Scholar vs. scripture
The week's news at a glance.
Salt Lake City
Mormon church leaders are threatening to excommunicate an anthropologist who claims the sacred Book of Mormon is “a piece of 19th-century fiction.” Mormon scripture, which church founder Joseph Smith said was given to him by an angel, holds that many American Indians are descended from ancient Israelites. Thomas W. Murphy, a Mormon doctoral student, checked the church’s own vast DNA database and concluded the first Native Americans came from across the Bering Strait—as other anthropologists believe—and not from the Middle East. Church leaders say Murphy’s findings don’t prove anything, and amount to an abandonment of the faith. Nonsense, said Murphy. “It’s time to openly discuss the possibility of viewing the Book of Mormon as fiction, but inspired fiction.”
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
A little-visited Indian Ocean archipelago
The Week Recommends The paradise of the Union of the Comoros features beautiful beaches, colourful coral reefs and lush forests
-
AI: is the bubble about to burst?
In the Spotlight Stock market ever-more reliant on tech stocks whose value relies on assumptions of continued growth and easy financing
-
Sudoku hard: October 19, 2025
The Week's daily hard sudoku puzzle