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Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints often assume that their religion requires them to believe in Noah’s flood as a worldwide occurrence. Many Latter-day Saints do, in fact, hold this view of a worldwide flood. But there is more room in this ark than one might expect. It is our informal observation that a sizable group of Latter-day Saints also believe that Noah’s flood reports a local event. A third group of Latter-day Saints believes that the flood story is simply fiction, a position which members of all three groups recognize as unorthodox.

We hope to assess these historical perspectives in light of the best science that we can muster. We will argue in this article that there is over-whelming scientific evidence that the great flood described in the Bible could not have covered the whole Earth. We will conclude with observations about possible implications of this conclusion for believing Latter-day Saints.

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