# Jack Mormon
**Jack Mormon** (also capitalized as Jack-Mormon) is an American term with two recorded meanings: a non-Mormon who lives amicably among Latter-day Saints or sympathizes with them, and a Mormon who is not active in the church or does not adhere strictly to Mormon principles[1](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/jack-mormon). The term entered [American English](https://www.edgepedia.org/american-english) between 1835 and 1845[1](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/jack-mormon), and its meaning has shifted substantially since then, from outsider sympathizer to nominal, lax insider.[2](https://mrm.org/what-is-jack-mormon)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Two modern senses | A non-Mormon living amicably among Mormons; or a Mormon not active in the church or adhering strictly to Mormon principles[1](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/jack-mormon) |
| Date in English | 1835–45, American English[1](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/jack-mormon) |
| Earliest attributed use | Applied by hostile residents of Jackson County, Missouri, to nonmembers in Clay County who sympathized with persecuted Latter-day Saints[2](https://mrm.org/what-is-jack-mormon) |
| Alternative attribution | Mormon historian B.H. Roberts credited Thomas C. Sharp of the Warsaw Signal with coining the phrase in 1840s Illinois[2](https://mrm.org/what-is-jack-mormon) |
| Historical usage | During 1839–1846, writers used "Jack Mormon" to describe a person friendly to the Mormons[3](https://mormonpolygamydocuments.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/JS1722.pdf) |
| Twentieth-century shift | After World War I the term came to mean nominal, non-conforming members of the church[2](https://mrm.org/what-is-jack-mormon) |
| Contemporary register | A derogatory label for those perceived as lax in their practice of Mormonism[4](https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/1939/) |
## Meanings
Dictionaries record the term in two senses. In American English, a jack Mormon is either a non-Mormon living amicably among Mormons, or a Mormon not active in the church or adhering strictly to Mormon principles[1](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/jack-mormon). Both forms, "jack Mormon" and "Jack Mormon," are accepted[1](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/jack-mormon).
The two senses describe very different relationships to the church, and which one a speaker intends depends heavily on time and place. Historical writing on the 1830s and 1840s uses the term almost exclusively in the first sense, for sympathizers outside the faith[3](https://mormonpolygamydocuments.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/JS1722.pdf) • [2](https://mrm.org/what-is-jack-mormon). Contemporary usage inside Mormon communities is usually the second sense, a derogatory label for those perceived as lax in their practices of [Mormonism](https://www.edgepedia.org/mormonism)[4](https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/1939/).
## Origin of the term
The exact origin is disputed. The LDS Church manual *Church History in the Fulness of Times* traces the term to the persecution of Latter-day Saints in Missouri in the 1830s, when non-LDS residents offered comfort and help to church members in Clay County. The manual states that "hostile elements in Jackson County dubbed these sympathizers 'Jack-Mormons,' a term applied in the nineteenth century to friendly non-Mormons." The *Encyclopedia of LDS History*, edited by the LDS historians Donald Q. Cannon, Richard O. Cowan, and Arnold K. Garr, and the historians James B. Allen and Glen M. Leonard in *The Story of the Latter-day Saints* give the same account[2](https://mrm.org/what-is-jack-mormon).
A different attribution comes from B.H. Roberts, the Mormon historian, in his *Comprehensive History of the Church*. Roberts dated the coinage to the 1840s and credited Thomas C. Sharp, an attorney who became publisher of the Warsaw Signal in Warsaw, Illinois, and a fierce critic of [Joseph Smith](https://www.edgepedia.org/joseph-smith). Sharp, Roberts wrote, coined the phrase as "an opprobrious epithet" for Illinois non-Mormons who did not favor the mob violence Sharp and his associates pursued against the Mormons. Dallin Oaks, later a Mormon apostle, and the LDS historian Marvin Hill made the same attribution in their book *The Carthage Conspiracy*: Sharp is credited with coining the term to describe non-Mormons who were friendly to their Mormon neighbors[2](https://mrm.org/what-is-jack-mormon).
