A Mormon confronts his myths: faces expulsion for refuting link between Indians and Israelites

National Post ^ | December 03, 2002 | Jan Cienski

[Polycarp]

A Mormon confronts his myths

Anthropologist faces expulsion for refuting link between Indians and Israelites

Jan Cienski

National Post

Tuesday, December 03, 2002

CREDIT: The Canadian Press

Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is said to have discovered a tablet that revealed American Indians were the descendants of ancient Hebrews. The assertion is contrary to historical fact.

A Mormon anthropologist is facing excommunication after finding no genetic link between American Indians and the ancient Hebrews of Israel, questioning one of the central tenets of his church.

Thomas Murphy conducted a review of the existing scientific literature and concluded that the evidence points to the Asian origin of Indians, who scientists say migrated across the Bering Strait millennia ago. "There is no evidence an ancient group of Israelites made it to the Americas as it says in the Book of Mormon," he said.

In response, the leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Washington state has convened a hearing for this Sunday "because you are reported to have been in apostasy," as he wrote in a letter asking Mr. Murphy to recant.

Mr. Murphy, 35, who heads the anthropology department at Edmonds Community College in Lynnwood, Wash., has refused, and faces expulsion from the Church.

"I'm not totally surprised by the reaction," he said. "In the mid-'90s there was an attempt to purge the Church of intellectuals. I'm fully aware that the Church has not always embraced its scholars."

While the official Church spokesman in Salt Lake City will not comment on Mr. Murphy's case, his poking around in the historicity of the Church's founding documents is a long-running sore point for Mormons dating back to their religion's earliest days.

The controversy began with Mormon founder Joseph Smith, who, under direction from the angel Moroni, unearthed golden tablets in the 1820s written in an ancient Egyptian text that revealed American Indians were the descendants of ancient Hebrews who had fled to the New World in 600 BC and that Jesus Christ had ministered to them after his death in Jerusalem.

The Book of Mormon details elaborate cities and societies across the Americas built by those settlers.

The problem is that no archeological evidence has been found to support the idea.

In the early years of the last century, Mormon explorers wandered Mayan ruins of Central America hoping to find some confirmation for the Book of Mormon.

The most famous, Thomas Stewart Ferguson, spent 25 years in the jungles of Central America before concluding, "You can't set Book of Mormon geography down anywhere because it is fictional and will never meet the requirements of dirt-archeology."

The Church has tried to meet such criticism by amending some teachings, now holding that perhaps not all Indians descend from Biblical peoples and amending Smith's geography. The orthodox view is strongly defended by the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies at Brigham Young University in Salt Lake City, which sponsors research validating the historicity of Smith's translation.

"Most Latter-day Saints may say that the Bering Strait migration is true for some folks," said John P. Livingstone, associate professor of Church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University. "I don't think that is theologically worrying."

Mr. Livingstone explained away Mr. Murphy's survey of genetic research by saying that God may have changed Indian DNA "to create different languages," adding, "The Church of Latter-day Saints and science have gotten along well."

But for people such as Mr. Murphy, science and faith are at odds and attempts to gloss over historical problems create a crisis of faith.

The book for which Mr. Murphy wrote his paper, American Apocrypha: Essays on the Book of Mormon, attempts to deal with that disconnect between religion and science.

"Mormon students are confronting this stuff every day and they have no support network. Mormon students capable of thinking critically are finding themselves in turmoil," Mr. Murphy said, comparing their struggle to that of fundamentalist Christian creationists forced to re-examine or defend their beliefs when taught biology and science based on evolution.

Using some of the same techniques pioneered by the Jesus Seminar, a group of liberal theologians who hunt for the historical Jesus discounting everything from the virgin birth to the resurrection as fiction, the Mormon scholars have come to similar conclusions, finding the Book of Mormon is likely a literary construct of Joseph Smith, but one with spiritual weight.

"To acknowledge the obvious fictional quality of the Book of Mormon is not to detract from the beauty and brilliance of the sermons, visions and other imagery," reads the introduction to American Apocrypha.

For Mormons such as Mr. Murphy, denying the literal truth of the Book of Mormon while treating it as useful mythology in much the same way most Christians treat the creation story in Genesis is the only way to hang on to their faith.

"My aspiration is to create a space within Mormonism for the discussion of the Book of Mormon as fiction but still as scripture," he said.

