Simon Southerton, geneticist and author of Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA and the Mormon Church, has taken up a crusade to "[examine] church teachings that American Indians and Polynesians have a historic bond with ancient Israelites." He does so by using DNA research and applying it to current popular opinion of members of the Church and writings of some scholars with the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies.
This seems to be a thorny issue for Southerton. He left the Church because there seemed to be no conclusive evidence that supported the widely held notion among Latter-day Saints that Pacific Islanders and indigenous people of the Americas were descended from the Lamanites.
First, I find it unbelievable—actually, I can believe it, but it still is dumbfounding—that someone's conviction to the Church can be swayed by scientific evidence. The Book of Mormon is not a scientific journal. It does not establish scientific fact and does not even heavily support scientific theories. It is nothing more than a spiritual record—interspersed with select historical information—of a distinct, isolated group of people.
Second, there is no indication whatsoever in the Book of Mormon that the Lamanites and Nephites were completely alone in the Americas. To say otherwise is nothing more than speculation. It is entirely plausible and even likely that the Lamanites and Nephites encountered—and even mingled with—other peoples already present in the Americas. This alone would reduce any existence of Israelite DNA. As well, it is entirely plausible that the Lamanite population died off or were exterminated; after all, the record of their history is incomplete.
Third, popular belief among Latter-day Saints does not equal doctrine. Just because many Latter-day Saints hold on to the archaic notion that all people indigenous to the Americas are descended solely from Lehi, does not make it church doctrine. I wish more people would understand this one principle. Tradition is not doctrine.
The Book of Mormon is primarily a religious book containing teachings and doctrine about God and Jesus Christ. To treat it primarily as anything else is to treat it as a very shaky foundation.
That being said, it only take a smidgen of logic to see that DNA research does not disprove the Book of Mormon. One would think a scientist like Southerton would understand that.
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2 comments:
MY THEORY ABOUT THE LAMANITES AS GOOD AS ANY OTHER.
1. I believe that most American Indians are in fact descended from the Lamanites. 66% of American Indians have a Y chromosome that can't be traced to any population in the old world. The mainstream scientific view is that it originated by mutation in America or Beringia within a genetic bottleneck. This is actually consistent with the Book of Mormon (BOM). Ergo I theorize that the owner of this Y chromosome was Laman and the mutation did not take place in Beringia but Jerusalem when Laman was conceived.
2. The studies of MtDNA are irrelevant. Only one woman in Lehi’s group could have passed her MtDNA down even to the next generation. That would be Ishmael’s wife. Lehi had only sons. Ergo the MtDNA of his wife died with her. It is also true that MtDNA could get from Siberia to Jerusalem via the slave trade, political marriages or a combination thereof.
3. The Nephites found a larger group of people (Mulekites) and incorporated with them. Despite this fact, they still called themselves Nephites showing a greater regard for religious faith than lineage. It is also likely that Laman’s descendents got women from other groups, but still retained the name of Laman. How else would they increase so fast? Eventually they became more numerous than the Mulekite-Nephites. Why would this happen? The Nephites didn’t practice birth control. One way would be that the Lamanites practiced polygamy and got women from other groups.
4. Mulekite history says they came from the Middle East but at a time of great antiquity. Ergo every human on Earth could have been descended from the group into which Mulek was born. I theorize the Pericues were Mulekites. This is also not terribly relevant to modern day Lamanites, because the Mulekite-Nephites were exterminated.
4. The existence of haplogroups in central Siberia similar to haplogroups in the Americas, no more proves a migration from Siberia to America than it proves migration from America to Siberia. Furthermore, those haplogroups could and probably do exist in the Middle East in a tiny minority of women.
SUMMARY
Nephites incorporated with Mulekites(Pericues) and they were exterminated together. The Lamanites were successful conquerors and took women from other groups who may or may not have been of Siberian origin. Eventually they dominated the hemisphere. The physical differences between American Indians and people of the Middle East are the result of a bottleneck effect and genetic drift. This can greatly alter allele frequencies and produce a people that look very different than the people from whom the founders came. This is the cause of most human diversity we see today. The difference may also be the result of intermarriage with other people. An example of this can be seen in the Lemba. Many Lemba have Y chromosomes of Hebrew (Levite) origin, but speak a Bantu language and are physically indistinguishable from other Bantus. The AmerIndians may have Laman’s Y chromosome but speak a language of non-semitic origin for similar reasons.
anti nephi lehi
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