The “more popular part of the Zoramites” is perhaps the most difficult passage of this verse. In this context “popular” does not mean the ones that everyone likes, but rather the communal meaning of popular. This is the majority of the people, the same root meaning as we find in the word populace. It isn’t just the leadership of the Zoramites who become angry, but the majority of the people. We should remember that this is a people who had already believed in their “craft” and had willingly forsaken lands and social connections in some other place to move to a new location and begin a new life. They were had known of the Nephite religion before they left, and had actively rejected it. It is no surprise that they do not change their minds because of this missionary visit by Alma and his brethren.
The phrase that “they were angry because of the word, for it did destroy their craft,” is Mormon’s assessment. It is certainly true, though Mormon shows his bias in the situation by the use of the word “craft.” Mormon certainly doesn’t consider the Zoramites to be true religion, but rather a “craft.” What he means by the destruction of the craft is that the gospel would destroy something in the Zoramite culture, but what?
We must recall the tight connection between religion and politics in the ancient world. The religion was the formal underpinning and outward presentation of the political structure. In the Zoramite case, the religio-political structure was firmly rooted in the establishment and maintenance of a social hierarchy. The gospel was egalitarian, and completely opposed to the very organization that the Zoramites had elected in preference to Nephite egalitarianism. The gospel would have clearly destroyed not only the craft but the entire political organization. Had the Zoramites been converted, their entire way of life would have changed, their entire social and political structure would have changed along with their religion. Those things could not have been separated.