A few week ago, we asked what type of Mormon you are. Some of our readers think this is an outdated question, and think the term “Jack Mormon” isn’t really used anymore. Well, there is a real person named Jack Morman (notice the “a” instead of an “o” at the end of his name. He’s the Harris County (Texas) Commissioner, and according to his biography,
Commissioner Morman’s top priority is promoting economic growth in East Harris County by improving the infrastructure in Precinct 2 and developing a business friendly environment throughout county government.
He is a graduate of Baylor University and Baylor University Law School and had a private law practice before winning the Commissioner’s race in November, 2010.
Commissioner Morman and his wife, Andi, graduated from Deer Park High School. They have two young children, daughter Jordan and son Trey.
Judging from this photo, this Morman would make a great Mormon, and has a great Morman family. Here are some questions for you.
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Click here for a brief history of the term. Do you know any other Jack Mormons?
Wheat & Tares 
I always understood it to be someone that was not “converted”, but just went along with the crowd. So apparently I could drive to meet THE Jack Morman in less than a day, but given that I live nowhere near the Mormon corridor, I have never heard anybody near me referred to as a Jack Mormon. Jack Mormon’s were only found in Utah and Idaho and maybe some Arizona towns.
Although a relative of mine in California, which is a sparse extension of the Mormon corridor, recently referred to herself as a Jack Mormon, it was the first time in many years that I heard the term.
I always thought a jack Mormon was a term for an inactive Mormon. Huh.
On another note, I have two children named Molly and Jack. It wasn’t until after Jack was born that a realized Molly Mormon and Jack Mormon are common terms. Now I’m feeling a theme coming on.
Any suggestions for future children? 🙂
It’s not a term I’ve heard people use in Britain, though my husband heard it on his mission, presumably from Utahn companions.
I always thought of it as someone who retains the cultural identity of a Mormon but doesn’t feel constrained by any of the required behaviors to be one.
Mr. Morman is from my neck of the woods.
I have also seen this last name: Moorman. I bet the people with these last names get hassled sometimes. I feel bad for them.
I grew up with the term Jack Mormon used to describe members who did not observe the word of wisdom and was/or semi active. I was called a Jack Mormon by non Mormons as a teen because I drank Coca Cola even though I was very active in church (still am).
I have not heard the term used since the early 1990’s.
@EBK RE future children…Hope for a boy and name him Peter as in Peter Priesthood. 🙂
I don’t remember where I heard this from, but apparently the term started out as non members who were sympathetic to Mormons, like Doniphan. Then, when Heber J Grant made the Word of Wisdom mandatory to be a member in good standing, you had a lot of people who smoked and drank who were unable or unwilling to give it up and so were no longer considered good Mormons. They stopped participating as much and became the jack Mormons. Jack Mormon since then has essentially meant someone who identifies as Mormon and essentially believes in the restoration, but doesn’t follow the behavioral requirements of Mormonism, most often the Word of Wisdom.
I heard it frequently growing up and it referred to non-practicing members, or members in name only. However, they were not hostile toward the church or those who faithfully adhered to the teachings. Hostile so we’re never called “Jacks”.
Then, somewhere along the way we started calling such folks “inactives” and later “less actives”. But the old-timers seemed to prefer referring to themselves as “Jack Mormon”. I knew quite a few and they were a happy lot, I must say!
I’m a little interested why you state “Judging by his photo, this Morman would make a great Mormon.”
A wife and 2 kids doesn’t make him look like a good catholic?
Makes me wonder if people saw I was divorced and thought “He doesn’t look like a good mormon.”
Maybe that is where Jack Mormon labels come from. Outward appearances of others.
EBK…Yes, Peter, and also Susie (ie Susie Homemaker)
I have always equated the term “Jack Mormon” with “Backsliding Baptist”.
We didn’t really have Jack Mormons where I grew up (California), at least not in my awareness, but I was told stories of the strange “Jack Mormons” who lived in southern Utah and had no reservations about drinking coffee or beer. I thought it was a myth until I married into a large southern Utah family, and was floored by the amount of hypocrisy I saw throughout many Utah communities. At the time, I just couldn’t wrap my head around how someone could claim to be LDS, live within walking distance of their ward chapel, but can go years without setting foot inside. On a recent trip there, one older gentleman I met was rambling about Spencer W. Kimball, as if he were still alive; he had a testimony of a living prophet, but had lost track of who the current prophet was.
I also understand Jack Mormons to be nominal members who drift in and out of activity as it suits them. For example, I know of relatives who avoid church for years, but have a “miraculous” reactivation just in time to get a new recommend to attend another relative’s temple wedding. After the wedding is over, they won’t be seen at church until the next special occasion requires. I’m aware of at least two relatives who grew up Jack Mormon (attending church no more than once per year on average, drank coffee, no strangers to alcohol, chastity issues) then “reactivated” shortly after graduating high school, served full-time missions, then came home and slid right back into their old patterns. No surprise there, but this kind of stuff was going on even after the “raise the bar” directive came out in the 2000s, so I’m perplexed by what kinds of bishops and stake presidents were signing off on these arrangements.
It started as #1 but came to mean #2. Now it is so rarely used it tends to mean #3.
Interesting how that happens.
(Btw, I’m getting my comments eaten by the spam blocker is I’m trying mixing up my email, etc.