i lived in utah county for 6 very formative years [15-21] in 1975-81, so i am somewhat familiar with mormonism,one of my best friends was a very devout mormon who was teased by our 98% tbm classmates, for hanging with a corrupt gentile, almost all of my other good friends were self-described "jack mormons" they partied just as hard as i did, my question[s] are there many "jack mormons" on this site ?, was leaving mormonism, easier or harder ? or, do "jack mormons" ever leave the fold ? i am deeply saddened by the pain mormonism has caused in peoples lives, IMHO i think the impact of the net has stunned the ruling reichstag in salt lake. thanks for your time

I think jack mormons and exmormons are different. Back in the 1970s, etc., I think most inactive mormons were considered jack mormons and not exmormons, but I can't be sure.

From my experience, these days, jackmormons still believe some if not all of what the church teaches. I have several family members who are jackmormons and became inactive in their teens. They have felt I am a horrible person because I don't believe at all. They still defend the church.

My SIL was a jackmormon. He was inactive for 5 yrs.....never did a mission. Then he meets my daughter ( a nevermo )....his Mom gets him active again.....the family ends up all in the same state and my daughter who had married him by this time goes to that state too. The rest is history....she converted after three yrs. of marriage. I still think he is very liberal in his thinking....but it seems "THE FAMILY" has a hold on him. My dear daughter joined a cult because of him- a jackmormon. It is very sad and I lived in Utah too when my girls were young and we were treated terribly by Mormons.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/2010 08:09PM by honestone.

In the early days of the church a "jack Mormon" was someone who was not a mormon, but sympathetic to their struggles.

I'm was a jack mormon, smoke, drink and had premarital sex, but after learning from my ex-mo friend who's been through EVERYTHING, I can honestly say I'm an EX-MO!!

Northern Utah has several definitions of Jack Mormon, but the one that was used with my generation meant, someone who did all of the things that they weren't supposed to, but still came to church every Sunday and pretended like they didn't do any of the naughty things, and acted like the most overbearing of TBMs.

That's the definition that I grew up with.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Mormon

My understanding of the use of the word today is pretty much what they describe in the link above.

I understood the term to mean someone who does not attend, or rarely attends, smokes, drinks, doesn't pay tithing, think's it's all true, but they are too weak to live it. Something like that.