STORY: Hebrew DNA found in South America?

This story came about when I saw another story that mentioned some of the work by the Sorenson Molecular Genealogical Foundation. It was fun to write and generated a lot of comments on DeseretNews.com. Most of the comments missed the point (as comments usually do). The story wasn't trying to say that the DNA traces they found had proved anything. It was trying to say that if you believed the standards of the Book of Mormon critics (which are lousy) then you would have to say the book was now true. That is, of course, just as absurd a conclusion. I should have made this clearer in the story.

Hebrew DNA found in South America?

Published: Monday, May. 12, 2008

Was Hebrew DNA recently found in American Indian populations in South America? According to Scott R. Woodward, executive director of Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation, a DNA marker, called the "Cohen modal haplotype," sometimes associated with Hebrew people, has been found in Colombia, Brazil and Bolivia.

But it probably has nothing to do with the Book of Mormon -- at least not directly.

For years several critics of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and of the Book of Mormon have claimed that the lack of Hebrew DNA markers in living Native American populations is evidence the book can't be true. They say the book's description of ancient immigrations of Israelites is fictional.

"But," said Woodward, "as Hugh Nibley used to say, 'Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.' "

Read the rest of the story at MormonTimes.com.