This is an archived copy of a post written by Conflict Of Justice (conflictofjustice.com). Used with permission: Conflict Of Justice may not agree with any alterations made.
“DNA analysis has concluded that Native American Indians do not originate from the Middle East or from Israelites but rather from Asia. Why did the Church change the following section of the introduction page in the 2006 edition Book of Mormon shortly after the DNA results were released? “…the Lamanites, and they are the principal ancestors of the American Indians” to “…the Lamanites, and they are among the ancestors of the American Indians”
Scientists found two haplogroups in American Indian DNA that are shared with Middle Eastern populations: haplogroups Hg “x” and R. This strongly suggests a relationship. The science is far from settled as to where Native Americans originated, as it is a complicated science, but evidence strongly suggests most of native populations have Asian ancestors.
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The introduction page to the Book of Mormon was added later and was not part of the original text. The Book of Mormon itself does not claim that the Lamanites were the principal ancestors of today’s American Indians. This was a modern assumption, so it was appropriate for the church to remove this unproven opinion, which was written in 1981.
| DNA Markers Were Lost – The Book of Mormon says the Lamanites developed a dark skin, either because their DNA mutated or from interbreeding with other civilizations–civilizations that apparently came over the Bering strait. Either way, the Book of Mormon tells us that the Israelite original genetics were to some degree bred out. The Nephites and Lamanites were fanatical about burying their dead in well-sealed chambers, so their remains won’t be found except by more widespread excavations. Even if remains are found, Israelites did not embalm their dead like the Egyptians did, so the DNA might not be preserved. |  |
Also, the Nephites were not a large population. It would be very lucky indeed to stumble across one of their human remains.
One study of the Mayan populations found a “complex demographic history” with all kinds of gene flow. Yet they discovered that there were “founder events in the different ethnic groups or relative isolation.” These were often isolated communities.
A scientific study found that lots of DNA markers simply got wiped out, exactly like the Book of Mormon indicates:
“While that doesn’t necessarily mean that the genetic diversity of the pre-Columbian era has been completely wiped out – other lineages not traced in this study may exist… But the find demonstrates what the researchers bluntly term the ‘high extinction rate’ for indigenous American people.”
Genetic Similarities Among Cherokees – More evidence for Nephite DNA is found in a study on Cherokee Indians. John Adair wrote in the 18th century that some Cherokees were known to speak a kind of Jewish language. A recent study found an ancient Cherokee princess with Jewish DNA, or rather DNA markers from Middle Eastern-North Africa. This branch of Cherokee is “genetically more likely to be Jewish than the typical American Jew of European ancestry.” This study finds that the Cherokee experienced the same kind of complex gene flow and isolation as the Mayans. In fact, Cherokee communities “often carried Maya DNA.” So perhaps some of the Nephites or Lamanites who moved northwards mixed with these Cherokee communities and carried on the DNA.
Science Is Unsettled – Science “proves” a Middle Eastern migration to the Americas just as well as it “proves” anything else. It is a model for what happened with some amount of evidence supporting it. The science is shaky either way, and it is not reasonable to use this as evidence for or against the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.
CES Letter Logical Fallacies
| Falsehood | Scientists have found two DNA markers in Native American populations which are shared with Middle Easterners. |
| Shifting Goalposts | In previous arguments, CES Letter called the King James bible an “edition” rather than a “version”, because translators sometimes used different translations than in other English bibles. But now they call the 2006 Book of Mormon an “edition” because of a tiny change in the introduction explanatory page rather than anything having to do with the translation. |
| Argument From Ignorance | Scientists conclude many living native populations share Asian DNA markers, but it is not reasonable to conclude that all Native Americans that ever lived on the continent originated only from Asia. |
| Appeal To Authority | In a discussion about faith, why are we talking about what scientists have concluded? |
| False Dilemma | It doesn’t have to be ‘either Natives originated from Asia or the Middle East.’ There could be many origination points. It could even be Lehi’s group intermarried with people from East Asia during their trip to the Americas. Who knows? |
Edition Vs. Version – CES Letter just got done talking about how the meaning of the bible can change depending on the translated “edition,” and now we are talking about a change to the explanatory introduction page, and CES Letter continues to use the word “edition.” This suggests a false equivalence between the fallibility of bible scripture and Book of Mormon scripture as “ancient” text that changes with each modern “translation.”
