348: Simon Southerton, DNA, Lamanites and the Book of Mormon Pt. 1

Mormon Stories Podcast

Dr. John Dehlin

Religion & Spirituality

4.5 • 5.7K Ratings

🗓️ 23 May 2012

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Simon Southerton is a native Australian, geneticist, former LDS bishop, and author of the book, Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA and the Mormon Church. Simon was a member of the LDS church for almost 30 years, serving a mission in Melbourne (1981-83), marrying in the New Zealand Temple in 1983, and serving in numerous church positions including four terms as Young Men President, a counselor in several bishoprics and branch presidencies, and finally as bishop. While serving as bishop Simon began studying Native American DNA which he expected to have Middle Eastern origins, given the primary Book of Mormon narrative and longstanding church teachings to this effect. Discovering instead that Native American DNA was almost 100% of Asiatic origin, this seriously challenged Simon’s belief that the Lamanites are the ancestors of the American Indians, and that the Book of Mormon is a historical document. Consequently, Simon resigned from his calling as bishop in 1998 and left the church soon thereafter.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Mormon Stories Podcast. I'm John DeLin. On this episode of the Mormon
0:04.6	Stories Podcast, I interview Simon Sotherton, author of the book, Losing a
0:08.8	Loss Tribe, Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church, published by Signature
0:13.4	Banks. In 1998, Simon stepped down from his calling his bishop when he
0:17.9	discovered DNA research that in his mind overwhelmingly disproved the Book of
0:22.3	Mormon claims regarding the true lineage of the Lamanites or Native
0:26.0	Americans. Finding no scientific basis for the widely accepted Mormon teaching
0:30.4	that the inhabitants of North Central and South America were descendants of
0:34.0	Lehigh and thus a scattered branch of Israel, Simon found his faith deeply
0:38.6	shaken and asked to be released from his calling as a bishop. He talks about the
0:42.7	feelings he experienced as he made this life-changing decision. I would go from
0:46.7	absolute peaks of exhilaration, feeling like I'd resolved. All of these
0:51.4	problems, you know, flood, evolution, Book of Mormon problems, all of those
0:56.9	were resolved, but then too utter despair. A few years later, Simon published a
1:00.8	book about DNA in the Book of Mormon only to find himself labeled as a critic of
1:04.5	the Church, and those seven years inactive at that point. Church leaders in his
1:09.4	native Australia actively sought his excommunication. In the interview, Simon
1:14.0	discusses the apologetic response to the evidence. Everything that he
1:17.4	apologised right and say is unofficial, the Church doesn't stand behind it, so
1:21.9	you've got to ask yourself, why do we have to accept this if the leaders of the
1:26.5	Church aren't prepared to stand behind it, even when they're paying the salaries?
1:30.2	And where the Church should go from here. Which everywhere they go, I think
	...

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