Doesn the DNA analysis work of Rebecca Cann prove that Native Americans are not descended from Jews?
Update from Aug. 2001: The answer below deals with a specific charge based on a 1987 publication and is useful primarily to illustrate the way anti-Mormon attacks are construed. Of course, Cann’s 1987 paper is old work and much more data now exists on DNA and Native Americans. For the latest information I have on that topic and its relevance to the Book of Mormon, please see my work in progress at http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDSFAQ/DNA.shtml. A. A number of critics have alleged that genetic evidence refutes the Book of Mormon. One example that many people have read and mentioned to me is a popular but very sarcastic anti-LDS article by Frank Zindler, a man claiming to be a reputable scientist. His article, “How to Lose a Steel Mill,” begins by mocking LDS temple garments in the standard anti-LDS way (see my LDSFAQ page of facetious questions for my response to such queries). Then he makes an attack which seems to have some substance: The missionaries will probably be a bit surprised to
