And then we have this:
John M. Butler
Recent claims concerning the supposed absence
of DNA evidence in support of the
Book of Mormon have caused me to investigate
more closely what the record itself has to say on
the topic. The mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) lineage
of Nephi’s children (and of Laman’s offspring)
would come through Ishmael’s wife since the four
oldest sons of Lehi as well as Zoram married the five
daughters of Ishmael (see 1 Nephi 16:7). Unfortunately,
Ishmael’s wife is of unknown background
and heritage. In fact, she is mentioned only twice in
the Book of Mormon (see 1 Nephi 7:6, 19) and may
have died before Ishmael since she is not mentioned
as a mourner when Ishmael dies at Nahom (see 1
Nephi 16:34–35). Perhaps the historical information
in the large plates of Nephi, or even the 116 pages
translated in 1828 and lost by Martin Harris, could
shed some light on Ishmael’s wife’s background if
only we had access to them.
The wives of Ishmael’s two sons (see 1 Nephi 7:6)
would also potentially introduce additional mtDNA
lineages into the Nephite and Lamanite descendants,
as would Nephi’s sisters (see 2 Nephi 5:6). But, again,
the Book of Mormon record is silent regarding their
backgrounds. Thus, we are left without enough information
from the Book of Mormon record itself
to identify definitively an appropriate genetic source
population that could be used to calibrate the claims
of the Book of Mormon. Likewise, we do not have
sufficient information to declare the Book of
Mormon not true.
While Lehi’s direct male offspring would possess
a copy of his Y chromosome, it is unclear whether
or not these offspring would also have Manasseh,
Joseph, Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham in their patrilineage,
because Lehi is listed only as “a descendant of
Manasseh” in Alma 10:3. Lehi could meet the definition
of a descendant of Manasseh from a large number
of genealogical lineages without being in the direct
patrilineal line and possessing an Abrahamic Y
chromosome. In addition, the fact that Mormon
uses the phrase pure descendant of Lehi to describe
himself in 3 Nephi 5:20 would seem to indicate that
Lehi’s lineage was a rare one in Mormon’s day.
Interestingly absent from the critics’ contentions
is mention of the Jaredites. The Jaredite nation existed
for more than 1,500 years before the Lehites
arrived in the promised land. This group spanned at
least 29 generations (see Ether 1:6–33) with combinations
of marriages between people whose background
we know virtually nothing about. The
Jaredites most likely traveled from central Asia to
northeast Asia and then via barges to the New World
(see Hugh Nibley, Lehi in the Desert; The World of
the Jaredites; There Were Jaredites [1988], 181–82).
Genetically, their path of travel would have seemed
much like land passage across the Bering Strait if
others along that route joined them and Asian
bloodlines entered their group as they traveled. After
arriving in the New World, the Jaredite people had
hundreds of years to grow and spread across parts of
the continent, perhaps encountering and intermarrying
with other groups of unknown origin.
We usually think of the Jaredite nation as being
completely annihilated in the final battle between
the armies of Coriantumr and Shiz (see Ether 15).
However, the prophecy of Ether states that all of
Coriantumr’s household would be destroyed if he did
not repent (see Ether 13:20–21), which does not
necessarily mean all of the descendants of the original
Jaredite colonization party. It is entirely conceivable
that one or more groups had broken away from
A FEW THOUGHTS FROM A
BELIEVING DNA SCIENTIST
John M. Butler
the main Jaredite colony and survived outside of the
record describing the downfall of the Coriantumr
and Shiz camps. In fact, Hugh Nibley has argued for
some kind of interaction and influence between the
Jaredite and Lehite groups because of the continuance
of such Jaredite names as Korihor (see Alma
30; Ether 7:3) and Coriantumr (see Helaman 1:15)
in Nephite times (see Nibley, Lehi in the Desert; The
World of the Jaredites; There Were Jaredites, 245).
While it is possible to speculate endlessly about scenarios
that would make Book of Mormon story
lines compatible with current DNA evidence, the
record itself is simply not descriptive enough to
provide definitive calibration points with which to
make confident scientific conclusions.
Thus, we are left where we started (and where I
believe the Lord intended us to be)—in the realm of
faith. A spiritual witness is the only way to know the
truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. Although DNA
studies have made links between Native Americans
and Asians, these studies in no way invalidate the Book
of Mormon despite the loud voices of detractors. !
fairlds.org/pubs/Butler_DNA.pdf
Same as my reaction to reading the BOM. When one really decides to read the BOM, it takes something like translating it into plain English in order to fully understand how accurate it is, and that it contains condemnations of the very belief system that Mormons think it supports.
I have seen some “good god-fearing Christians” who were the most vile racists and bigots. Some of them even being “Catholic.” Each group has all types. 
