The Mormon Alliance (originally the Mormon Defense League, but not to be conflated with a later organization of that name) was founded on July 4, 1992 by

Paul Toscano The September Six were six members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) who were excommunicated or disfellowshipped by the church in September 1993, allegedly for publishing scholarly work against or criticizing church do ...

to counter perceived spiritual and ecclesiastical abuse in

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

and to protect the Church against defamatory actions. During the next few months, the trustees established a broad range of supporting purposes: providing a comprehensive definition of spiritual abuse, working to reconcile leaders and members who were out of harmony, establishing a Members’

Bill of Rights A bill of rights, sometimes called a declaration of rights or a charter of rights, is a list of the most important rights to the citizens of a country. The purpose is to protect those rights against infringement from public officials and pri ...

, providing a forum for a reasonable and tempered discussion of governance in the Church, critiquing general conference, and identifying and documenting cases of spiritual and ecclesiastical abuse.

Janice Merrill Allred Janice Merrill Allred (born in 1947) is an excommunicated Latter Day Saint, theologian, writer, and Mormon feminist. She was born in Mesa, Arizona. Allred holds a B.A. in English from Brigham Young University (BYU), and some of her writings hav ...

and

Lavina Fielding Anderson Lavina Fielding Anderson (born 13 April 1944 in Shelley, Idaho) is a Latter-day Saint scholar, writer, editor, and feminist. Anderson holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Washington. Her editing credits include ''Sisters in Spirit: Mo ...

, two of the trustees, became co-chairs of the Case Reports Committee in the fall of 1992 and still serve in those positions. Toscano and Fielding Anderson were

excommunicated Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...

by the Church following their actions. The Alliance published a quarterly newsletter from Fall 1993 to January 2006, as well as three volumes of case reports online and in print. The Alliance also sponsored quarterly meetings, two of which would follow Church General Conferences and one in conjunction with the

Sunstone Sunstone is a microcline or oligoclase feldspar, which when viewed from certain directions exhibits a spangled appearance. It has been found in Southern Norway, Sweden, various United States localities and on some beaches along the midcoast of ...

symposium held in Salt Lake City, Utah.

References

External links

Mormon Alliance Home Page
containing an archive o

and thei

*
Archive of The Mormon Alliance website
June 2014 (from April 2010 scrape by Archive.org) Mormonism-related controversies Latter Day Saint organizations {{LDS-stub