The following has been adapted from
http://www.irr.org/mit/lamanites-dna-bom.html
They go into far greater details than I in the following abridgement.
This section continues to examine ways Mormon apologists and scholars have attempted to defend the Book of Mormon
APOLOGY #2 - “DNA and the Book of Mormon: A Phylogenetic Perspective” (Michael F. Whiting, Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, vol. 12, no. 1, 2003).
Applying DNA studies to the Book of Mormon assumes the validity of the “global colonization hypothesis”.
“The local colonization hypothesis is more limited in scope, includes many more complicating factors from a genetic perspective, is much more difficult to investigate by way of DNA evidence, and, in my view and that of Book of Mormon scholars, is a more accurate interpretation of the Lamanite lineage history. This hypothesis suggests that when the three colonizing parties came to the New World, the land was already occupied in whole or in part by people of an unknown genetic heritage. “(Whiting, p. 31). He later states that according to the local colonization hypothesis, “the Lamanite lineage did not populate the whole North and South American continent.” (Whiting, p. 33). Given his starting point, Whiting’s argument is logical, scientifically sound and accurately relates the difficulties such a scenario would cause for even finding Lamanite genes.
However, this is a limited disclosure at best and a somewhat misleading since other Latter-day Scriptures and Mormon sources do identify the Lamanites. For example, the previously cited statement in the Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith — History, 1:34, where Joseph Smith relates that “[Moroni] said there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from which they sprang.”
A later Mormon publication, a brochure distributed at the Hill Cumorah pageant, states: “About A.D. 421 Moroni, the last survivor of a great civilization that inhabited the Americas from 600 B.C. to A.D. 420, buried in this hill a set of gold plates on which he recorded the history of his people” (“Welcome to Historic Mormon Country”).
These descriptions, provided by the founding Mormon Prophet (11) and current leaders of the Church he established, do not seem to fit with a limited geography hypothesis that now acknowledges the first inhabitants of the Americas were from Northern Asia thousands of years before the Jaredite landing, and which limits Book of Mormon peoples to a small 400 mile stretch of Central America.
The limited geography / local colonization hypothesis requires a series of assumptions that go contrary to the natural reading of the Book of Mormon—witness the hemispheric geography understanding propagated by generations of Mormon leaders. Also, adopting a limited geography for the Book of Mormon comes at the cost of rejecting both the teachings of the Prophets of the Mormon Church and their interpretations of Mormon Scriptures.
APOLOGY #3 “A Few Thoughts from a Believing Scientist” (John M. Butler, Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, vol. 12, no. 1, 2003, pp. 36-37)
Butler’s primary point is stated early on in his short article. The Book of Mormon does not provide sufficient information on the biological backgrounds of Ishamel’s wife and the wives of his two sons (who would have provided the mitochondrial DNA lineages of the Nephites and Lamanites).
“Thus we are left without enough information from the Book of Mormon record itself to identify definitively an appropriate genetic source population that could be used to calibrate the claims of the Book of Mormon. Likewise, we do not have sufficient information to declare the Book of Mormon not true” (p. 36).
Nor, according to Butler, is it possible to know if there is any genetic tie to the biblical patriarchs via Y chromosome male lineage.
“… it is unclear whether or not these [Lehi’s] offspring would also have Manasseh, Joseph, Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham in their patrilineage” (p. 36).
After rehearsing other Book of Mormon ambiguities, Butler is content to settle for a scientific stalemate.
“Thus, we are left where we started (and where I believe the Lord intended us to be)—in the realm of faith. A spiritual witness is the only way to know the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. Although DNA studies have made links between Native Americans and Asians, these studies in no way invalidate the Book of Mormon despite the loud voices of detractors. “(p. 37).
The Book of Mormon is indeed lacking certain lineage details, yet how necessary are they, in light of the proclamations of the living prophets? Should Mormon people believe Spencer W. Kimball when he is quoted in The Ensign of July 1971, pp. 7ff saying,
“The term Lamanite includes all Indians and Indian mixtures, such as the Polynesians, the Guatemalans, the Peruvians, as well as the Sioux, the Apache, the Mohawk, the Navajo, and others. It is a large group of great people. “(p. 7)… There are no blessings, of all the imaginable ones, to which you are not entitled—you, the Lamanites—when you are righteous. You are of royal blood, the children of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Lehi “(page 10).
In an attempt to leave the door open for other populations in the new world at the arrival of Lehi, Butler also questions the complete annihilation of the supposed Jaredite nation as related in the Book of Mormon. He suggests that Ether’s prophecy only relates to Coriantumr’s household, leaving open the possibility that breakaway groups of Jaredite descent would have not participated in the battle and would have survived. And yet, even a cursory reading of Ether chapters 13-15 makes it clear that while Coriantumr and all his household were to repent to avoid destruction, if they did not the people would be destroyed for “every soul should be destroyed save it were Coriantumr” (Ether 13:20-21). There is no repentance, and war rages over the whole face of the land (v. 25) which lasts for years resulting in the deaths of millions of men as well as their wives and children and culminates in a final battle. Prior to this final battle, for four years the Jaredite people gather together “that they might get all who were upon the face of the land” (Ether 15:14). Once the people are gathered there is one final six-day battle at the Hill Ramah where everyone is killed except Coriantumr.
Accepting a limited geography/local colonization hypothesis requires a series of assumptions that go contrary to the natural reading of the Book of Mormon, a reading both assumed and taught by generations of Mormon leaders. Further, these assumptions are dictated by apologetic necessity.
FOOTNOTES
11 For additional documented examples of statements by Joseph Smith regarding Book of Mormon geography see Luke Wilson’s paper, “Does Archaeology Support the Book of Mormon? A survey of the evidence”, 1992, pp. 6-10, available in print form from IRR or online here: http://irr.org/mit/bomarch2.html.
