Brant Gardner notes that without the tie of the scriptures, the people of Zarahemla were less tied to the conceptions of the Old World, and more susceptible to changes relating to the deities of the New World. It is most likely that they adopted to a certain degree the deities of the people among whom they had lived. [Brant Gardner, "Book of Mormon Commentary," [http://www.highfiber.com/~nahualli/LDStopics/] Omni/Omni1.htm, p. 35]