Living Peaceably: Religious Freedom as a Foundation for Civic Harmony

Judge Thomas Griffith, a Wheatley Institute Fellow, played an extraordinary role today in introducing Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson at her Supreme Court confirmation hearing. Judge Griffith’s introduction was a stirring defense of the Rule of Law and democracy as he showed support of Judge Jackson’s nomination.

This year, the BYU Museum of Art celebrates 20 years of the acquisition of the Carl Bloch painting, Christ Healing the Sick at Bethesda. In 2001, The Wheatley Institute’s founders, Jack and Mary Lois Wheatley brought this painting, the first of many Carl Bloch paintings, to the BYU Museum of Art.

Wheatley Religion Fellow Samuel Wilkinson co-authored an article for the Deseret News on the history of the relationship between psychiatry and religion. Despite longstanding negative assumptions from early psychiatry, many modern studies have found strong links between religious attendance and lowered risks of depression and anxiety.

Wheatley Family Fellow Jenet Erickson was quoted in a New York Times article covering recent discussion on federal family legislation. Erickson, who previously co-authored an essay in 2021 with Vice President JD Vance emphasizing the importance of stay-at-home parents, reiterated the natural capacities of mothers to bond with their children.

Wheatley Institute Constitutional Government Director, James Phillips, wrote a blog post for The Federalist Society analyzing Mahmoud v. Taylor oral arguments heard last week in the Supreme Court. The case involves claims of religious liberty and parental rights brought by parents in Montgomery County, Maryland schools over elementary and pre-K school curriculum regarding sexuality and gender issues.