The following has been adapted from
http://www.irr.org/mit/lamanites-dna-bom.html
They go into far greater details than I in the following abridgement.
This section continues to examine ways Mormon apologists and scholars have attempted to defend the Book of Mormon
APOLOGETIC #4 “Who Are the Children of Lehi?” (D. Jeffrey Meldrum and Trent D. Stephens, Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, vol. 12, no. 1, 2003, pp. 38-51.)
This article forthrightly acknowledges the biological and cultural connection between New World and Asian populations, and cites genetic studies that conclude that “the origins of 99.6 percent of Native Americans are accounted for now by the five haplogroups: A,B,C,D, and X” and that the data gathered, “in concert with archaeological and anthropological studies, have largely confirmed the scientific hypothesis that northeast Asia is the primary source of the majority of the early inhabitants of the Americas” (p. 42).
The authors acknowledge that the hypothesis that all Native Americans are of Middle Eastern (Semitic) origins is advocated by people who accept the Book of Mormon, but admit this hypothesis is refuted by the genetic data (pp. 42-43). Like the previously cited apologists, Meldrum and Stephens also propose a limited scope and setting for the Book of Mormon:
“The Book of Mormon is the account of a small group of people who lived on the American continent, interacting to some degree with the indigenous population but relatively isolated from the general historical events occurring elsewhere in the Americas” (p. 44.)
Meldrum and Stephens concede that the assumption that all Native Americans are Lehi’s direct descendants “seems to have been held by many early members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is still held by most today” (p. 40). Where has this view come from? According to the authors, “A superficial consideration of the Book of Mormon account has led to misconceptions about its scope and context” (p. 40). Unfortunately, what is left unsaid is where these “misconceptions” and “assumptions” originated. As shown previously, most Mormons today hold these views because they came from the teachings of their highest spiritual leaders. (See, for example, the 1990 letter from the First Presidency on the location of the Hill Cumorah.)
A unique contribution by Meldrum and Stephens is the idea that from Lehi there arose Nephite and Lamanite ‘cultures’ as opposed to ethnic groups. The Lamanites in particular should be understood as a cultural-political-religious group, not one defined by lineage (p. 39). . . . . his concept is likened to those of ‘covenant’ and ‘kinship’ as social and religious unifying factors. These effectively render genetic connections irrelevant. According to Meldrum and Stephens,
“The data suggest that a small colony under the leadership of Nephi established kinship within the fabric of a larger resident population. In effect, it was a situation of ‘them and us’—Lamanites and Nephites. The Nephites were the believers, while the Lamanites were everyone else (see for example Jacob 1:14; Alma 3:11). This perception differs little from the concept of “Jew and Gentile,” the latter term encompassing all non Jews. With final destruction of the Nephite kinship, all who remained in the Americas were “Lamanites. … All Native Americans are in fact descended from these “Lamanites”—these “Gentiles” of the record of Nephi’s people” (p. 51).
While gutting the term Lamanite of any ethnic significance removes the indicting sting of DNA evidence contra the Book of Mormon, it in turn raises an important question. If since the close of the Book of Mormon everyone is a Lamanite, then Lamanite is no longer a valid ethnic identity or category. But if Lamanite is not an ethnic category connected to Hebrews who immigrated to the Western Hemisphere, then what hope is there of fulfilling the Book of Mormon prophecies that a Hebrew remnant would be gathered in the last days? As seen previously in this paper, Mormon Presidents, Apostles and General Authorities have spoken repeatedly of Lamanite conversions from all over the world as a fulfillment of Book of Mormon prophecies. These prophecies, which refer to the “gathering of Israel” (3 Nephi 21) the “remnant of our seed” (2 Nephi 30:3-4; D&C 19:26-27), and “the Day of the Lamanite” (Helaman 15:11-16), depend to a large degree on the identification of Lamanites as the Jewish remnant that is to be gathered.
All such Book of Mormon prophetic interpretations are rendered null and void if, as Meldrum and Stephens suggest, “all who remained in the Americas were ‘Lamanites.’”
APOLOGETIC #5 “Does DNA Evidence Refute the Book of Mormon?” (Jeffrey D. Lindsay, Ph.D., 16 November 2003).
In this 70+ page article (including over 10 pages of resource and bibliographic material) Mormon apologist Lindsay presents a dizzying array of quotes, sources and commentary pertaining to DNA studies. (13) His conclusions are similar to those of other Mormon scholar-apologists, to wit, the evidence is too complex, confusing and uncertain to allow us to be able to draw any negative conclusions about the Book of Mormon:
“It is clear that the origins of the Americas are more complicated than previously thought. This applies not only to scientists, but to those who accept the Book of Mormon. Just as scientific progress requires abandoning old errant assumptions, increased knowledge of the Americas and improved understanding of the Book of Mormon text itself shows that many Latter-day Saints have incorrectly assumed that the Americas were a vacuum prior to Lehi’s arrival, and that Lehi’s group provided the primary genetic source for all Native Americas. These errant assumptions should be abandoned, but since the text does not make such claims, all we need abandon is our misunderstanding, not a sacred volume of scripture that is indeed an authentic ancient text.”
Lindsay, like the apologists before him, concedes significant ground on “old errant assumptions” regarding the Book of Mormon, and yet like the aforementioned writers, makes no attempt to determine or identify where such ideas originated; ideas that now need to be abandoned. Lindsey also declares the Book of Mormon to be “an authentic ancient text” which in itself is a judgment of an historical, scientific nature.
FOOTNOTES
13 http://www.lds.org/newsroom/files/jeff_lindsay_dna.pdf