Modern advances in DNA research discredit the Book of Mormon and show that Mormonism’s founder, Joseph Smith, engaged in deception, according to a cultural anthropologist who is a lifelong Mormon.
The recently published research by Thomas Murphy, chairman of the anthropology department at Edmonds Community College in Lynnwood, Wash., drew sharp rebuke from officials with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), often called Mormons.
Murphy was threatened with excommunication from the church, a matter left pending after a Dec. 8 hearing was postponed.
Murphy, 35, traces his personal lineage through the first Mormon pioneers who settled in the West. But contrary to Mormon doctrine, he contends it is highly unlikely that Mormons can trace the lineage of American Indians through a Jewish remnant the Book of Mormon calls Lamanites.
According to the Book of Mormon, a “lost tribe of Israel” led by the Hebrew prophet Lehi migrated to the Americas in 600 B.C. The introduction to the Book of Mormon describes these Lamanites as “the principal ancestors of the American Indians.”
The Lamanites allegedly lapsed into apostasy, but Joseph Smith claimed to have been shown golden tablets bearing their story by an angel named Moroni. Smith said he translated these tablets in 1823 from an unknown language called Reformed Egyptian, thus creating the Book of Mormon.
Mormons contend they are the true remnant of the Christian church, the one true church. Many Christian scholars have insisted Mormonism is a cult or sect, not a legitimate branch of Christianity. Although no historical support for Joseph Smith’s claims has been found, Mormons have accepted the church’s teachings on faith, including subsequent revelations said to have been given to the church’s prophet or president.
Because Latter-day Saints and the Book of Mormon face criticism from traditional Christian churches, leaders of the Mormon church initially expressed hope that genetic research might validate their beliefs.
“The hope is that DNA research would link Native Americans to ancient Israelites, buttressing LDS beliefs in a way that has not been forthcoming from archaeological, linguistic, historical or morphological research,” Murphy wrote in his academic paper titled “Lamanite Genesis, Geology and Genetics.”
The paper was published last fall in “American Apocrypha: Essays on the Book of Mormon.”
Any hopes the LDS church had of gaining credence through science have been dashed, Murphy wrote in the essay. “So far, DNA research lends no support to traditional Mormon beliefs about the origins of Native Americans. … Latter-day Saints should not expect to find validation for the Book of Mormon in genetics.”
Instead, Murphy reported, genetic research conclusively shows the ancestors of American Indians arrived in North America through migrations from Asia 7,000 to 50,000 years ago. “No support for Mormon beliefs linking American Indians to ancient Israelites is evident in the data.”
Murphy also quotes Native American researcher Michael Crawford, a biological anthropologist from the University of Kansas, who wrote: “I don’t think there is one iota of evidence that suggests a lost tribe from Israel made it all the way to the New World.”
In his essay, Murphy also casts doubt on Joseph Smith’s claim to have translated the Book of Mormon from golden tablets preserved by the angel Moroni.
“The Book of Mormon emerged from Joseph Smith’s own struggles with his God,” Murphy wrote. “Mormons need to look inward for spiritual validation and cease efforts to remake Native Americans in their own image.”
LDS officials and organizations committed to defending church doctrine have launched a national counter-assault to Murphy’s public campaign against his own faith.
“Mr. Murphy is working closely with those who want to damage or destroy the Church of Jesus Christ,” contends Allen Wyatt of the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research, an LDS advocacy group known by its acronym, FAIR.
He cites as evidence the fact that Murphy’s paper and a related video interview are distributed on the Web site of Mormon Challenge, an organization skeptical of the authenticity of the Book of Mormon.
Murphy explains on the Web site’s video: “We need to acknowledge a 19th century origin of the Book of Mormon. We can … admit that Joseph Smith produced the Book of Mormon in the 19th century. … We have to confront not just the possibility but the almost inevitability that Joseph Smith was attempting to deceive people — at least at certain periods of time. When he pretended to have actual plates, for example, it is pretty clear he was being deceptive at that time.”
In rebuttal, FAIR cites the work of one of the most frequently quoted LDS scholars involved in genetics, Scott Woodward, professor of microbiology at Brigham Young University in Utah. In video presentations and at least one radio interview, Woodward does not dispute the basic research done by Murphy.
The difficulty is taking that research to a distant conclusion. The fact that no Hebrew DNA has been found in American Indians does not logically preclude the Book of Mormon from being a true account, Woodward insisted. Likewise, finding evidence of Hebrew DNA in American Indians would not prove the Book of Mormon’s truthfulness.
The truthfulness of the Mormon Scripture is not something that can be proved by scientific evidence, Woodward said. “I am a believer. I think that the Book of Mormon is what it purports to be.”
Further, Woodward added, it should not be surprising if American Indians today show no genetic remnant of Lehi. The DNA of Lehi and his followers would have been obscured over time by the more dominant genetic force of the Native Americans with whom they intermixed, he suggested.
However, Murphy said he disagrees because that line of reasoning contradicts the Book of Mormon.
LDS officials and supporters have criticized Murphy for identifying himself as a Mormon while not attending LDS church services for a decade. Murphy acknowledged he’s not an active member of the church. “I’m a cultural Mormon,” he explained. “I prefer to be called a latter-day skeptic.” However, he continues to identify with the LDS tradition, he said, because he believes his people must “deal forthrightly with the problems the genetic evidence presents.” (ABP)
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