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 Institute Fellow Judge Thomas B. Griffith has taken on a major role in the American Bar Association’s Task Force for American Democracy, a project created last year to strengthen the commitment of lawyers to the Constitution and the democratic republic it creates. Judge Griffith was appointed to the Task Force at its creation, and his emphasis since has been on the need for lawyers to protect and defend the Constitution by pushing back against the contempt that too often characterizes current American political disagreement. He is working with the deans of law schools to strengthen their commitment to teaching future lawyers that the most important way for them to carry out their primary duty to support and defend the Constitution is by modeling reasoned and respectful disagreement.

Wheatley Hosts First Law Student Seminar

Wheatley Institute Fellow Justin Dyer co-authored an article for Deseret News with findings from a recent study on toxic perfectionism in Latter-Day Saint youth. He addresses the common attitude that being highly religious leads to dangerous levels of perfectionism, and explains how research shows that religion is the solution, rather than the cause, of these problems.

Wheatley fellow, Brian Willoughby, emphasizes the importance of parents talking to their children about pornography in an interview with the New York Times.

Wheatley Institute Fellow Samuel Wilkinson participated in a panel discussion with the American Enterprise Institute about the importance of family relationships, especially for men, despite shifting cultural norms.