Anti-Nephi-Lehies
According to the Book of Mormon, the Anti-Nephi-Lehies (/ˈæntaɪ ˈniːfaɪ ˈliːhaɪz/) were an ethnic group of Lamanites formed around 90 BC, after a significant religious conversion. They made a covenant that they would not participate in war, and buried their weapons. Eventually they changed their name to the people of Ammon, or Ammonites. During a later period of warfare, the young men of the group who had not made the pacifist covenant became a military unit known as the two thousand stripling warriors, and were protected by divine intervention.
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Most Latter Day Saint movement denominations, including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), believe the Anti-Nephi-Lehies to have been an actual ethnic group living in the western hemisphere in the first century BC. The Community of Christ allows for varying beliefs regarding the historicity of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies. Among non-Mormon researchers across the archaeological, historical, and scientific communities, a consensus exists that the Book of Mormon is not a record of actual historical events.
The story of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies and particularly that of the stripling warriors is iconic in the Latter Day Saint movement. Some have criticized it for perpetuating negative stereotypes of Native Americans from a eurocentric viewpoint.