Understanding the Role of Faith in Professional Contexts and Beyond

Lecture from Dr. Catherine Pakaluk

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, Vice Chair of the National Governor’s Association, emphasized the importance of civil discourse in political discussion in his remarks at the Disagree Better Summit. This summit, born from Oklahoma’s Better Conversations initiative and Utah Governor Spencer Cox’s Disagree Better initiative, gathered leaders from across the nation to discuss avoiding hateful rhetoric when it comes to hot-button issues. At the summit, Wheatley Institute non-resident fellow Thomas Griffith moderated the event and applied the Will Rogers quote– “never miss a chance to shut up”– to modern political conversations. Watch Governor Stitt discuss the art of respectful disagreement with Tim Shriver, Chairman of the Special Olympics:

Wheatley Fellow Thomas B. Griffith wrote an article for the Deseret News about the importance of mantaining public trust in the nonpartisan nature of federal courts, especially when disagreements arise over contentious political issues. He warns that questioning judicial impartiality based solely on disagreement with court decisions is a serious danger to both the judges in question and the Constitution.

Distinguished Wheatley Fellow Shima Baughman was featured on the Faith Matters podcast, sharing both her current research on the positive impact of faith communities on criminal justice and the powerful story of what led to her passion for justice and mercy.

"It's not really necessarily about having high goals, it's not necessarily even about not meeting those high goals—it's about how I feel about myself when I don't meet those goals. If I'm imperfect at something, how do I feel about myself?"