But the Mormon Church is unlikely to see it that way during Sunday's disciplinary hearing, and Mr. Murphy fully expects to be drummed out of the Church.

"I'm a Mormon culturally whether they like it or not," he said. "I will continue to write and publish as a member of the Mormon intellectual community.... This issue is not going to go away."

jcienski@nationalpost.com

© Copyright 2002 National Post

[Polycarp]

hmmmm

[Romulus]

This should be edifying. Care to bet how long it'll be before he's dubbed "the Mormon Galileo"?

[drstevej]

***The Church has tried to meet such criticism by amending some teachings, now holding that perhaps not all Indians descend from Biblical peoples and amending Smith's geography. ***

Gotta love that Injun Israelism, all smoke and no teepee!

***"My aspiration is to create a space within Mormonism for the discussion of the Book of Mormon as fiction but still as scripture," he said.***

To dream the impossible dream...

[gcruse]

Yes, Mormonism is founded on fiction. However, virgin birth, walking on water, and bodily ascensions are fact. Hmmm. Be careful of the stones you throw.

[Wrigley]

"My aspiration is to create a space within Mormonism for the discussion of the Book of Mormon as fiction but still as scripture," he said.

Uh, okay. Talk about the ultimate in suspending disbelief.

[CCWoody]

This thread had steve written all over it and now I find out that it isn't steve at all.

[CCWoody]

For Mormons such as Mr. Murphy, denying the literal truth of the Book of Mormon while treating it as useful mythology in much the same way most Christians treat the creation story in Genesis is the only way to hang on to their faith. ~ Article

The problem is that if you take Genesis as just a mythology, then Eden is fiction, the fall is fiction, spiritual death is fiction, and the need for Christ, non-existent. Such people have no faith at all.

Of course, Mormonism is no better.

Woody.

[freedom9]

There is a hill called Cumorah in New York State that was the site of a massive battle between the "lamanites" and the "nephites"

The Book of Mormon states that there were in excess of 220,000 nephites that were slain. Surely there was a comparable number of lamanites that fell there too. The book claims the people of that time were acquainted with metalergy.
Surely there must be some remnant to substantiate the Mormon claims.


"Mormon 6:11": 11 And when they had gone through and hewn down all my people save it were twenty and four of us, (among whom was my son Moroni) and we having survived the dead of our people, did behold on the morrow, when the Lamanites had returned unto their camps, from the top of the hill Cumorah, the ten thousand of my people who were hewn down, being led in the front by me.

"Mormon 6:12": 12 And we also beheld the ten thousand of my people who were led by my son Moroni.

"Mormon 6:13": 13 And behold, the ten thousand of Gidgiddonah had fallen, and he also in the midst.

"Mormon 6:14": 14 And Lamah had fallen with his ten thousand; and Gilgal had fallen with his ten thousand; and Limhah had fallen with his ten thousand; and Jeneum had fallen with his ten thousand; and Cumenihah, and Moronihah, and Antionum, and Shiblom, and Shem, and Josh,
had fallen with their ten thousand each.

"Mormon 6:15": 15 And it came to pass that there were ten more who did fall by the sword, with their ten thousand each; yea, even all my people, save it were those twenty and four who were with me, and also a few who had escaped into the south countries, and a few who had deserted over unto the Lamanites, had fallen; and their flesh, and bones, and blood lay upon the face of the earth, being left by the hands of those who slew them to molder upon the land, and to crumble and to return to their mother earth.

[fishtank]

Interesting post.

However, have former Mormons found that bringing up the scientific innaccuracies to be effective?

How many Mormons were brought into the truth of the gospel by the understanding of God's grace (a true free gift) compared to the amount of Mormons who found truth after reading a tract like this?

I don't know, that's why I'm asking.

Don't get me wrong: I think the study into the discrepancies is important, but I was saved by finally understanding that God was offering me salvation for free - by grace through faith.

A true understanding of grace was necessary for my salvation - a grace that is a free gift, that is, God's unmerited favor.

Unfortunatley, I've since found that there are some evangalicals, Catholics, and the Mormons who deny this definition of grace.

I firmly believe God's love is best defined and expressed in this manifestation of grace, not by the definition that adds a burden of works to the meaning of grace.

Think about God's love. Is it greater if grace is free, or is it lesser if we have to pay Him for it?