It reminds me of what my father told me as a little kid. We were listening to the radio in the car, and they started talking about how the bible has maintained its original message from the time it was first written. “The original documents were compiled into a book, and that book was translated straight to English. There was no more than one intermediary step between the original writing and what we read today.” I remarked to my father, “That sounds more like the Book of Mormon than the bible,” having been taught that the bible was translated and transcribed a great number of times over the years. “No!” he replied strongly, “The Book of Mormon was preserved perfectly on metal plates and translated wholly through the influence of the Holy Spirit. The bible was not.”
This left an impression on me. The Book of Mormon is not the product of some scholars who translated some esoteric ancient parchment. Any modern “edition” we get is correction of printer spelling errors or modern explanatory notes. We can trust that the words we read are the full truth as written by the prophets in those ancient times.
Fake Science – CES Letter frequently appeals to science in their arguments, including this claim that modern science disproves the Book of Mormon claim of Hebrew origins for Native Americans. CES Letter‘s narrative is that DNA evidence disqualifies the Book of Mormon and presents a more sound model of truth. The actual science is wildly complicated, and of course people are not going to bother reading and trying to understand all of the studies. Actual science should be investigated and celebrated by Mormons and non-Mormons alike. But people are taught to blindly trust anything that scientists claim in a “study,” especially when this claim is the ‘consensus’ among ‘all scientists.’
Some scientists took insufficient data and made the claim that all Native Americans originated from Asia. Anti-Mormons jumped all over this narrative because it is easy to make a wildly hasty conclusion based on shaky evidence. Just take a look at any History Channel documentary! This argument spins the narrative so that suddenly Mormons need to provide some kind of tangible evidence for Native American origins, and if we don’t then we should assume these speculative hypotheses are correct, because the scientists are at least giving us physical evidence, after all. This is a bad game of logic to play because tangible evidence can be used to push any hypothesis. Maybe Native American originated from ancient aliens, because scientists found a metal figurine that kinda looks like an airplane? The church wisely changed the wording of the Book of Mormon introduction page to avoid playing this kind of speculation game. Let’s leave it to real science to tell us who were the “principal ancestors” of Native Americans.
Contradiction Strategy – CES Letter attempts to point out an inconsistency regarding LDS belief of how the American Indians originated, and then presents science as the superior alternative source for truth. CES Letter uses the Marxist contradiction strategy by narrowing a physical issue down to a binary context: either Native Americans originated from Jerusalem or from Siberia. No other choices. They then appeal to “science” and attach an expression of incredulity. From there they deconstruct the ‘outdated’ Mormon belief and replace it with a new perception: a scientific narrative that is always changing.
Anti-Mormons typically present evidence for their binary context as self-evident and irrefutable, with no need for further explanation, and then they rapidly move on to other attacks that bolster the constrained definition. The purpose is not really to discuss Native American origins, which would actually be an interesting discussion, but to shift the narrative from faith to binary science, and quickly move on to more effective attacks to strengthen this narrative.
Innuendo Rather Than Logic – Just raising this question makes the pro-science narrative credible to some degree. As with their first argument, they do not bother giving any explanation to a highly complex subject, because the purpose of this attack is to put the audience in a skeptical frame of mind.
CES Letter drops a bit of leading evidence, and the reader connects to dots in their mind to the inevitable conclusion. If the DNA is from Asia, the Native Americans couldn’t possibly be descended from the Lamanites as the Book of Mormon claims. CES Letter does not actually say this, but leads the audience to say it in their minds. They do not give us this logic, but allows the reader’s mind to string it together on their own, because people are much more likely to believe a deduction if they figured it out on their own, subconsciously. They are also more likely to believe the evidences for that deduction.
If we sat down and investigated this question thoroughly, it would be easy to debunk the “contradiction.” So instead, CES Letter rapidly moves on to more severe questions of ‘science vs. Book of Mormon’ before the audience even has time to think about it. This works well as an initial argument in propaganda because DNA is a novel topic that many Mormons have not really considered. It is a new, interesting issue that opens up their mind to suggestion.
See also: DNA Evidence Proves Book of Mormon Claims About Ancient America