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| + | #REDIRECT[[DNA and the Book of Mormon]] |
| − | {{LongVersion|topic=DNA and the Book of Mormon|url=http://www.fairwiki.org/index.php/Book_of_Mormon_and_DNA_evidence:Summary|extra=}}
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| − | {{Template:DNAPortal}}
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| − | =={{Criticism label}}==
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| − | 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.
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| − | {{CriticalSources}}
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| − | =={{Response label}}==
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| − | Few criticisms of the Church have received as much media attention as this criticism, with so little thought and science being applied to the question. DNA attacks against the Book of Mormon account fail on numerous grounds.
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| − | ===Initial considerations===
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| − | It is important to realize that critics of the Book of Mormon base their arguments on DNA data that has never been shown to be even relevant to the issue of Book of Mormon genetics, let alone conclusive. Such critics have cobbled together DNA data gathered from unrelated studies to produce arguments with the appearance of scientific weight but having no real significance. ''No genetic studies have been designed and performed to test the hypothesis that Native Americans were of Lehite descent and that this inheritance is detectable today.''
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| − | DNA issues can be complex for the non-specialist (especially those who were in high school more than twenty years ago, before much of the modern understanding of DNA was available). A number of excellent articles are available on this topic.
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| − | ''For those interested in general introductions to DNA science:''
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| − | * This article provides a basic overview by an LDS bishop who is also a world expert on the use of genetic testing. It is quite short, simple, and straight-forward: {{FR-18-1-6}} <!-- Butler - Addressing-->
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| − | * This article provides more detail, but is still accessible to the non-specialist: {{FR-15-2-6}} <!-- McClellan - Detecting-->
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| − | ''These articles discuss the feasibility of testing various hypotheses using the Book of Mormon and DNA:''
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| − | * {{JBMS-12-1-3}} {{NB}}<!--Whitting – DNA and BoM-->
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| − | =={{Topics label}}==
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| − | {{SummaryItem
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| − | |link=/Geography issues
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| − | |subject=Geography issues
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| − | |summary=A variety of geographic models have been suggested for the Book of Mormon. Some geographic models introduce other difficulties for the DNA attacks.
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| − | {{SummaryItem
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| − | |link=Amerindians as Lamanites
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| − | |subject=Are all Amerindians "Lamanites"?
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| − | |summary=Critics have claimed that DNA tests mean that all Amerindians cannot be "Lamanites," and even some Church authors have conceded this point too readily.
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| − | {{SummaryItem2
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| − | |link=/Geography_issues/Haplotype_X2a
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| − | |subject=Haplogroup X2a
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| − | |summary=Some have tried to use a genetic group called haplotype X2a as proof of the Book of Mormon, but the science at present cannot support this.
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| − | {{SummaryItem
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| − | |link=/Ancestry of Lehi
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| − | |subject=What is Lehi's ancestry?
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| − | |summary=Genetic attacks on the Book of Mormon focus on the fact that Amerindian DNA seems closest to Asian DNA, and not DNA from "the Middle East" or "Jewish" DNA. However, this attack ignores several key points, among which is the fact that the Book of Mormon states that Lehi and his family are clearly ''not'' Jews.
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| − | {{SummaryItem
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| − | |link=/Identification of "Jewish" or "Middle Eastern" DNA
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| − | |subject=How does one identify "Jewish" or "Middle Eastern" DNA?
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| − | |summary=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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| − | }}
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| − | {{SummaryItem
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| − | |link=/Identification of "Jewish" or "Middle Eastern" DNA/Lemba and Cohen modal haplotype
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| − | |subject=Lemba and Cohen modal haplotype
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| − | |summary=Murphy uses the "Lemba" as an example of a group proven to be Jewish via DNA testing. But, this example is misleading. The Lemba were identified as Jewish because of a marker called the "Cohen modal haplotype." This marker is carried by about half of those who claim descent from Aaron, Moses' brother, and only 2-3% of other Jews.
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| − | But, the Book of Mormon does not suggest—and in fact seems to exclude—the idea that Levites (the priestly family of Aaron) were among the Lehi party.
