Farah referred a reporter to an official church Web page that calls DNA-based challenges to the veracity of the Book of Mormon "ill considered."

"Nothing in the Book of Mormon precludes migration into the Americas by peoples of Asiatic origin," the statement reads. "The scientific issues relating to DNA, however, are numerous and complex."

Daniel C. Peterson, editor of the FARMS Review, the journal of Brigham Young University's Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, says Southerton's view of DNA evidence is "naive" and oversimplified.

"His contention is that the DNA research thus far doesn't support the Book of Mormon," Peterson said. "Our contention would be that we would be surprised if it did."

FARMS scholars, who examine the history, culture, geography, anthropology and archaeology of Latter-day Saint scriptures, don't dispute that DNA evidence seems to disprove lineage claims. But the available evidence is too limited to represent the entire population of the early Americas, and the Book of Mormon isn't a record of every population, Peterson said.

Peterson insisted the church doesn't retaliate for DNA-related scholarly work, but another critic said he was taken to task for doing just that. Author and anthropologist Tom Murphy, a friend of Southerton's who teaches at Edmonds Community College in Lynnwood, Wash., said he was ordered to a disciplinary hearing in 2002 after publishing an essay comparing DNA evidence to Book of Mormon claims.

DNA research makes church leadership uncomfortable because it shows the Book of Mormon to be "racist and factually wrong," said Murphy, a lifelong member of the LDS Church who was raised in southern Idaho. "The church has a long history of using disciplinary councils to intimidate scholars who shed light on uncomfortable truths."

Murphy said his threatened excommunication was set aside after news reports of his hearing brought public support.

Southerton could be the seventh Signature Books author removed from church membership rolls, publishing house spokesman Tom Kimball said. Previous authors have been chastised for taking positions on feminism, church history and philosophy. Southerton would be the first disciplined for scientific work.