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.

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?"