LDS, DNA and reality

Like most holy books, the Book of Mormon is a pretty creative fable, at least from my perspective.

Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism and the originator of the books of scripture behind the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), tells his flock about certain groups of people.

The Book of Mormon gives an account of ancient prophets who lived in the Americas, covering eventes that occurred from about 600 B.C. to 400 A.D. According to the book, some Jews came to America to avoid persecution in Jerusalem. They were divided into two enemy groups, the Nephites and the Lamanites.

In 428 A.D., the Nephites were defeated by the Lamanites who were no other than today's American Indians. Even though Joseph Smith revelations happened in 1830, there's generally no support among mainstream historians and archaeologists for the historical truth of the Book of Mormon that was written as a result of these revelations.

Worst yet, with the advent of the human genome, it's been found that Native Americans have very distinctive DNA markers, and some of them are most similar, among old world populations, to the DNA of people originating from central Asia, not the Middle East.

This conclusion supports the evidence that the ancestors of the American Indians came across the Bering Sea from Asia, with no traces of Middle Eastern ancestry. Of course, Mormon leaders are pushing back at that truth and are putting their own spin to preserve the credibility of their faith...