Editing Tower of Babel (section)

===Book of Mormon===
In the [[Book of Mormon]], a man named [[Jared (Book of Mormon)|Jared]] and his family ask God that their language not be confounded at the time of the "great tower". Because of their prayers, God preserves their language and leads them to the [[Valley of Nimrod]]. From there, they travel across the sea to the Americas.<ref>[[Book of Ether|Ether]] {{lds||ether|1|33|38}}</ref>

Despite no mention of the Tower of Babel in the original text of the Book of Mormon, some leaders in [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church) assert that the "great tower" was indeed the Tower of Babel – as in the 1981 introduction to the Book of Mormon – despite the chronology of the [[Book of Ether]] aligning more closely with the 21st century BC Sumerian tower temple myth of [[Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta]] to the goddess [[Innana]].<ref>[[Daniel H. Ludlow]], ''A Companion to Your Study of the Book of Mormon'' p. 117, quoted in [[Church Educational System]] (1996, rev. ed.). [http://www.ldsces.org/inst_manuals/bm-in-sm1996/manualindex.asp ''Book of Mormon Student Manual''] (Salt Lake City, Utah: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), ch. 6.</ref> Church apologists have also supported this connection and argue the reality of the Tower of Babel: "Although there are many in our day who consider the accounts of the Flood and tower of Babel to be fiction, Latter-day Saints affirm their reality."<ref>{{citation |url= https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1998/01/the-flood-and-the-tower-of-babel?lang=eng |title= The Flood and the Tower of Babel |last= Parry |first= Donald W. |author-link= Donald W. Parry |journal= [[Ensign (LDS magazine)|Ensign]] |date= January 1998 }}</ref> In either case, the church firmly believes in the factual nature of at least one "great tower" built in the region of ancient Sumer/Assyria/Babylonia.