American Indians: Jewish: Yes or No?
Genetic evidence
either gives evidence that the American Indians, or those of Alaska, Mexico,
Central America, and South America have Jewish genetics. Mormons claim that the
ancient inhabitants of the Americas were descendants of the Jews.
"[The angel] said the Indians were the literal descendants of Abraham…" (Joseph Smith, Journal, 9 November 1835. See Scott H. Faulring, ed., An American Prophet's Record: The Diaries and Journals of Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Signature Books and Smith Research Associates, 1987), p. 51; Dean C. Jessee, ed., The Papers of Joseph Smith: Volume 2-Journal, 1832-1842 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1992), p. 70; Dan Vogel, ed., Early Mormon Documents (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1996), 1:44.
Apparently
a battle between the Lamanites and the Nephites occurred and the Lamanites were
the principal ancestors of the American Indians.[1]
The Lamanite is supposed to be a descendant of Lehi who had left Jerusalem
about 600 years before Jesus Christ. Nephi, with his family, crossed the ocean(s)
and landed in America. Lehi, along with his family, became the ancestors of all
the Indian and Mestizo tribes located in North and South Central America, the
islands of the sea who those who had left America in ships and went to the
islands of the sea. This information was lost until Joseph Smith, Jr., found
the Book of Mormon. Lamanites, a people o some 60 million were in all the
states of America, in the islands of the sea: Hawaii, southern New Zealand,
from Tierra de Fuego to Point Barrows. This is said to been written on the gold
plates found or given to, by Joseph Smith, Jr., that which contained a running
history for one thousand years-six hundred years before Jesus Christ and until
some 400 years after Jesus Christ a history of these people who occupied this
land for a thousand years. When Columbus landed in 1492 he called them
“Indians.” [2] Some
apologists claim that the Nephites and the Lamanites shared their land with
other inhabitants not from Jerusalem, but is this consistent with the book of
Mormon:
"8. And behold, it is wisdom
that this land should be kept as yet from the knowledge of other nations; for
behold, many nations would overrun the land, that there would be no place for
an inheritance.
9. Wherefore, I, Lehi, have
obtained a promise, that inasmuch as those whom the Lord God shall bring out of
the land of Jerusalem shall keep his commandments, they shall prosper upon the
face of the land; and they shall be kept from all other nations, that they may
possess this land unto themselves. And if it so be that they shall keep his
commandments they shall be blessed upon the face of this land, and there shall
be none to molest them, nor to take away the land of their inheritance; and
they shall dwell safely forever." (2 Nephi 1:8-9)
Science does not support this view
that the Native Americans are Jewish or from Jewish stock. There should be
found antigen evidence to support the Mormon view and yet there is no blood
antigen evidence to support that view. What was found upon examination was that
natives of North and South America, the Pacific Islanders all have genetics
alleles (two or more alternative forms of a gene occupying the same position on
matching chromosomes) that can be traced exclusively to Asia. Mitochondrial DNA
has become a very important tool in law as well as science and Mitochondrial
DNA is transmitted unilineally and cannot be watered down by intermarriage,
even the mitochondrial of a single remote ancestor of a group would most likely
show up at east occasionally in tests.
As noted by geneticist Simon
Southerton:
"I began searching for research
papers having some connection with American Indians or Polynesians. Because I
was familiar with plant genetics I became interested in recent
research on the DNA of American Indians. The principles of DNA
analysis are applicable to all living things so it was relatively easy to jump
from the plant to the animal kingdom. I rapidly accumulated many scientific
papers comparing the mitochondrial DNA of American Indians from numerous tribes
with the mitochondrial DNA of other populations around the world. Mitochondrial
DNA is passed from mother to child each generation. It is essentially a female
genealogical lineage, or a maiden name if you like, stored in the mitochondrial
DNA sequence. This part of the total DNA genome is used for population studies
in many animal species. It is very simple to study because the mitochondrial
genes don't get rearranged each generation like most genes, which are inherited
as a mixed bag from previous generations. I was equally interested in more
recent Y-chromosome DNA studies. Male lineages, much like DNA surnames, are
passed from father to son and clearly reveal male genealogical lineages. As
noted by geneticist Simon Southerton:
"I began searching for research
papers having some connection with American Indians or Polynesians. Because I
was familiar with plant genetics I became interested in recent
research on the DNA of American Indians. The principles of DNA
analysis are applicable to all living things so it was relatively easy to jump
from the plant to the animal kingdom. I rapidly accumulated many scientific
papers comparing the mitochondrial DNA of American Indians from numerous tribes
with the mitochondrial DNA of other populations around the world. Mitochondrial
DNA is passed from mother to child each generation. It is essentially a female
genealogical lineage, or a maiden name if you like, stored in the mitochondrial
DNA sequence. This part of the total DNA genome is used for population studies
in many animal species. It is very simple to study because the mitochondrial
genes don't get rearranged each generation like most genes, which are inherited
as a mixed bag from previous generations. I was equally interested in more
recent Y-chromosome DNA studies. Male lineages, much like DNA surnames, are
passed from father to son and clearly reveal male genealogical lineages.
