Like most 19th-century Americans, Smith was unaffiliated with any organized religion for much of his life.

Smith practiced his Universalist beliefs through folk religion and magical beliefs, which included dream Interpretation and visionary experience, use of "divining rods" and "seer stones", as well as using magic to identify and dig for buried treasure. Smith modeled each folk religion and magic tradition for all of his children. Most notably his son Joseph relied on all three categories of folk magic gifts as he shared his religious