“Archeologists and physical anthropologists have not found any evidence of Hebrew origins for the people of North, South and Central America….The origin of the people in North, South, and Central America….was North Asia.”
Dr. Stephen L. Whittington
Anthropologist
Univ. of Maine
“We are in a dilemma now. The DNA evidence shows clearly that the American Indians are not Hebrews, not Israelites.”
Thomas Murphy
Mormon Scholar
Chair of Anthropology
Edmonds Community College
Doctoral candidate
So what does the average Mormon who’s dedicated their entire life to this belief system do now?
What do they teach their children? What do they tell their kids or grandkids who asks about the American Indians and the Lamanites?
Certainly they’re still being taught they’re the Jews who came over to America and turned dark because of sin.
If Lehi and company aren’t Jewish then who are they and what are they doing in the Book of Mormon?
Ed Decker and I attended a seminar the University of Washington hosted for Thomas Murphy about ten years ago. As he gave his defense on why the claims in the Book of Mormon were false we prayed for him in the back of the classroom.
Murphy had been warned by the dean and provost at Edmonds Community College that he shouldn’t be speaking out publicly to discredit the Mormon Church. His boss just so happened to be his father-in-law as well.
Thomas Murphy and his wife were active temple worthy Mormons at the time of his presentation and he went on to appear in several interviews in the Book of Mormon Archaeology DVD’s produced by Living Hope Ministries in Brigham City, Utah.
His internal struggle to speak the truth while not losing his family and job must have been intense I’m sure. The man had dedicated his life and whole career in working as an archaeologist in Central and South America searching for stuff that was never there to begin with.
This is interesting-one of their own refuting the writings of LDS. Do you know if he left the Mormon Church as a result of that lecture/presentation?
I haven’t heard that he’s accepted the Lord. I do know he’s still teaching at Edmond’s Community College which is about a 20 minute drive from my home.
I’m also not sure that he was officially axed from the Church. I’ve read letters he and his wife wrote to the Stake Presidency asking they withhold any court but that was around ten years ago.