4 weeks ago I came to this board with a query about Mormon missionaries and received informative and surprising answers:
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,2176,2176#msg-2176

I wrote a paper and later presented my "findings" to a class of 30 fellow students, who were all absolutely floored by what they heard. 15 minutes of allotted discussion time turned into over an hour, until the professor finally jumped in and filled us in on some aspects of Mormonism (he was sharply critical).

By the way, this is at a Catholic univ where most students have never heard of Mormons. I am not religious myself; I went to this school because it's convenient. Those who are Catholic here are mostly cafeteria Catholics.

Fall break has come and gone and people still are referencing the topic with an enthralled/appalled intrigue. The professor has agreed that if I can get the ball rolling on arranging it, we could have a Mormon leader or set of missionaries come in for a guest presentation / Q & A session. Ground rules being they are not to proselytize and we are not to have a laugh at their religion. He or a Catholic priest can help me make the arrangements if need be.

I guess what I want to ask is what do you all think of this and do you have any suggestions? Thank you.

I am glad you did what you did and your professor was critical as he should have been. But what can be done in a class with your rules???? I think people who are interested would get more out of talking to a Mormon missionary in the street. That would allow a good give and take.

Actually they would be given much more respect and not challenged in the classrrom. Those were the rules as you stated. I do not see the point. If you were allowed to ask questions about why they believe as they do and back it up with facts that is one thing but then you should have your say as well. Sounds like you would only get what a Mormon wants to sell and you can get that from reading a book on Mormonism. I think what you have provided is sufficient. Yes, most people know little about Mormons and this is a good way to educate them.

If people in your class are interested in a good book about mormonism from a catholic perspective, I recommend a book called Inside Mormonism by Isaah Bennet. He was a catholic priest who converted to mormonism and then later went back to the catholic church. Also, catholic.com has some great tracts on mormonism.

I'll bet your classmates are all thoroughly inoculated now. I don't see any reason not to bring in a spokesperson. Your rules sound reasonable to me. It would be rude to laugh at them.

You might suggest a followup discussion after they are gone to discuss it.

I would expect them to come up with a very different perspective and on the surface to refute some of what you know.

Take really good notes and come back here if you need help sorting it out.

Let me clarify that we would be allowed to ask critical questions. We would *not* be allowed to be disrespectful for the sake of doing so, eg "Aren't you throwing away your youth in wretched cult out to rob people? hahahaha"

Agreed....being disrespectful would be a rude thing for any college class. But I wonder how critical your questions could be without the opportunity to challenge. That's all.

Daniel C. Dennett is a Tuft's philosophy professor and studies religion as a natural phenomenon. He writes a book called Breaking the Spell, all about why religion evolved/s.
As a mormon I was always aware of how others viewed it as a cult, but I was equally aware of how they exempted their own religion from the cult-o-meter, myth-o-meter, BS-o-meter, etc.
Mormonism, to me, is a case study into the psychological and sociological forces in ALL religions.
It's the whole "how can intelligent people fall for this?" question. Indeed, in some ways, the more intelligent, the more vulnerable. Dennett makes a good case.

Are you at SLU?

I think that's a fantastic idea, and you should take video.

Maybe you should consider having the missionaries and a local seminary or gospel doctrine teacher. That would provide a much wider perspective. Ward mission leaders are generally a bad choice in my experience. They tend to be stuck in salesman mode.

Do you really expect them to accept this invitation? No way in Hell they will be allowed to walk into this mine field.

StillAnon Wrote:
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> Do you really expect them to accept this
> invitation? No way in Hell they will be allowed to
> walk into this mine field.

When I was a missionary we were to accept any audience we could find or that could find us. I have also had a stake president who used to take the missionaries with him to participate in classes at other churches.

I was thinking this same thing.

I hope all goes well and do, please video and post on Youtube for us all.

But as Stillanon has pointed out; as soon as the Mission President hears the word 'Catholic', he'll be wagging his head in the negative. Unless he's a bit more relaxed and liberal about things.