If the king’s statement is not part of an invented conversation, it indicates that he knew at least something about the religion of the ancestors from the Old World. But by this time, that tradition was highly tenuous. The Lamanite religion is not a simple doctrinal reinterpretation of the law of Moses but a nearly complete replacement of that law with a different theological understanding. The over-king’s question about the connection between Yahweh and the Great Spirit does not conclusively prove that the Lamanites were polytheists, but the implication is strong.
The king’s quick guess that Ammon and Aaron’s new Yahweh may be the Great Spirit from Jerusalem suggests that he wonders if there might be other choices. A different god? An altogether new one? If Sorenson’s location of the city of Nephi is accurate, the archaeological evidence confirms that Lamanites here would be worshipping more than one god.