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The church sent a free video to 7,500 households, consisting mostly of Mormons. The church also sells the video for $3 through its website.

Kramer told CT he has heard reports from about 300 people who have left Mormonism because of evidence presented on the program, released last April. Unknown persons have vandalized one of his vehicles, sent him hostile letters, and left burned tapes at the church's door.

One former Mormon scientist is 43-year-old Simon Southerton, who served as a bishop in Canberra, Australia. His book, Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church (Signature Books) will be published in March.

"The DNA evidence backs up decades of archaeological, linguistic, cultural, and anthropological research that indicates there is no Israelite influence in the Americas before Columbus arrived," Southerton told CT. "The only conclusion I could reach from this research was that The Book of Mormon does not contain a true history."

Copyright © 2003 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Previous Christianity Today coverage of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints includes:

Mormon Scholar Under Fire | Anthropologist says Latter-day Saints' teaching wrong about Native Americans. (02/19/2003)

The Shiny, Happy Olympics | Coverage of Salt Lake City's games focuses on who isn't evangelizing. (Feb. 13, 2002)

Weblog: The Church of Jesus Christ? | Mormons: Don't call us Mormons. (Feb. 20, 2001)

Mormon Makeover | An effective evangelical witness hinges on understanding the new face of Latter-day Saints. (March 6, 2000)

The Mormon-Evangelical Divide |Beliefs that set Mormons apart, and evangelicals' response. (Feb. 9, 2000)

A Peacemaker in Provo | How one Pentecostal pastor taught his congregation to love Mormons. (Feb. 9, 2000)

Mere Mormonism | Journalist Richard Ostling explores LDS culture, theology, and fans of 'crypto-Mormon' C.S. Lewis. (Feb. 9, 2000)

Mormons, Evangelicals Tangle Over Web Site | A publishing unit of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will continue a copyright lawsuit against an evangelical ministry that counters Mormon teaching and history. (Feb. 9, 2000)

Mormons on the Rise | Southern Baptists Take Up the Mormon Challenge. (June 15, 1998)

Evangelists Sue in Utah (November 11, 1996)

Francis J. Beckwith, coauthor of The Mormon Concept of God: A Philosophical Analysis, reviewed How Wide the Divide? for Christianity Today. The review, "With a Grain of Salt," appeared in the November 17, 1997 of our print issue.

A review of Richard Ostlings' book, Mormon America: The Power and the Promise, was published in Christianity Today sister publication Books & Culture. The review was written by two practicing Mormons.

Ostling's cover story on Mormonism, "Kingdom Come," from the August 4, 1997 of Time magazine, is available online.

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February 2004, Vol. 48, No. 2