Even though "Mormon" is viewed by the public as a specific term describing someone who believes in the Book of Mormon, there are variations of belief within the faith.
Robert Kirby, a columnist for the Salt Lake Tribune, launched his career with an article called "The 5 Types of Mormons." While Kirby's distinctions of Nazi, orthodox, liberal, conservative and genuine Mormon are an observation about the range of beliefs held by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and their intensity, they do not cover the real different types of Mormons.
TBM, NOMs, Ex-Mormons, and Reorganites as well as Fundamentalist Mormons are a few of the varying types. Each type will be discussed below and for further reading, this post from C.L. Hansen's Letters from a Broad will help a confused reader.
The True Believing Mormon
TBMs believe that the church is true and will often attend all three hours of meetings every Sunday. They may skip meetings that occur the first weekend of April and October as those dates coincide with the the General Conference dates.
Even though TBMs are usually active within the church, the distinction is one of believing that the church is true. Jack Mormons also fall into this category, but the difference between a Jack Mormon and a TBM is how well they live the teachings of the church. Jack Mormons often drink, smoke, and consume tea or coffee, while a TBM will live the lifestyle indicated by church teachings.
New Order Mormon
A New Order Mormon knows the problems with church doctrine and history but chooses to remain a member for personal or familial reasons. It may be that the New Order Mormon types use the church as a social club, or as more often the case, stay in to prevent problems within their family. People who describe themselves this way often refer to themselves as members of the Disaffected Mormon Underground.
Ex-Mormon, Post-Mormon, Apostate
To a person who still considers himself a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, many of the terms that apply to this type of Mormon are synonymous with anti-Mormon. An apostate is a Mormon has had a personal revelation that the church is not true.
While the first two terms may be interchangeable, a few former former Mormon feel that an Ex-Mormon is someone working out his anger issues, while a Post Mormon has moved on. The existence of the Recovery from Mormonism and Post Mormon web sites suggest that outsiders should be aware of the distinction. Many types of Mormons will believe that this person has been lead astray by Satan and will refrain from associating with apostates.
Fundamentalist Mormon
The leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has stated on its official web site that these two words are a contradiction in terms, but the statement was made to distance the Utah-based church from controversial figures like Warren Jess. The rank and file Mormon membership uses these two words together to describe break-off groups that practice of polygamy. Such groups still believe in the prophetic powers of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, but in their eyes the mainstream church went into a state of apostasy with the official declration of 1890.
Other Types of Mormons
There are other types of Mormons, some of which are based on geographical origin, like Utah and Non-Utah Mormons. Restorationists groups that broke off after the death of Joseph Smith, and that do not practice polygamy, such as the Community of Christ, informally known as the Reorganites, do not claim the title of Momron for themselves.
The other types of Mormons in a Restoration congregationdo use all of the standard Mormon works except the Pearl of Great Price. Not knowing which type of Mormon a person is dealing with could lead to a disaster, especially when well-meaning people do research on the culture and find things that are specific to Utah's culture
