reasons for this, but the main reason derives from a close reading of the Book of Mormon text itself: When you look at travel times between locations, it is clear that the theater of Book of Mormon operations is in the hundreds of miles, not thousands as a HGT would require.

For a long time there has been substantial evidence of various kinds of significant migrations from Asia into the Americas over a land bridge created during the last ice age. Book of Mormon scholars have long accepted this, because they acknowledge the existence of "others" in the land, so for them it is simply not a problem. They view the Lehite migration as a small incursion into a land with an already existing substantial population.

There have been some limited DNA studies of native Americans — about 6,000 have been tested from limited populations (i.e., not from all tribes in all geographic regions). The mitochondrial DNA of these native Americans overwhelmingly falls into one of four categories: A, B, C and D (and some into a fifth category, X). These "haplotypes" are characteristic of Asian populations. Since they are not characteristic of the Middle Eastern populations, the argument is that DNA evidence has disproven the Book of Mormon.

But this argument only says something about the HGT; it doesn't address the LGT, because according to that theory Lehi's group arrived to a land that already populated, intermarried with the natives, and their genetic "signature" was eventually lost in an overwhelming sea of native American DNA. Therefore, DNA evidence has not disproven the Book of Mormon.

In 2002, anthropologist Thomas Murphy published an essay in which he argued that DNA evidence points to native Americans being related to Asians, and therefore this disproves the Book of Mormon. In 2004, plant biologist Simon Southerton published a book that made a similar argument. (Both were inactive Mormons who no longer believed the Book of Mormon was divinely revealed scripture.)

Unfortunately, neither of these men bothered to examine LDS scholarship on the Book of Mormon before writing. They viewed Lehi arriving to an empty continent, and therefore all Native Americans should have a genetic inheritance solely from him. But they clearly assumed all Mormons believed the HGT, and so were caught off guard when Mormon scholars didn't surrender to their arguments after their publications came out. They were addressing a straw man and didn't even realize it; they simply didn't do their homework on the LDS side of things.

Since then they have been playing catch up, trying to argue that Mormons are required to accept the HGT because most LDS leaders in the past believed it and LDS leaders are never wrong. But that is a fundamentalist view of our religion that students of Mormonism reject. So Murphy and Southerton are reduced to making a religious argument, not a scientific one. And their religious argument is incorrect.

Conclusion

On 11 November 2003, the Church released the following statement:

The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ is exactly what it claims to be — a record of God's dealings with peoples of ancient America and a second witness of the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. The strongest witness of the Book of Mormon is to be obtained by living the Christ-centered principles contained in its pages and by praying about its truthfulness.

Recent attacks on the veracity of the Book of Mormon based on DNA evidence are ill considered. Nothing in the Book of Mormon precludes migration into the Americas by peoples of Asiatic origin. The scientific issues relating to DNA, however, are numerous and complex.

—"Mistakes in the News: DNA and the Book of Mormon" (http://newsroom.lds.org).

Endnotes

1. [note] For examples see John L. Sorenson, Book of Mormon Geography: A Source Book, Provo: FARMS, 1992. BUY
2. [note] Although the Book of Mormon does not directly state there were other people in the Americas when Lehi arrived, there is evidence of this "between the lines." For example, only one generation from Lehi's arrival, the prophet Jacob chastised the Nephite men for their widespread, unauthorized practice of polygamy (see Jacob 2); where did all these extra women come from? For an overview of additional evidence, see John L. Sorenson, "When Lehi's Party Arrived in the Land, Did They Find Others There?", Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 1/1 (1992), pp. 1–34.

Further reading

FAIR wiki articles

Book of Mormon/DNA evidence

FAIR web site

• FAIR Topical Guide: DNA and the Book of Mormon
• "Is an Historical Book of Mormon Incompatible with DNA Science?" (FAIR brochure).
• David Stewart, "DNA and the Book of Mormon" (FAIR paper).
• Allen Wyatt, "Motivation, Behavior, and Dissention" (background on Thomas Murphy's anti-Mormon activity).

External links

• "The Problematic Role of DNA Testing in Unraveling Human History," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies (Provo: FARMS, 2000), 66–84
• Daniel C. Peterson, "Prolegomena to the DNA Articles," FARMS Review 15:2 (2003): 25–34.
• Matthew Roper, "Nephi's Neighbors: Book of Mormon Peoples and Pre-Columbian Populations," FARMS Review 15:2 (2003): 91–128.
• Matthew Roper, "Swimming the Gene Pool: Israelite Kinship Relations, Genes, and Genealogy," FARMS Review 15:2 (2003): 129–164
• James E. Smith, "Nephi's Descendants? Historical Demography and the Book of Mormon Review of "Multiply Exceedingly: Book of Mormon Population Sizes" by John C. Kunich," FARMS Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 6:1 (1994): 231–267.
• John L. Sorenson, "The Problematic Role of DNA Testing in Unraveling Human History," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 9:2 (2000): 66–74.
• Brian D. Stubbs, "Elusive Israel and the Numerical Dynamics of Population Mixing," FARMS Review 15:2 (2003): 165–182.

Printed material

• Blake T. Ostler, "Assessing the Logical Structure of DNA Arguments Against the Book of Mormon," Sunstone no. (Issue #135) (December 2004), 70–72. off-site
• Blake T. Ostler, "DNA Strands in the Book of Mormon," Sunstone no. (Issue #137) (May 2005), x–y. off-site
• Blake T. Ostler, "Reply to David A. Anderson (letter to the editor)," Sunstone no. (Issue #138) (September 2005), 8–10. off-site *