Words

Glossary

What people mean when they say "shelf", "PIMO", "nuanced" or "truth claims". For the newly out, and for anyone trying to understand them.

Faith crisis: The period after a believing Latter-day Saint discovers something (usually about Church history, doctrine or leadership) that they cannot reconcile with what they were taught, and their belief begins to come apart. The Church's own 2013 internal study used the same phrase.
Faith transition: The longer process of moving from one kind of belief to another, or to none. Many people prefer it to "crisis" because it names the whole journey rather than the worst part.
Deconstruction: A newer word, borrowed from evangelical circles, for taking apart the beliefs you were handed and deciding which to keep. Same territory as faith transition.
The shelf: The mental place where a believer puts questions they cannot answer yet. "My shelf broke" means the questions piled up until belief could not hold them. Common and useful shorthand.
Truth claims: The specific historical and doctrinal assertions the Church rests on (the First Vision, the Book of Mormon's origin, the Book of Abraham, priesthood restoration). A faith crisis is usually about these, not about wanting to sin or being offended.
Gospel Topics Essays: Essays the Church published on its website from 2013 onward that acknowledge difficult history (polygamy, the priesthood and temple ban, Book of Abraham, seer stones). For many members, reading them was the beginning of the crisis, because the essays confirmed things they had been told were anti-Mormon lies.
CES Letter: A 2013 letter by Jeremy Runnells to a Church Educational System director listing his questions about Church history. It became the most widely read critical document of the past decade. Critical stance; apologists have answered it at length.
Apologetics: Arguments made in defence of the Church's truth claims, by groups such as FAIR and the former Maxwell Institute. Worth reading so you have heard the best case for staying.
TBM: "True believing Mormon." Internet shorthand for a fully believing member. Use it carefully around the people it describes.
PIMO: "Physically in, mentally out." Someone who no longer believes but still attends, often for a spouse, children or parents.
Nuanced: A member who stays and believes selectively, treating some doctrine as metaphor and some history as human error. "Nuanced Mormon" and "progressive Mormon" overlap.
Exmo / ex-Mormon / post-Mormon: Someone who has left. "Post-Mormon" is often preferred by people who do not want the Church to define them by opposition.
Resignation: Formally removing your name from Church records by letter or through a service such as QuitMormon. Distinct from simply not attending. Resignation ends membership; it is not excommunication.
Membership council (formerly "church court" or "disciplinary council"): A formal hearing held by a bishop or stake president that can end in excommunication ("withdrawal of membership"). Rare for ordinary members who simply stop believing; more common for public critics.
Garments: The underclothing endowed members covenant to wear. Deciding whether to keep wearing them is one of the first practical, visible choices in a transition, and one of the most emotional.
Temple recommend: The card that admits a member to the temple, renewed through interview questions about belief and conduct. Losing it, or choosing not to renew it, often marks a turning point.
Mixed-faith marriage: A marriage in which one spouse believes and the other does not, or the two believe differently. Most begin as same-faith marriages and become mixed when one spouse's faith changes.
Scrupulosity: Religious obsessive-compulsive disorder: intrusive fears of sin, endless confession and checking, guilt out of proportion to any act. Common in high-demand religions and treatable, including with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.
Religious trauma: Lasting psychological harm from fear-based teaching, shaming, control or spiritual abuse. Not a formal diagnosis but a widely used and useful clinical description.
High-demand religion: A religion that asks for a large share of a member's time, money, identity and obedience, and discourages questioning. Whether the Church fits the label is contested; the BITE model (Steven Hassan) is the tool most people use to think about it.
THRIVE: Events and local groups for people leaving Mormonism, begun with a 2019 conference in Salt Lake City. Now run by the THRIVE Foundation, with a weekly online group on Sundays.