Wheatley Institute and BYU Political Science Department were pleased to host Mónica Guzmán as the keynote speaker for the first annual Initiative for Peacemaking Peace Conference.

Paul Lambert, director of Wheatley Institute's Religion Initiative, was recently appointed to the board of directors for the One America Movement, a national organization dedicated to fighting toxic polarization in American politics.

Wheatley Fellow Shima Baughman spoke in the Baskerville Institute's 2025 Diplomacy of the Heart Conference. The event focused on fostering understanding through empathy, dignity, and respect, learning how to be peacemakers in today's complex political climate, particularly in areas with rich multicultural heritage.

We are designed for love. We’re designed to experience love eternally. This is joy. And that is grounded in family relationships, mothers, fathers, children bound together eternally. I think it’s so beautiful.

The Constitution is foundational to what we all love about America. Arizona State professor Paul Carrese noted in a lecture at the Wheatley Institute last year that “our very complex constitutional system of separation of powers and federalism inherently call for civil disagreement over both long-term and day-to-day political issues.” So, understanding the rights underlying our constitutional system and how they protect people who disagree with us is critical.

These findings hint at a generational transformation in how Americans relate to political legitimacy. Older Americans are unified in their faith in the Constitution. Middle-aged Americans are split by education, sorted into different legitimacy frameworks. And younger Americans are divided and diverse, with no dominant view and increasing weight placed on personal belief and public opinion.