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| − | }}
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| − | {{SummaryItem
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| − | |link=/Methods of testing
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| − | |subject=What methods of DNA tests are available?
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| − | |summary=
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| − | {{SummaryItem
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| − | |link=/New World death rate after European contact
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| − | |subject=New World death rate after European contact
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| − | |summary=Approximately ninety percent of the Amerindian population died out following contact with the Europeans; most of this was due to infectious disease against which they had no defense.{{ref|cook1}} Since different genes likely provide different resistances to infectious disease, it may be that eliminating 90% of the pre-contact gene pool has significantly distorted the true genetic picture of Lehi's descendants.
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| − | {{SummaryItem
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| − | |link=/Jaredite influence
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| − | |subject=Jaredite influence
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| − | |summary=Critics often over-look the Jaredites, and assume (as in the hemispheric models that the Jaredites can have contributed nothing of consequence to the Lehite DNA picture. But, it is not clear that this must be the case. Some LDS have believed in a total eradication of the Jaredites, others have argued that Jaredite remnants survived and mixed with the Lehites. Bruce R. McConkie, while believing that the majority of Amerindian descent was from Israel (i.e. Lehi, Ishmael, and Mulek) nevertheless wrote: "The American Indians, however, as Columbus found them also had other blood than that of Israel in their veins. It is possible that isolated remnants of the Jaredites may have lived through the period of destruction in which millions of their fellows perished."
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| − | ==General genetics issues==
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| − | Regardless of the geographical model used, efforts to date at "testing" the Book of Mormon through the use of genetic data encounter a number of problems and issues that should be considered. The remainder of this page discusses issues which must be considered regardless of the geographical model being used.
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| − | ===Fundamentalist "suicide bombing"===
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| − | It should be remembered too that many sectarian critics use DNA science in a sort of "suicide bombing" attack on the Church.{{ref|stewart3}} The fundamentalist Christian critics are happy to use DNA as a stick to beat the Book of Mormon, but do not tell their readers that there is much ''stronger'' DNA evidence for concepts which fundamentalist Christian readers might not accept, such as:
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| − | * evolutionary change in species
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| − | * human descent from other primates
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| − | And, despite being inconsistent with DNA data, fundamentalist critics do not call on their congregations to abandon such literalistic Biblical concepts as:
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| − | * the earth being only 6,000 years old
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| − | * a Biblical Adam and Eve were the parents of all humanity only 4,000 years before Christ
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| − | * a world-wide, Noachian flood which exterminated all life except that which was in the Ark, occurred approximately 5,000 years ago
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| − | The critics are often hypocritical—they claim the Saints should abandon the Book of Mormon on flimsy, dubious science, and yet do not tell their audience that ''they'' should (by the same logic) abandon religious beliefs of their own that have much ''more'' DNA evidence against them.
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| − | ''Discussions of this ironic twist are found in'':
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| − | * {{FR-15-2-1}} <!--Peterson - Editor's intro-->
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| − | * {{FR-18-1-7}} <!--Stewart -- DNA and the Book of Mormon-->
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| − | =={{Conclusion label}}==
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| − | DNA attacks against the Book of Mormon are ill-advised, a "contrived controversy."{{ref|contrived1}} Various geographical models introduce issues unique to each model, but the DNA data is no where as conclusive as the critics claim, regardless of the geographical model chosen.
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| − | Critics tend to opt for the most naive, ill-informed reading possible of the Book of Mormon text, and then cry foul when the Saints point out that they have given much thought to these issues and come to more nuanced conclusions that are more faithful to the Book of Mormon text than the critics' poorly-considered caricatures.
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| − | Critics do not provide the "whole story" of the DNA data, and seem to want to use the certainty which DNA provides in modern crime-solving as a springboard to trick the Saints, the media, and investigators into thinking that their historical DNA conclusions are as solid.
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| − | The Church's statement on the matter of DNA is succinct and accurate:
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| − | :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.
