It was a television show, of all things, that led Cache Valley resident James Peterson to his current interest in the Book of Mormon, traveling around the U.S. to try and discover the stories, places and artifacts behind it.

The program was KJZZ’s “Nephite Explorer,” hosted by investigative journalist Ryan Fisher, who would go to historical sites said to have been associated with the Nephites, a group of people who were descendants of Nephi, a central figure in the Book of Mormon.

“This is an interesting new topic — something that I was not aware of until, really, I started watching Ryan’s program,” Peterson said.

Not only did Peterson and his wife, Patty, sign up for some North American tours associated with “Nephite Explorer,” they attended symposiums on the subject, too.

The Petersons recently took their interest in such gatherings to the next level, hosting a Cache Valley Book of Mormon Symposium on April 20 at Mount Logan Middle School. The all-day event included six speakers, ranging from a documentary film producer to a lawyer.

“The primary focus of the symposium is the presentation of evidence for the Book of Mormon story taking place in North America through archaeology, scripture, and church history mingled with American History,” Peterson wrote in an email to The Herald Journal.

On that note, purpose of this symposium was not to increase anyone’s faith or beliefs, Peterson explained. Rather, it is designed to “enhance their understanding and appreciation of what they are reading” in the Book of Mormon, he said.

MEMBERS’ SUPPORTING ARGUMENTS

Numerous Latter-day Saints believe there is potential anthropological and even archaeological evidence to support the stories told in their faith’s foundational text. This owes to the fact that the Book of Mormon includes stories of people in the ancient Americas, including descriptions of the places they lived.

The supposed evidence includes things as small as grains of barley to metal plates and houses of cement; it all is said to span several states in the Northeastern and Midwestern U.S., including Nauvoo, Illinois, where church leader Joseph Smith led his followers after conflict in Missouri.

In an interview, Fisher was careful not to declare there is definitive proof that what happened in the Book of Mormon is true.

“I would use another term: It propels the stories of the Book of Mormon out of the fairy-tale realm and into the realm of possible history,” he said.

Responding to an inquiry from The Herald Journal regarding what its official position is regarding potential evidence tied the Book of Mormon, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints pointed the newspaper to an essay entitled “Book of Mormon Geography” on the church’s official website.

That essay states members are entitled to have opinions about Book of Mormon geography and “other such matters about which the Lord has not spoken.”

“However, the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles urge leaders and members not to advocate those personal theories in any setting or manner that would imply either prophetic or Church support for those theories,” the essay states. “All parties should strive to avoid contention on these matters.”

The church states it believes events in the book took place in the ancient Americas, not specifically in South or Central America, as some members have suggested. Further, the church does not have a position on “specific geographic locations” of events described in the book, citing a comment from M. Russell Ballard, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

“The Book of Mormon is not a textbook on topography. Speculation on the geography of the Book of Mormon may mislead instead of enlighten; such a study can be a distraction from its divine purpose,” he is quoted as saying in the church’s essay.

To put a finer point on members’ speculation regarding the events and places in the Book of Mormon, the essay quotes the church’s current president, Russell M. Nelson, who asks members to consider the teachings of the faith’s sacred text.

“Interesting as these matters may be, study of the Book of Mormon is most rewarding when one focuses on its primary purpose — to testify of Jesus Christ,” he said. “By comparison, all other issues are incidental.”

The Herald Journal also reached out to two USU faculty members in the department of sociology, social work and anthropology for comment on the validity of claims made by some Latter-day Saints about the Book of Mormon, but both declined interviews.

THE MOUNDS OF ‘BELOVED PEOPLE’

In one episode of “Nephite Explorer,” Fisher travels to Newark, Ohio, where some Latter-day Saints believe the Nephites existed.

Fisher recounts how the church’s first president, Joseph Smith, traveled there during the Zion’s Camp March of 1834, according to a letter the leader penned during that time.

Fisher quotes parts of that letter, in which Smith says he traveled “over the mounds of that once beloved people of the Lord (the Nephites), picking up their skulls and bones as proof” of The Book of Mormon’s “divine authenticity.”

The mounds, known as the Hopewell Earthworks, were believed by to have been formed by the Hopewell people, which non-Latter-day Saint archaeologists have found existed at the same time as the Nephites, Fisher said in an episode of his show.

Wayne May, publisher of a national archaeology magazine who spoke at the Cache Valley symposium, traveled to Newark with Fisher in an episode of “Nephite Explorer” to see the Hopewell Earthworks.

“Starting in 72 BC, when Moroni decided he would fortify all the lands and all the earth, he said he would throw up of great banks of earth and dig deep ditches,” May said in the episode.

According to Fisher and May, the land was effective at helping the Nephites repel attacks against another group mentioned in the Book of Mormon — the Lamanites.

“The Nephites forced Lamenites to meet them on their terms — and it was very, very successful,” May said in the episode. “They kept the Nephite civilization together for several hundred years. The forts were very, very effective.”

In an interview, Fisher said trips to the Midwest helped solidify his belief that there’s potential evidence tied to the Book of Mormon in the United States.

“The more I dove into those and studied those from non-LDS anthropologists and archaeologists, the more the stories from the Book of Mormon became plausible as an actual history,” Fisher said.

Peterson and his wife, Patty, have been on at least four archaeological tours so far. Their first tour in 2015 took them to four states — Indiana, Mississippi, Ohio and Illinois. Peterson said the Hopewell ruins are among the sites that stands out.

“Having that geographical vision in my mind, it just changed my whole outlook on reading that book,” he said. “It was like reading it for the first time.”

SYMPOSIUM TAKEAWAYS

Fisher said people who don’t believe in theories about the Book of Mormon’s history like he does are entitled to their own opinions. However, there is a growing chorus of church members who believe the same things he does.

“What I find interesting about this movement — and it definitely is a movement at this stage — is that I’m meeting people from different Mormon factions … that have all kind of come to the same conclusion,” he said. “Now we’re sharing the insights that we found.”

The views about the text’s geography have become so wide among the LDS factions, Fisher said, that it makes the church as an institution seem “off in left field.”

“That challenges people’s faith,” he said. “Hopefully that will change as these symposiums become more prevalent and people can direct their focus and study in the right place. It’s amazing when you do that because then American history comes alive.”

When it comes to the symposium, Peterson had a message for people who attended.

“There’s a lot of material or discussion out there attempting to disprove the Book of Mormon,” he said. “Coming to a forum like this gives them to see the other side, where the evidence really is. It’s not some fictitious story that was made up.”