Shortly after Mirabella Archibald Keogh (BS ’26) and Alexander A. Keogh (BS ’26) started dating at BYU, they began disagreeing. “We actually started keeping a little tally of ongoing debates,” says Alex. “Those disagreements became an excuse to hang out.” From differing opinions on political candidates to arguments about spiders (good or gross?), the Keoghs, who married during their sophomore year, are still not afraid to talk about anything.
After listening to President Russell M. Nelson’s 2023 general conference talk “Peacemakers Needed,” the Keoghs felt a “spiritual calling,” says Mirabella, to promote peacemaking among BYU students. They started the Peacemaker Project, an academic student association to practice productive disagreement and respectacross campus.
Through the Peacemaker Project, the Keoghs organized Across the Aisle dinners for students with differing political views, respectful campus debates, and a tour of 15 universities across the country for association members to learn from others about making peace. On the trip they met a Palestinian student who had partnered with a Jewish student to help students talk about issues productively. “I don’t give up on anybody,” the student told them.
This example inspired the Koeghs in their own faith. “We can’t really, as followers of Christ, totally exclude somebody from the possibility of making peace,” adds Alex.
After graduation Alex plans to pursue a PhD to study the psychology behind productive disagreement, and Mirabella is looking at law schools, where she wants to understand peace theology in religious law.
“Being a peacemaker is harder than we ever thought before we started,” says Alex. “But we’re not afraid to disagree with each other, . . . and that’s one of my favorite parts of our relationship.”
“Jesus Christ is the perfect peacemaker,” Mirabella says. ““One of His names is the Prince of Peace, and knowing that being a peacemaker is being a disciple of Jesus Christ gives me a lot of faith and hope.”
