I thought I would share a post from my Facebook page, because there are several fossilized apologists who gain so much inspiration from this group.
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For decades, Mormon scholars at BYU have believed the Semitic Nephite civilisation and the Maya civilisation were one and the same. According to these apologists, archaeological ruins throughout Mesoamerica bear witness to this claim. Preeminent LDS apologist, John Sorenson, has found hundreds of weak parallels between the Maya and the Nephites, and prominent Mormon apologists Daniel Peterson, Terryl Givens and Richard Bushman have praised Sorenson's Maya research from the rooftops. Meanwhile, Michael Coe, a leading scientific expert on the Maya, has said these claims are wishful thinking.
"๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐ฉ๐จ ๐ค๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ข๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐๐ง ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฉ ๐ฃ๐ค๐ฉ๐๐๐ฃ๐, ๐๐๐จ๐ค๐ก๐ช๐ฉ๐๐ก๐ฎ ๐ฃ๐ค๐ฉ๐๐๐ฃ๐, ๐๐๐จ ๐๐ซ๐๐ฃ ๐จ๐๐ค๐ฌ๐ฃ ๐ช๐ฅ ๐๐ฃ ๐๐ฃ๐ฎ ๐๐๐ฌ ๐๐ค๐ง๐ก๐ ๐๐ญ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ ๐ฌ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฌ๐ค๐ช๐ก๐ ๐จ๐ช๐๐๐๐จ๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ฅ๐๐จ๐จ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐๐ฉ๐ ๐ค๐๐จ๐๐ง๐ซ๐๐ง ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ฝ๐ค๐ค๐ ๐ค๐ ๐๐ค๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ฃ, ๐๐จ ๐๐ก๐๐๐ข๐๐ ๐๐ฎ ๐ ๐ค๐จ๐๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ข๐๐ฉ๐, ๐๐จ ๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ค๐ง๐๐๐๐ก ๐๐ค๐๐ช๐ข๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐ง๐๐ก๐๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ค๐ง๐ฎ ๐ค๐ ๐๐๐ง๐ก๐ฎ ๐ข๐๐๐ง๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐ค๐ช๐ง ๐๐๐ข๐๐จ๐ฅ๐๐๐ง๐."
During the 1990s, molecular genetic research began to reveal, in remarkable clarity, the true ancestry of Indigenous Americans. Research on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), a small portion of our genes which is passed from mothers to their offspring down the generations, showed that essentially all Native Americans today are descended from Asian ancestors. No Semitic DNA was detected.
When Thomas Murphy, Brent Metcalfe and myself pointed out this glaring problem 20 years ago, we were subjected to intense criticism and character assassination by BYU apologists. They said we were attacking a straw man; the widely held false belief (according to them) that Book of Mormon events occurred across the New World. Half a century of 'serious' and 'careful' BYU research had revealed the Book of Mormon story was limited to Mesoamerica. If you had been fooled into believing the Book of Mormon story was hemispheric in scope, like all the prophets and ordinary members were, you were a lazy reader. If this apologetics makes you feel a bit nauseous, it is because you have just been gaslighted.
When I first looked at genetic research on Native Americans in 1998, only a handful of Maya had been studied. I decided to take a closer look at what mtDNA research has revealed in the last 20 years.
Today, 1,108 Maya have had their mtDNA tested, including 138 individuals who died before Columbus arrived (Figure). Over 99.6% of Maya mtDNAs (lineages A -D) originated in Asia, entering the Americas over 15,000 years ago. Four lineages originated in Africa (lineage L) and one came from Europe (lineage H5). All five non-indigenous mtDNAs almost certainly arrived on a Spanish galleon. Not a single Maya mtDNA lineage was derived from Semitic populations in the Middle East. In other words, 100% of pre-Columbian Maya DNA is derived from Asia.
Rather than challenging the science, BYU apologists have retreated to positions that require radical reinterpretations of LDS scripture. They now claim the descendants of Lehi were a small ruling class of elites, but they had luckless DNA. In spite of ruling for 1000 years, due to processes such as genetic drift, and bottlenecks caused by disease and wars etc, Lehi's Israelite DNA kept losing the genetic lottery. Today it has essentially become extinct, a bit like all the Old World technology the Nephites allegedly brought to the New World (steel, the wheel, horses, cattle, wheat etc), which has also never been found.
The mythical gold plates record was written by a people, and to a people, who have vanished.
If I have learned anything from the events of the last year, it is that beliefs based on emotion are virtually impervious to facts. Mormon apologists will carry their fossilized and racist views to their graves. Progress will occur, funeral by funeral. Our best hope is that the rising generation of Mormons shun the false history contained within the Book of Mormon and the 19th century white supremacy it perpetuates.
Selected references with links. (* good; ** better; ***best)
*Elwess, N. L. et al. 2015. Analysis of ancient mitochondrial DNA within the Tipu Maya Collection. Internet J. Biol. Anthropol. 8(1). http://ispub.com/IJBA/8/1/30723.
***Gonzalez-Oliver, A. et al. 2019. Genetic Overview of the Maya Populations: Mitochondrial DNA Haplogroups. https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol_preprints/147
**Sochtig, J. et al. 2015 Genomic insights on the ethno-history of the Maya and the โLadinosโ from Guatemala https://bmcgenomics.biomedcentral.com/. ... 015-1339-1
