Wheatley Institute and the BYU Economics department were pleased to hear from Dr. Devin Pope, an Associate Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics at the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago. Dr. Pope used cellphone data to explore the frequency, regularity, and correlates with religious worship in America across geographies and religious traditions.

Wheatley Institute helped to host David French, author and columnist for the New York Times, as a speaker at Brigham Young University's campus forum, where he addressed increased political division and hatred in the United States.

Distinguished Wheatley fellow of religion, Shima Baughman, gave a devotional at Brigham Young University comparing the power of faith in Jesus Christ to the power of our own biological hearts, especially emphasizing the importance of temple covenants.

Wheatley Distinguished Fellow Shima Baughman contributed an op-ed to Newsweek examining the decline of American trust in marriage, a trend now increasingly reflected in popular media. Baughman cites studies showing marriage rates at historic lows and an increasing public sentiment viewing marriage as old-fashioned or restrictive. But despite shifting public attitudes, marriage continues to be research-proven way to provide happiness for parents and stability for children.

Wheatley Institute Constitutional Government Director, James Phillips, wrote a blog post today for The Federalist Society regarding the Supreme Court yesterday denying a petition for certiorari in Apache Stronghold v United States. Justice Gorsuch argued in his dissent from the denial, joined by Justice Thomas, that allowing the lower court’s ruling to stand poses a threat to religious liberty.

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.