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| − | :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.{{ref|lds1}}
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| − | In fact, DNA data tells us nothing which we did not already know from archaeological data—at present, the human settlement of the Americas is thought to date thousands of years before the advent of Lehi. Many of these settlers have links to east Asia. None of this is news, and none of it threatens the Book of Mormon's status as authentic history.
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| − | But, the critics hope that their listeners will be awed by the banner of DNA science, and conclude that something more impressive is going on. Informed members of the Church have not been persuaded by their tactics, and much has been written to help non-specialists understand the "numerous and complex" issues in the fascinating and valuable science of genetics.
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| − | =={{Endnotes label}}==
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| − | #{{note|ephraim1}} "The Prophet Joseph informed us that the record of Lehi, was contained on the 116 pages that were first translated and subsequently stolen, and of which an abridgement is given us in the first Book of Nephi, which is the record of Nephi individually, he himself being of the lineage of Manasseh; but that Ishmael was of the lineage of Ephraim, and that his sons married into Lehi's family, and Lehi's sons married Ishmael's daughters, thus fulfilling the words of Jacob upon Ephraim and Manasseh in the 48th chapter of Genesis..." - {{JDfairwiki|author=Erastus Snow|vol=23|disc=22|start=184|date=6 May 1882|title=Ephraim And Manassah, etc.}} | |
| − | #{{note|genie1}} Martin Richards, "Beware the Gene Genies," ''Guardian'' (21 February 2003), accessed 7 July 2006. {{link|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,899835,00.html}}; cited by Stewart, "DNA and the Book of Mormon."
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| − | #{{note|wade1}} Nicholas Wade, "In DNA, New Clues to Jewish Roots," ''New York Times'' (14 May 2002): F1 (col. 1); cited by Stewart, "DNA and the Book of Mormon."
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| − | #{{note|stewart1}} See "Cohen Modal Haplotype," in {{FR-18-1-7}}
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| − | #{{note|stewart2}} See "Y-Chromosome Data," in {{FR-18-1-7}} (Citations omitted)
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| − | #{{note|cook1}} Suzanne Austin Alchon, 'A Pest in the Land: New World Epidemics in a Global Perspective,' Albuquerque : University of New Mexico Press, c2003.
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| − | #{{note|mcconkie1}} {{MD1|article=American Indians|start=33}}{{GL1|url=http://gospelink.com/library/doc?doc_id=208606}}
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| − | #{{note|nibley1}} See, for example, {{Nibley5|start=153|end=following}} {{GL1|url=http://gospelink.com/library/doc?book_doc_id=272004}}
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| − | #{{note|stewart3}} The expression "suicide bombing" in this context comes from Stewart, "DNA and the Book of Mormon."
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| − | #{{note|contrived1}} {{FR-18-1-6}}
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| − | #{{note|lds1}} Press Release, "Mistakes in the News: DNA and the Book of Mormon" (11 November 2003){{link|url=http://www.lds.org/newsroom/mistakes/0,15331,3885-1-18078,00.html}}
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| − | =={{Further reading label}}==
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| − | ==={{FAIR wiki articles label}}===
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| − | {{Book of Mormon anachronisms}}
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| − | {{DNAWiki}}
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| − | ==={{FAIR web site label}}===
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| − | {{DNAFAIR}}
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| − | ===Videos===
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| − | {{DNAFAIRVideo}}
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| − | ==={{External links label}}===
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| − | {{DNALinks}}
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| − | ==={{Printed material label}}===
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| − | {{DNAPrint}}
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| − | [[de:Buch_Mormon_und_DNS-Beweise]]
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| − | [[es:El Libro de Mormón y la evidencia del ADN]]
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| − | {{Articles Footer 1}} {{Articles Footer 2}} {{Articles Footer 3}} {{Articles Footer 4}} {{Articles Footer 5}} {{Articles Footer 6}} {{Articles Footer 7}} {{Articles Footer 8}} {{Articles Footer 9}} {{Articles Footer 10}}
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| − | [[fr:Book of Mormon/DNA evidence]]
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