Tower of Babble (a bunch of baseless babble)

I think there are reasons to doubt the significance of your Choctaw "Babel" story.That particular story is copied word for word from an early 20th century compilation of Native American stories. This work places this story with a group that are obviously derived from European stories. The Native Americans were in contact with Europeans, of course, and would be expected to borrow stories from them:

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"Intellectually, scientifically, even artistically, fundamentalism -- biblical literalism -- is a road to nowhere, because it insists on fidelity to revealed truths that are not true." -- Katha Pollitt

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Chiroptera, do you have a theory or motive as to why the Choctaw in particular would want to borrow a story such as this from the Europeans?

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Are you skeptical about the well-established phenomenon of people sharing stories and borrowing them from the other cultures with whom they are in contact? It is well known that people borrow stories from other cultures and adapt them fit into their own society.-

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I mean, if truly it was borrowed, then I'd expect more than a mere similarity in stories

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Interesting. Why would you expect that?

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"Intellectually, scientifically, even artistically, fundamentalism -- biblical literalism -- is a road to nowhere, because it insists on fidelity to revealed truths that are not true." -- Katha Pollitt

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(goofy example, but I hope you get the idea as to where I am going with this)...

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Not really, since the question is why you doubt that the Choctaw "Babel" story is a result of contact with the European version.

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"Intellectually, scientifically, even artistically, fundamentalism -- biblical literalism -- is a road to nowhere, because it insists on fidelity to revealed truths that are not true." -- Katha Pollitt

You know, Omnivorous, I can understand why a Biblical literalist would want her creation myths to be true. What I have trouble understanding is why she would be so desperate for confirming evidence that she will just blindly accept any evidence or "reasoning" no matter how lame, and will automatically dismiss any refutation of that evidence no matter how reasonable and consistent with what we actually do see.

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"Intellectually, scientifically, even artistically, fundamentalism -- biblical literalism -- is a road to nowhere, because it insists on fidelity to revealed truths that are not true." -- Katha Pollitt

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Taking this irrational position requires faith.

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Since you cannot possibly mean to say that it is irrational to express skepticism of a very extraordinary tale unless some kind of evidence is provided, I will assume that you are agreeing that the Tower of Babel story is irrational and requires faith. In addition, the preceding part of your post must be an attempt at irony.I agree with Ringo: welcome to EvC. I think you might be fun.

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"Intellectually, scientifically, even artistically, fundamentalism -- biblical literalism -- is a road to nowhere, because it insists on fidelity to revealed truths that are not true." -- Katha Pollitt

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Anyway you look at it, it was just another dumb idea.

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So why not let the project fail on its own merits without intervening? That would seem to be a great lesson; humanity's ideas are so dumb, that God doesn't even have to do anything for it to fail.Instead, God gives in to his own insecurities and is compelled to act. Why tip his hand and admit that he dislikes and even fears humans?

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"Intellectually, scientifically, even artistically, fundamentalism -- biblical literalism -- is a road to nowhere, because it insists on fidelity to revealed truths that are not true." -- Katha Pollitt