[fishtank]

I have a parapraph on this new thread that I'd like you all to read.

My note talks about God's love and the best way to understnad His grace.

[drstevej]

Yes. There is a huge distinction between a gift and a reward. And salvation is a gift!

[fishtank]

Among the evangelicals who are denying the true definition of grace is Bill Gothard. I know many people who are being deceived by this man, and it's strange, because they operate in much the same circles as many of the conservative evangelical Christians who are active on FR.

[fishtank]

I know there is a "Grace and Works" or "Grace and Faith" thread on FR, but I thought since this is a new thread that I'd write down some of the thoughts I've been having in the last 3-4 days.

[drstevej]

No problem, I doubt the LDS want to discuss this article anyway.

[xzins]

I find the archeological and genetic data here significant in proving the factual bankruptcy of mormonism.

However, using those same criteria, the New Testament and Old Testament are firmly established day by day as new finds in the Middle East come to light.

I do not believe that the creation account of Adam and Eve is mythical. Nor do I believe that the intelligent design movement in any way parallel the problems that mormonism has is establishing it's validity.

Genetic studies have suggested that there was a SINGLE MOTHER from which all of us came. The fact of creation is substantially strengthened by MATHEMATICS saying this order and complexity we see in life could NOT have happened randomly in 10 to the 3.5 billion (million?) power.

Either way, That's the same as saying it couldn't have happened randomly. Don't buy a lottery ticket...you wont' win. Definitely don't buy one at those odds.....NO ONE will ever win.

[WriteOn]

"For example, consider the calculation by astronomer Fred Hoyle, often referred to by creationists, that the odds against DNA assembling by chance are 1040,000 to one (Hoyle, 1981). This is true, but highly misleading. DNA did not assemble purely by chance. It assembled by a combination of chance and the laws of physics."

"In a calculation similar to Hoyle's, mathematician Roger Penrose has estimated that the probability of a universe with our particular set of physical properties is one part in 10^10^123 (Penrose 1989: 343). However, neither Penrose nor anyone else can say how many of the other possible universes formed with different properties could still have lead to some form of life. If it is half, then the probability for life is fifty percent."

Quote from: The Real Issue: Stephen Hawking, the Big Bang, and God Part II By Dr. Fritz Schaefer III Professor of Quantum Chemistry, University of Georgia

The Anthropic Principle

I must say something here about the anthropic principle: there are a number of scientific parameters or constants, any one of which, if changed just a little bit would make the earth uninhabitable by human beings. A book that I strongly recommend is by Hugh Ross, The Creator and the Cosmos. He has a substantial discussion of the anthropic principle and demonstrates why many physicists and astronomers have considered the possibility that the universe not only was divinely caused, but in fact divinely designed.

One such person is the pantheistic astronomer, George Greenstein, who makes this statement: "As we survey all the evidence, the thought insistently arises that some supernatural agency, or rather Agency, must be involved. Is it possible that suddenly, without intending to, we have stumbled upon scientific proof of the existence of a supreme being? Was it God who stepped in and so providentially created the cosmos for our benefit?"

I think Greenstein has gone a little too far in the other direction. I do not think we have proof of the existence of God but I think we do have, in the big bang understanding, some good evidence for the existence of God.

Others have commented on this evidence. A book I recommend is Dreams of a Final Theory by Steven Weinberg. He doesn't have God in the title, but God is discussed in the book. He tells the story about a poem by the Venerable Bede, a religious person of the Middle Ages. In the poem, Bede talks about the banqueting hall being our ordinary existence and Weinberg's comment on this is, "It is an almost irresistible temptation to believe with the Venerable Bede that there must be something for us outside the banqueting hall." There must be something beyond materialism.

Of course this view is echoed in the New Testament. For example, Paul the Apostle wrote, "Ever since the creation of the world, God's eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things He has made"(Romans 1:20). This is exactly what Weinberg is talking about-that almost irresistible temptation.

[WriteOn]

1040,000 to one = 10^40,000 to one

[Polycarp]

This thread had steve written all over it and now I find out that it isn't steve at all.

But the moment I saw it I thought of Steve. Common ground.

[drstevej]

CCW ***This thread had steve written all over it and now I find out that it isn't steve at all.***

POLY ***But the moment I saw it I thought of Steve. Common ground.***


I am indeed a uniter.