What are synagogues? According to John Sorenson they are mentioned among both Nephites and the Lamanites under dissident Nephite influence (Alma 21:4-5; 32:1-12; Helaman 3:9, 14; Moroni 7:1). Many historians have maintained that synagogues were not known among the Jews until well after Lehi had left Palestine. Another group of experts, however, now argue that the synagogue predated Lehi's departure. They propose that when King Josiah carried out his sweeping reforms of Jewish worship in order to clean out pagan intrusions, he closed the old sanctuaries (2 Kings 23). The centralization of worship in Jerusalem from 621 B.C. onward, with many Jews thereby denied a share in temple worship, must inevitably have led to the establishment of non-sacrificial places of assembly. However, whatever distinguished a synagogue from a local church by Nephite standards was so subtle that we would be unable to tell them apart on the basis of their remains. [John L. Sorenson, An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon, F.A.R.M.S., p. 235] [See the commentary on 2 Nephi 26:26; Alma 16:13; 31:12]