(WARRENSBURG, Mo.) –When the Secular Student Alliance started planning the “Meet the Mormons” event, they didn’t know what to expect. The Mormon religion seemed a mystery to them. When they finally met the Mormons, they all got to discover each other’s differing perspectives.
SSA hosted the event Thursday, Nov. 2, with four Mormon missionaries— two Mormon elders, Dace Daniels and Keaton Hiatt – and two sisters, Mackenzie Halm and Heather Brinegar.
The Mormon missionaries first gave a presentation on their general beliefs of Mormonism, then they answered questions from the SSA group. Kayla Watson, SSA co-president, said the event had some great discussion with interesting questions and answers from both sides.
“My favorite part was how naturally our group and the Mormons interacted. There’s always the awkward initial period when two groups meet but I was really happy with how it ended up,” Watson said. “We had some laughs and overall I think the discussions felt comfortable and conversational.”
The main purpose of “Meet the Mormons” was to learn about the Mormon religion, such as what they believe, the history and how they feel about conversational subjects.
“The most educational part for me was when the Mormons told us their beliefs on death and the afterlife,” Watson said. “I didn’t know much about it before the meeting and I don’t think the other SSA members did either.”
Daniels said even though the event was a smaller turnout, they were glad the group seemed very interested and asking a lot of different types of questions.
“The questions were really good and we enjoyed answering them, the people there seemed genuinely interested so that is always a plus,” Daniels said. “Our favorite part of the event was how involved everyone was.”
Hiatt said the event helped them as Mormons learn more about the SSA group’s more secular points of view and really enjoyed teaching them about theirs.
“We hope they learned more about what we believe and we hope that they had their questions answered,” Hiatt said. “We also hope we were able to put down some false beliefs.”
Hiatt and Daniels said they would come to an event like this again, if given the opportunity. Watson said the SSA group will likely have another event like “Meet the Mormons” in the future.
“Now that we’ve done a fairly small event, I’d like to try it again but promote the event outside of our own group,” Watson said. “Perhaps get the religious studies department involved, or other religious groups on campus.”
Watson said the SSA group learned that younger people in the Mormon religion are not very different from them, contrary to what she believed. She said they have similar interest and goals and they strive to be accepting of other people’s views.
“Even if their methods and ideas differ from ours, we can still get along and try to understand each other,” Watson said.