Wheatley Scholar Applications Due December 31

Wheatley Institute sponsored a 2-day BYU conference focused on The Family: a Proclamation to the World in celebration of its 30th anniversary. Speakers included Wheatley Institute Family Initiative Director Jason Carroll and fellows Jenet Erickson, Shima Baradaran Baughman, Brian Willoughby, Loren Marks and Justin Collings.

I hope that these small steps for each of us individually, will move us forward to a different kind of politics, where we can live out our commitments across deep and genuine differences, and rediscover the common ground that makes so much of life possible, and sometimes even beautiful.

Wheatley Institute hosted a special screening of the National Museum of American Religion's second film in the "Religious Thought During Times of National Crisis" series: We Are Not Afraid. This film explored religion's role in Americans' response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, with a focus on New York City.

Although retention is not as high as it once was, for Latter-day Saints it has remained remarkably robust across every major indicator of religious life. They lead the nation in church attendance, personal and family religious practice, and active retention, including among Millennials and Gen Z.

"While most people aren’t “overtly hostile” to marriage, they’re becoming “indifferent” to it because they don’t see “its utility or its advantages”—even though family scholars across the political spectrum agree on its economic, social and individual benefits."

"They took on one of the thorniest issues of the day from the heart of the culture wars and treated each other with dignity. They didn’t attack each other; they contended with each other’s ideas and only after working hard to understand those ideas."