"Doug the Avenger":
You again attempt to mislead readers here and have failed to cite any conclusion because no such conclusion exists within any credible scientific journal.
I did not say "ancient Israelite DNA," but rather conclusions based upon DNA research that link Native Americans to ancient Jews through DNA evidence.
You notably cite nothing.
Instead what scientists accept is that "DNA data, as well as anthropological studies, indicate American Indians are descended from Northeast Asians who migrated across the Bering Sea between 7,000 and 50,000 years ago."
That's what a Mormon anthropology professor concluded, though he may get excommunicated for it.
See [
www.culteducation.com]
"Murphy, 35-year-old chairman of the Edmonds Community College Anthropology Department, contends DNA analysis contradicts Book of Mormon claims that American Indians are descended from ancient heathen Israelites, an argument he will outline in a 1 1/2-hour talk today at the University of Washington.
He's out to expose what he calls 'racism' in scriptural texts. The Book of Mormon assumes that dark skin is a curse for wickedness. I'm trying to examine where that idea came from, he says.
His stand could make Murphy the first Mormon in church history to face excommunication for publishing conclusions on the basis of genetic research."
You second post is quite telling. You say "Many scientists, who are Mormons" agree with you. No surprise as the Mormon Church has always been good at apologies based upon the biased spin from its faithful.
But there is not only no DNA evidence to back up Smith's wild claims about ancient Jews, there is no objective proof whatsoever through archaeology that any of the peoples named in his "Book of Mormon" ever existed, ineither the so-called "Nephites" or the fabled "Lamanites."
It is ridiculous to belive historically that ancient Jews supposedly settled in America with no objetive physical evidence.
Please understand that Mormons may believe whatever they want as a matter of faith, but history and DNA research is not based upon faith, it's based upon facts.
I realize that this is dismissed by amongst Mormon believers, but outside that bubble there is no serious credentialed scientist, historian, or anthropologist that supports claims about Smith's fictional "Nephites."
The following excerpts illustrate your serious and growing problem.
See [
www.culteducation.com]
"In the 1990s, DNA studies gave Mormon detractors further ammunition and new allies such as Simon G. Southerton, a molecular biologist and former bishop in the church.
Southerton, a senior research scientist with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization in Australia, said genetic research allowed him to test his religious views against his scientific training.
Genetic testing of Jews throughout the world had already shown that they shared common strains of DNA from the Middle East. Southerton examined studies of DNA lineages among Polynesians and indigenous peoples in North, Central and South America. One mapped maternal DNA lines from 7,300 Native Americans from 175 tribes.
Southerton found no trace of Middle Eastern DNA in the genetic strands of today's American Indians and Pacific Islanders."
And here is the bottom line.
"The problem is that Mormon leaders cannot acknowledge any factual errors in the Book of Mormon because the prophet Joseph Smith proclaimed it the 'most correct of any book on Earth,' Southerton said in an interview.
They can't admit that it's not historical, Southerton said. They would feel that there would be a loss of members and loss in confidence in Joseph Smith as a prophet."