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.”
Subscribe to 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.
-
What should you be stockpiling for 'World War Three'?In the Spotlight Britons advised to prepare after the EU tells its citizens to have an emergency kit just in case
-
Carnivore diet: why people are eating only meatThe Explainer 'Meatfluencers' are taking social media by storm but experts warn meat-only diets have health consequences
-
Scientists want to fight malaria by poisoning mosquitoes with human bloodUnder the radar Drugging the bugs
