Anthropologist Thomas W. Murphy set out to test a key principle of his Mormon faith with the latest technology.
He wondered: Would DNA analysis show -- as taught by the Book of Mormon -- that many American Indians are descended from ancient Israelites?
His finding: negative.
The result: excommunication -- if a church disciplinary panel today finds him guilty of apostasy.
The sacred writings of many faiths make claims that might not stand up to scientific tests. But most faiths avoid conflict with scholarship either because their claims relate to events too far in the past to be tested or because they have reinterpreted their scriptural claims as metaphors, rather than assertions of literal fact.
For devout Mormons, however, neither of those defenses is available. The Book of Mormon, made public by Joseph Smith in 1830, is a cornerstone of church doctrine and is taken literally by the faithful. It teaches, among other things, that many American Indians are descendants of ancient Israelites who came to this continent 600 years before Christ -- a time period within the reach of modern archeology and genetics.
As a result of that assertion and others, the church hierarchy has repeatedly warred with historians, anthropologists and others who have questioned its doctrines. Murphy appears to be the first member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to face expulsion for genetic research.
His case marks "the first biological challenge" of Mormon scripture, said Michael Whiting, an authority on DNA and an assistant professor at church-affiliated Brigham Young University.
Murphy's supporters, who include other dissident Mormons, hail him. "Tom Murphy is the Galileo for Mormons," said Maxine Hanks, a former Mormon excommunicated in 1993 for her feminist writings.
Supporters say they plan a series of candlelight vigils tonight in U.S. cities, including one outside the Mormon temple in Salt Lake City.
But Whiting, for one, rejects any comparison to Galileo, who was condemned by the Roman Catholic Church in 1633 for correctly claiming that the Earth orbits the sun.
"It's an inappropriate comparison," Whiting said. "The difference is Galileo got the science right. I don't think Murphy has."
Church leaders declined to comment on the specifics of Murphy's case.
