Difference between revisions of "Book of Mormon/DNA evidence/Identification of "Jewish" or "Middle Eastern" DNA"

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=What "Jewish" or "Middle Eastern" DNA?=
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|H=Identification of "Jewish" or "Middle Eastern" DNA
Identifying DNA criteria for Manasseh and Ephraim may always be beyond our reach.  But, even identifying markers for ''Jews''—a group that has remained relatively cohesive and refrained from intermarriage with others more than most groups—is an extraordinarily difficult undertaking.
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|L1=Gospel Topics: "Much as critics and defenders of the Book of Mormon would like to use DNA studies to support their views, the evidence is simply inconclusive"
One author cautioned:
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|L2=Question: How does one identify "Jewish" or "Middle Eastern" DNA?
 
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:Studies of human genetic diversity have barely begun. Yet the fashion for genetic ancestry testing is booming. . . . Other groups, such as Jews, are now being targeted. This despite the fact that Jewish communities have little in common on their mitochondrial side—the maternal line down which Judaism is traditionally inherited. It's the male side that shows common ancestry between different Jewish communities—so, of course, that's what the geneticists focus on. . . . Geneticists—like preachers and philosophers before them—need to avoid promising more than they can deliver.{{ref|genie1}}
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{{:Source:Book of Mormon and DNA Studies:Gospel Topics:Much as critics and defenders of the Book of Mormon would like to use DNA studies to support their views, the evidence is simply inconclusive}}
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=={{Further reading label}}==
 
''Articles which discuss the various criteria (and the difficulties involved) for identifying "Jewishness" via DNA include:''
 
''Articles which discuss the various criteria (and the difficulties involved) for identifying "Jewishness" via DNA include:''
  
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===Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)===
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{{endnotes sources}}
Mitochondrial DNA is passed only from mothers to their children.  It has been used in attacks on the Book of Mormon, and yet even known ''Jewish'' populations do not share mtDNA.
 
 
 
:A new study now shows that the women in nine Jewish communities from Georgia . . . to Morocco have vastly different genetic histories from the men. . . . The women's identities, however, are a mystery, because . . . their genetic signatures are not related to one another or to those of present-day Middle Eastern populations.{{ref|wade1}}
 
 
 
So, known Jewish groups cannot be linked at all by mtDNA studies, and yet the critics would have us believe that two of the lost tribes (Ephraim and Manasseh&mdash;from whom we have no 'control' or 'reference' samples to compare to) can be ruled out as ancestors of the Amerindians via mtDNA testing?
 
 
 
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===Y-Chromosome DNA===
 
 
 
Y-chromosomes are only spread from father to son; the female line does not carry them at all.  These markers have also been used by critics to "prove" that the Amerindians cannot be descended from Lehi.
 
 
 
Despite claims that Y-chromosome data do not support Book of Mormon claims, there are some markers which should be considered in another light:
 
 
 
:Douglas Forbes points out that Y-chromosome SNP biallelic marker Q-P36 (also known by the mutation marker M-242), postulated by geneticist Doron Behar and colleagues to be a founding lineage among Ashkenazi Jewish populations, is also found in Iranian and Iraqi Jews and is a founding lineage group present in 31 percent of self-identified Native Americans in the U.S.{{ref|stewart2}}
 
  
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[[pt:O Livro de Mórmon/Evidências de DNA/Identificação de "judeu" ou DNA "Oriente Médio"]]

Latest revision as of 14:04, 13 April 2024

Identification of "Jewish" or "Middle Eastern" DNA


Jump to details:


Gospel Topics: "Much as critics and defenders of the Book of Mormon would like to use DNA studies to support their views, the evidence is simply inconclusive"

"Book of Mormon and DNA Studies," Gospel Topics on LDS.org:

Much as critics and defenders of the Book of Mormon would like to use DNA studies to support their views, the evidence is simply inconclusive. Nothing is known about the DNA of Book of Mormon peoples. Even if such information were known, processes such as population bottleneck and genetic drift make it unlikely that their DNA could be detected today. As Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles observed, “It is our position that secular evidence can neither prove nor disprove the authenticity of the Book of Mormon.”[1]


Question: How does one identify "Jewish" or "Middle Eastern" DNA?

Identifying DNA criteria for Manasseh and Ephraim may always be beyond our reach

Identifying DNA criteria for Manasseh and Ephraim may always be beyond our reach. But, even identifying markers for Jews—a group that has remained relatively cohesive and refrained from intermarriage with others more than most groups—is an extraordinarily difficult undertaking.

One author cautioned:

Studies of human genetic diversity have barely begun. Yet the fashion for genetic ancestry testing is booming. . . . Other groups, such as Jews, are now being targeted. This despite the fact that Jewish communities have little in common on their mitochondrial side—the maternal line down which Judaism is traditionally inherited. It's the male side that shows common ancestry between different Jewish communities—so, of course, that's what the geneticists focus on. . . . Geneticists—like preachers and philosophers before them—need to avoid promising more than they can deliver. [2]

Further reading

Articles which discuss the various criteria (and the difficulties involved) for identifying "Jewishness" via DNA include:

  • John M. Butler, "A Few Thoughts From a Believing DNA Scientist," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 12/1 (2003). [36–37] link
  • John M. Butler, "Addressing Questions surrounding the Book of Mormon and DNA Research," FARMS Review 18/1 (2006): 101–108. off-site wiki
  • Ryan Parr, "Missing the Boat to Ancient America . . . Just Plain Missing the Boat (Review of: Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church)," FARMS Review 17/1 (2005): 83–106. off-site
  • Daniel C. Peterson, "Editor's Introduction," FARMS Review 15/2 (2003): ix–lxii. off-site
  • David G. Stewart, Jr., "DNA and the Book of Mormon," FARMS Review 18/1 (2006): 109–138. off-site wiki FAIR link  (Key source)
  • Brian D. Stubbs, "Elusive Israel and the Numerical Dynamics of Population Mixing," FARMS Review 15/2 (2003): 165–182. off-site


Notes

  1. "Book of Mormon and DNA Studies," Gospel Topics on LDS.org (January 31, 2014)
  2. Martin Richards, "Beware the Gene Genies," Guardian (21 February 2003), accessed 7 July 2006. off-site; cited by Stewart, "DNA and the Book of Mormon."