"In the last decade scientists
from several research groups had tested the mitochondrial DNA of over 2000
American Indians from about a hundred tribes scattered over the length of the
Americas. It soon became apparent to me that about 99% of their female lineages
were brought into the Americas in excess of 12,000 years ago. Almost all of
these lineages are most closely related to those of people in Asia,
particularly in southern Siberia near Mongolia. Several tribes in Mesoamerica
(which included Aztecs and Mayans) had been tested and all but a couple of
individuals out of about 500 had mitochondrial DNA of Asian origin. The small
fraction of Native American lineages that were not from Asia appeared to
originate in Europe, most likely Spain. DNA studies also showed that the female
ancestors of the Polynesians came from South East Asia and not the Americas.
Y-chromosome studies, which trace male migrations, strongly support the
mitochondrial work, except that the European influence is higher (about 10% in
the Americas).
"For two weeks I wrestled with
the research. I collected more and more research papers but failed to find
anything that supported migration of Jewish people before Columbus. Enough is
known about the DNA lineages of Jews to be very confident that they are clearly
distinguishable from Asian lineages. They would also be easily identifiable if
they were present in the Americas in significant numbers. I struggled with the
complete discrepancy between the research and my understanding of the Book
of Mormon and the doctrine
of the Lamanites. The Book of Mormon describes the occurrence
of Hebrew civilizations in the Americas numbering in the millions. It is clear
that the victorious Lamanites would have numbered in the millions in about 400
AD. I could not understand how such large numbers of people could have escaped
detection…
"Soon after I came to the
realization that the Book of Mormon is not what it claims to be, I
became deeply upset. I had firmly believed that it was true. I had not been
looking for evidence to prove it wrong. I had been looking for research that
could be viewed as supportive. It was a shock to have my belief shattered so
quickly…
"I corresponded with this BYU
professor on about four occasions until I became even more convinced of the
seriousness of the situation. He was a very nice man and he was very honest
with me. In the midst of his lengthy defenses of the Church he acknowledged
that greater than 98% of American Indians came from Asia and that this
conflicts with current thinking in the church regarding the whereabouts of the
Lamanites today. Not only did he confirm my conclusions, he strengthened them
even further. He confirmed that scientists at BYU had tested 3000 American
Indians from Peru and they came up with the same problem of virtually all the
female DNA lineages coming from Asia. Now I knew that all three major
civilizations in the Americas the Aztecs, Maya and Incas were comprised of
people who trace their genealogy back to Siberia. Data from Peru had been
conspicuously lacking in my research."[3]
Consider also this recent conclusion (May, 2002) by Thomas
Murphy that genetic research fails to show any connection between Native
Americans and Israelite DNA:
"Some Latter-day Saints have
expressed optimism that DNA research would lead to a vindication of the Book
of Mormon as a translation of a genuine ancient document. The hope is that
DNA research would link Native Americans to ancient Israelites, buttressing LDS
beliefs in a way that has not been forthcoming from archaeological, linguistic,
historical, or morphological research. The results, though, have been
disappointing. So far, DNA research lends no support to traditional Mormon
beliefs about the origins of Native Americans. Genetic data repeatedly point to
migrations from Asia between 7,000 and 50,000 years ago as the primary source
of Native American origins. DNA research has substantiated the archaeological,
cultural, linguistic, and biological evidence that also points overwhelmingly
to an Asian origin for Native Americans. While DNA evidence shows that
ultimately all human populations are rather closely related, to date no
intimate genetic link has been found between ancient Israelites and the indigenous
peoples of the Americas-much less within the time frame suggested by the Book
of Mormon. After considering recent research in molecular anthropology,
summarized here, I have concluded that Latter-day Saints should not expect to
find validation for the Book of Mormon in genetics. My assessment echoes
that of geneticist and former LDS Bishop Simon Southerton whose survey of the
literature on Native American DNA also "failed to find anything that
supported migration of Jewish people before Columbus." He concluded
"the truth is that there is no reliable scientific evidence supporting
migrations from the Middle East to the New World."[4]
Apologist Response
Hugh Nibley argued that the Nephites and Lamanites were not
the only inhabitants of ancient America:
"The book describes the doings of "a lonesome
and solemn people" who do not claim for a moment to be the sole
inhabitants of the hemisphere. When Brodie talks of Mound-builders and
Mongolians she is not talking about the Book of Mormon at all; she is
setting up a straw-man for her 'science' to 'disembowel'…The Moundbuilders
actually resemble the Book of Mormon people not at all. Who said they
did? The Book of Mormon tells of a people ages removed from the
Moundbuilders and very far away. Yet Brodie insinuates that because the
Moundbuilders (of all people) do not resemble the Nephites the Book of
Mormon is a fraud." (Hugh Nibley, No Ma'am, That's Not History)
President Gordon B. Hinckley said in a January, 2002
interview that the DNA evidence is inconclusive:
"HN: Now, Mr. President, one question which is a
little bit complicated for me to understand, but I heard it and one colleague
asked me to ask you. What will be your position when DNA analysis shows that in
history there never had been an immigration from Israel to North America? Could
it be that scientists will find out?
