In July 2022, the Wheatley Institute was again a co-sponsor of a EuroSeminar, this time in the Czech countryside near Prague. The official theme of the 2022 Euro Seminar program was “Family in the Wilderness: Covid Aftermath, Family Dynamics, Individual Belonging.” Discussions focused on healing and understanding in the circumstances and contexts that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Europe face. More than forty young professionals, university students, and presenters gathered from over a dozen countries around Europe to learn from one another about these issues.

The Wheatley Institute acknowledges with sadness the passing of Kate Holbrook and we express our condolences to her family and friends who feel her loss keenly. Kate’s inspiring capacity to convey the experiences and values of Latter-day Saint women was highlighted in a lecture she gave at the 2017 conference “My Grace is Sufficient: Latter-day Reflections”. The conference was co-sponsored by the Wheatley Institute, Religious Education, and the Religious Studies Center at Brigham Young University.

Wheatley Institute Sponsors Conference

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.