Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Love, Joy, Feminism

Home
Nonreligious
Answers in Genesis Plays Fast and Loose with Mitochondrial DNA

Answers in Genesis Plays Fast and Loose with Mitochondrial DNA

Last updated on: February 14, 2018 at 5:00 am by Libby Anne

Answers in Genesis Plays Fast and Loose with Mitochondrial DNA 2018-02-12T20:14:44-04:00 Libby Anne

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Answers in Genesis’ Melissa Webb recently wrote about a family that had their DNA tested along with the DNA of their two adopted children. The results? Predictably, the family’s DNA showed that the couple’s ancestry was from Europe and their children’s was from Asia. But Webb zeroed in on the family’s mitochondrial DNA, passed down from the mother.

When the geneticists asked the Dutys to do a mitochondrial DNA test, even the scientists were shocked by what they found. The difference between the two parents and their two Chinese children is no greater than the difference between Doug and Pam!

Each of the four had a different variation of mitochondrial DNA—H, K, B, and N—but, Webb reported with some excitement, all four of these variations were part of the same family of variants—traceable back to one family after Noah’s flood.

Testing companies won’t tell you one thing shown on the map below. These maternal lines can be traced back to three branches, most likely the wives of Noah’s three sons!

You can see the map Webb provided here:

Reading this made me curious. Was Webb’s claim that all mitochondrial DNA can be traced to three branches accurate? Unsurprisingly, the answer is yes and no.

Yes, there are three branches of mitochondrial DNA. They are haplogroup L, haplogroup N, and haplogroup M. The hitch in Webb’s claim that these corresponded with the wives of Noah’s sons is that N and M are both descendants of L3, a variation of L.

In theory, Web could argue in response that two of Noah sons’ wives had haplogroups that were descended from L3 during the time before the flood, and the remaining wife had an L haplogroup (either L2 or one of itsL parent haplogroups). This would not, however, explain why we see both L3 and the other L haplogroups—from which L3 is descended—existing after the flood.

And that points to a bigger problem, doesn’t it? Mitochondrial DNA points to a human origins in Africa, not the Middle East as Webb and Answers in Genesis claim. But does Webb acknowledge this? No, she does not. She is selective. She notes that there are three main branches of mitochondrial DNA, but not that two are descended from the first, or that human mitochondrial DNA originated in Africa—not the Middle East—and spread out from there.

The couple Webb profiled, and their two adopted children, each had different variants of haplogroup N, because at one point they all had a common ancestor whose descendants settled in Europe and Asia. Webb views that as proof of creation. The problem with that is that creationists aren’t the only ones tracing human ancestry back to one group or part of the world.

This disconnect vis a vis mitochondrial DNA may be related to Answers in Genesis’ misunderstanding of the evolutionary timeline. Webb wrote that mitochondrial DNA proves that humans spread across the earth within the past few thousand years, and not before then—if humans had separated 100,000 years ago, she claimed, we should see more mutations in the mitochondrial DNA than we do. But is that really accurate?

As I’ve noted in several recent articles, creationists seem to believe more strongly in evolution than scientists do—after all, it is creationists who claim that neanderthals and modern humans evolved from a common ancestor who lived less than four and a half thousand years ago. It is creationists, too, who seem to believe that anthropologists think cave men, the ancestors of modern humans, lived in 3200 BC. All of this ignores the immensity of the evolutionary timeline.

Current scientific consensus holds that modern humans left Africa 60,000 to 70,000 years ago. At that point they were already fully human. It shouldn’t be surprising that mitochondrial DNA would still bear similarity across region, given that 99.5% of each person’s DNA is identical to that of any other person. Evolution typically occurs slowly over an immense amount of time.

Before I wrap this up, I want to return to the haplogroups:

There are three main branches of Mitochondrial DNA—L, M, and N—only for the sake of convenience. Scientists could just as well count each L variant as its own branch, or count R as a separate branch. The idea that L, M, and N could correspond with the wives of Noah’s three sons is sheer fantasy—this is simply not how genetics works.

Of course, throwing in just enough to sound scientific while choosing only the information that conforms neatly with their interpretations of the Bible—and leaving out everything that conflicts—is pretty much Answers in Genesis’ MO at this point.

I have a Patreon! Please support my writing!

Evangelicalism/Fundamentalism

creation

evolution

Previous Post

February 13, 2018

The Office of Refugee Resettlement is Pushing an Anti-Abortion Agenda on Undocumented Teens

Next Post

February 15, 2018 Neither of These Evangelical Responses to Depression is Particularly Helpful

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Atheism Evangelicalism/Fundamentalism Family Feminism Homeschool Meta Parenting Patriarchy Politics Purity Quiverfull Social Justice Uncategorized Worthwhile reads

Select a Month February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

For it is by _____ you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.

Select your answer to see how you score.

Jesus' Blood Grace Love Faith