Scholarship on the word "Mormon" itself also connects the two terms. Prior literature suggests that "Mormon" shifted to a derogatory use with the advent of "Jack Mormon" during conflicts such as the [Missouri War](https://www.edgepedia.org/1838-mormon-war), possibly as early as 1834[5](https://mormonscholar.org/the-original-intention-behind-the-term-mormon/). A study of the Nauvoo period noted that "Jack Mormon" was used during 1839–1846 to describe a person friendly to the Mormons, and adopted that usage in its own pages[3](https://mormonpolygamydocuments.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/JS1722.pdf). Despite the disagreement over when and where the term began, most accounts agree on its original intent: describing non-members of the LDS Church who were sympathetic to its members[2](https://mrm.org/what-is-jack-mormon).
## Shift to nominal members
The meaning changed in the twentieth century. The Mormon historian Leonard Arrington, writing in the March 1974 Ensign magazine, explained that after World War I anti-Mormon literature and agitation declined, so it was no longer possible to refer to all those friendly to Mormons as Jack-Mormons. Latter-day Saints then began using the term for persons who were only nominal members of the church, meaning members who were not valiant in conforming to church standards[2](https://mrm.org/what-is-jack-mormon).
Arrington drew a parallel between the two eras: just as the early Hancock County Jack-Mormons were friendly to the faith but felt no compunction to live church standards, pay tithing, or heed the advice of the church president, so twentieth-century members who consistently violated the standards of the church came to be called Jack-Mormons[2](https://mrm.org/what-is-jack-mormon).
In this modern sense, one sociological study of Mormon religiosity notes that the label is used for informal rather than formal church purposes, and that no clear-cut definition distinguishes the Jack Mormon from the non-Jack-Mormon[6](https://www.mormonsocialscience.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Vernon-SociologyofMormonism.pdf). A BYU master's thesis describes contemporary usage as a derogatory label applied to people raised in Utah as participating members of the church who later stopped participating but remained in the culture[4](https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/1939/). Observers have compared the position to that of so-called cafeteria Catholics, who attend church rarely and disregard selected church teachings[7](https://www.wisegeek.net/what-is-a-jack-mormon.htm). Commonly cited examples of nonconformity include drinking coffee or alcohol and attending services infrequently while still identifying with the faith or defending it[7](https://www.wisegeek.net/what-is-a-jack-mormon.htm).
## Cultural usage
The term has crossed into commerce and public life. A coffee shop called Jack Mormon Coffee operated in the Avenues neighborhood of [Salt Lake City](https://www.edgepedia.org/salt-lake-city), where the word Mormon appeared on its storefront facade[8](https://www.kuer.org/race-religion-social-justice/2026-07-23/book-of-mormon-secret-lives-mormon-wives-pop-culture-lds-church). [Literary criticism](https://www.edgepedia.org/literary-criticism) has likewise used the term as a category: in discussions of Mormon fiction, "jack" or outsider Mormon literature is described as experiential writing that grows out of national literary forms rather than orthodox, insider convention[9](https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/popular-and-literary-mormon-novels-can-weyland-and-whipple-dance-together-in-the-house-of-fiction).
## References
1. [jack Mormon – Collins English Dictionary](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/jack-mormon)
2. [What is a Jack Mormon? – Mormonism Research Ministry (Bill McKeever, 2014)](https://mrm.org/what-is-jack-mormon)
3. [Mormon Polygamy Documents study using Jack Mormon for Mormon-friendly nonmembers, 1839–1846](https://mormonpolygamydocuments.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/JS1722.pdf)
4. [You Don't Know Jack: The Dynamics of Mormon Religious/Ethnic Identity, Michael R. Cope, BYU ScholarsArchive](https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/1939/)
5. [The Original Intention Behind the Term “Mormon” – Mormon Scholar](https://mormonscholar.org/the-original-intention-behind-the-term-mormon/)
6. [Mormon Religiosity (Sociology of Mormonism, G. Wesley Vernon)](https://www.mormonsocialscience.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Vernon-SociologyofMormonism.pdf)
7. [What is a Jack Mormon? – WiseGeek](https://www.wisegeek.net/what-is-a-jack-mormon.htm)
8. [The word ‘Mormon’ remains a culture clash over identity and heritage – KUER](https://www.kuer.org/race-religion-social-justice/2026-07-23/book-of-mormon-secret-lives-mormon-wives-pop-culture-lds-church)
9. [Popular and Literary Mormon Novels – BYU Studies](https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/popular-and-literary-mormon-novels-can-weyland-and-whipple-dance-together-in-the-house-of-fiction)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Social life and human behavior › Communities and populations › Minorities and social groups › Subcultures and social stereotypes*
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