"GBH: It hasn't happened. That
hasn't been determined yet. All I can say is that's speculative. No one really
knows that, the answer to that. Not at this point." (Gordon B. Hinckley
Interview, ZDF German Television, Salt Lake City, Utah, January 29, 2002,
Conducted by Helmut Nemetschek)
On January 29, 2003 the following explanation
was offered by Michael Whiting:
"Genetic
drift and the Founder's Effect, two theories that can account for the loss of
genetic markers within a population, were probably at work over the last 1,600
years since Lehi and his family came to the American continent."
Mormon
apologists, try to explain the lack of DNA evidence, to support their claim, in
regards to American Indians are descendants of Jewish stock. The uneducated
about the Founder Effect or Genetic Drift will accept the theories of their
Mormon apologists and leaders. Evolutionists use the theories of the Founder
Effect, and Genetic Drift, and Bottlenecks theory to attempt to prove theories
on evolution. The Founder effect is simply an extreme example of Genetic Drift that
means that genes occur at certain frequencies in larger populations will occur
at different frequency in smaller subset of population. An example: human
diseases, genetically determined traits not seen or are uncommon in the overall
gene pool might crop up with frequency in a small subset of that pool.[5]
The Founder Effect occurs when a new colony is started by a few member of the
original population and this small population size means that the colony may
have reduced genetic variation form the original population or have a
non-random sample of the genes in the original population. Genetic drift can
cause big losses of genetic variation for small populations. A Bottleneck
occurs n a population when that population’s size is reduced for at least one
generation. A Bottleneck can reduce a population’s genetic variation by a lot. A
reduced genetic variation means that the population may not be able to adapt to
new selection pressures due to the selection of genetic variation that they
would have acted on may have already drifted out of the population.[6]
This means that the population, in this case the American Indian, a large
population, in fact, some 2 million people that were related died making for a
large population so that Genetic Drift, or the Founder Effect, may not have
affected the American Indian. To have a Genetic Drift, or a Founder Effect does
not mean that the original DNA is lost, only that other factors may contribute
to the overall DNA. What were those factors? I would include anyone who not of
their race to combine their DNA with the American Indian and this did not
happen.
Studies of
150 plus Indian tribes’ DNA reveals a total lack of Semitic genetic markers and
an article on this subject that appeared in USA Today can be read at http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-07-26-dna-lds_x.htm.
DNA testing is precise and
accurate enough to stand up in any court of law. The researchers
(referenced below) reporting this information have no personal agenda or anti-Mormon
axe to grind when they did their work—in fact, some were LDS to start with, and
some still are LDS. Testing of
mitochondrial DNA (can accurately pinpoint back through hundreds of
generations) of over 5500 persons from over 150 native American tribes in
North, South and Central America and Greenland, has revealed a total absence of
any DNA markers to tie the native Americans to Israelites; the markers instead
tie these people in 99.4% of cases to North and East Asian people (Siberia,
Mongolia). The other 0.6% of markers point to European or African
extraction. (Post-Columbian lineage) The Smithsonian Institution has
stated for decades, and this information confirms, that the native Americans
migrated from Asia, most likely across the Bering Strait (to Alaska) to
populate the Americas. This evidence is further confirmed by linguistic
similarities study, dental traits study, and study of the artifacts of the
cultures. ALL the evidence agrees. The Book of Mormon’s underlying
thesis (as stated on the title page, and in the introduction’s testimony by
Joseph Smith) is false in its claim to be a history of the former inhabitants
of this continent (North America) who were primarily Israelites.
The Book
of Mormon that claims to be the most correct book ever about history has a
problem: There cannot be found an Israelite migration. Mormons may ignore these
facts but the facts remain and with no Israelite migration, all the stories
found in the Book of Mormon become fiction. We must ask: Would God deceive us
or change the DNA, as some Mormons have suggested: to test the faith of
Mormons? This was not done in the Bible, so why would we think that He would do
this in the Book of Mormon, this would make Him a deceiver?
[1] Introduction
to the Book of Mormon, 1991 edition
[2] Spencer W.
Kimball, "Of Royal Blood," Ensign, July 1971, p. 7
[3] Simon
Southerton, DNA
genealogies of American Indians and the Book of Mormon, March 17,
2000
[4] Thomas W.
Murphy, "Lamanite
Genesis, Genealogy, and Genetics", American Apocrypha:
Essays on the Book of Mormon
[5] http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/06/3/l_063_03.html
[6] http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/bottlenecks_01
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