[Texas Mom]

The Mormans have believed the Indians to be the lost tribe of Israel for a long time.

[Grig]

"The Mormans have believed the Indians to be the lost tribe of Israel for a long time."

Just to go into some detail on that...

We belive that about 600 years before Christ a group of Isrealites (from the tribe of Joseph) were lead by God out of the Holy Land and to the americas. After they got there, they divided into two civilizations that were frequently at war with eachother. In about 400AD, both civiization pretty much destroyed themselves in a brutal war. We claim that at least some native american tribes are decendants of the survivors of that war, although no specific tribe is identified as being direct descendants of them.

The Book of Mormon (a record made the prophets of God among these people) mentions other groups being there before them, and arriving after them as well (and also group of them leaving on exploration trips and never being heard from again), so although this claim by the Cherokee doesn't directly relate to the civilizations that are the focus of the Book of Mormon, it certainly is supportive of the Book of Mormon being just what it claims to be.