More than 3,000 attendees gathered in the Mountain America Exposition Center in Sandy, Utah, to hear musical performances and speeches at the Restore conference put on by Faith Matters, an organization dedicated to discussing Latter-day Saint faith.
The conference is in its second year and featured Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and retired federal Judge Thomas Griffith, who spoke Friday morning.
After a rousing performance from the Debra Bonner Unity Gospel Choir and some initial remarks from Faith Matters board members, Cox and Griffith spoke about how to confront “toxic polarization.”
This polarization is an “existential threat to the Constitution,” Griffith said.
Cox explained how seeing the extent of polarization in politics drove him to start the “Disagree Better” initiative. He referenced a now famous bipartisan ad he made with Chris Peterson.
In particular, both Cox and Griffith cited President Russell M. Nelson’s landmark address on peacemaking multiple times and spoke to how The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has earned a national reputation for leading out on peacemaking.
Brookings Institution senior fellow and The Atlantic contributor Jonathan Rauch was mentioned as someone who has noticed. Griffith recalled a recent address Rauch delivered at Brigham Young University where he said the church, under the leadership of President Nelson and President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the church’s First Presidency, was doing something with theology and ward structure that is “unique in all of America.”
What the church is doing is “the way forward,” Griffith recalled Rauch saying.
When Griffith talked to a Rwandan woman about polarization and conflict, she told him, “If we’re going to get out of this, it’s going to be the leadership of the Mormon church.”
Griffith said Latter-day Saints are being called as beacons of peacemaking.
“You’re the ones that build bridges of understanding,” he said. “I think that’s what President Nelson is calling us to be.”
Even though this kind of peacemaking may seem increasingly rare, Cox said recent data he’s seen from Dartmouth College shows there’s an “exhausted majority” that wants to see less polarization and more “humility, patience and moderation” in politics.
Cox spoke about how “the perception gap” has allowed polarization to fester.
“It’s not that Republicans and Democrats believe different things, that’s not what’s dangerous,” Cox said. “It’s what Republicans think Democrats believe. It’s what Democrats think Republicans believe. It’s called the perception gap. That’s what’s dangerous.”
To remedy this gap, Cox says we should “never talk about ‘those people.’” When we start talking about “those people,” we end up contributing to the issue, he said.
One of the ways Cox said he’s been able to reduce contempt and contention in his own life is by stopping his consumption of cable news.
“Abby and I are 11 years sober,” Cox said as the audience laughed.
“The Spirit cannot abide when there is contention, and cable news is built on a model of contempt and contention,” Cox said.
Following Cox and Griffith, three-time Super Bowl champion Steve Young spoke along with Steven Sharp Nelson — the “Cello Guy” in the group The Piano Guys.
Nelson intermittently played the cello as he spoke about how he has learned to value the people around him and his faith above his career. Other speakers on the first day of the conference included senior fellow at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute Rosalynde Welch, Brigham Young University professor Jared Halverson, Latter-day Saint scholar Terryl Givens and lead singer of The Killers Brandon Flowers.
The second day of the conference is expected to feature a performance from Lux Singers, a prayer from Rabbi Samuel L. Spector and an address from activist Daryl Davis.
