If the Book of Mormon were historical, wouldn’t we see clear “Israelite DNA” in the Americas? That’s the viral claim online—and it’s built on a misunderstanding of how population genetics works.

In this episode, we walk through key misconceptions highlighted by geneticists John M. Butler (forensic genetics—think CSI: Crime Scene Investigation) and Ugo Perego (population genetics / Native American ancestry research), and we explain why “no DNA = fake” is way too simplistic.

We cover:

•Why the absence of a specific “Israelite signature” doesn’t settle anything (we don’t have Lehi’s reference genome)

•The difference between forensic DNA matching and population genetics (real life isn’t The Simpsons / CSI)

•Why the Book of Mormon text doesn’t require a “hemispheric / everyone-descends-from-Lehi” model

•Why “we can sequence Neanderthals, so why not Nephites?” is an apples-to-oranges comparison

•How drift, bottlenecks, founder effects, and later migrations can overwhelm small founding lineages over time

===Informed Saints Credits===

Produced by The Ancient America Foundation

Producer: Spencer Clark

Hosts: Stephen Smoot, Neal Rappleye, Jasmin Rappleye

Further Readings:

https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/archive/publications/the-book-of-mormon-and-the-origin-of-native-americans-from-a-maternally-inherited-dna-standpoint

https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1658&context=msr

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?oi=gsb40&q=ugo%20a%20perego&lookup=0&hl=en

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aax0061

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5100745/

https://gcbias.org/2013/11/11/how-does-your-number-of-genetic-ancestors-grow-back-over-time/

https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1308&context=jbms

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics-essays/book-of-mormon-and-dna-studies?lang=eng

https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/answers/DNA_and_the_Book_of_Mormon

https://mormonr.org/qnas/37RI8b/dna_and_the_book_of_mormon

https://www.deseretbook.com/product/6054479.html?srsltid=AfmBOoo3Wz0Hoix0kuKzEXHUTkStm8Qu-nHzrWx6Nm4f22-cXbyTWG_S

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===Discover===

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===Content Disclaimer===

The views expressed represent ours alone and do not necessarily reflect the official position of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

#BookofMormon #DNA #LDS #Mormon #LatterDaySaints #Apologetics #Christianity #Religion #Bible #Genetics #PopulationGenetics #NativeAmericanHistory