No Contact: Politics Is a New Religion Dividing Homes | Noelle Mering

Updated:

Oct 29, 2026

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Published:

Nov 3, 2026

To see the video of this podcast, please click here, after 6:30am on 11/3/26.

Politics has become a new religion—a cultic one—leading many to distance themselves from family and friends in a new movement tearing homes apart called no contact.

Being part of a family is hard. It is also one of the greatest gifts we have in life, which makes the rise of the no contact movement so painful.

Yes—there are instances of legitimate abuse where it becomes necessary to distance ourselves from genuinely harmful people in our lives. But far too many in our society today are taking inconveniences, differences and disagreements as reasons to go no contact and permanently sever ties with their friends and family.

Noelle Mering, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and author of No Contact: How a Seductive Ideology Broke Families and Friendships and How We Can Repair Them, joins Dave Hanegraaff on Commitment to Reality to talk about why so many adult children are cutting off their parents—and why the way back home runs through genuine curiosity towards those we disagree with, hospitality, and choosing to love the people in our lives that we didn’t choose.

Family is a blessing, not a burden. In a world where so many are living inside an inverted version of reality, the most radical thing we can do this holiday season might be to pull up a chair and practice hospitality. Instead of going no contact, go contact.

To see about receiving this resource and others for your partnering gift please see below:

No Contact: How a Seductive Ideology Broke Families and Friendships and How We Can Repair Them

Awake, Not Woke: A Christian Response to the Cult of Progressive Ideology also by Noelle Mering

Special Issue of the CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL The War on Western Civilization: Everything You Need to Know about the Cult of Wokeism featuring an article by Noelle Mering, “Three Dogmas of Wokeism: The Path to Authoritarianism”.

Thank you for joining Commitment to Reality, hosted by Dave Hanegraaff. Follow Commitment to Reality wherever you get your podcasts.

(Timestamps below.)

0:00 — Intro—who is Noelle Mering

1:35 — Should society be built around the family or the individual?

6:15 — Is family just a social construct? The rise of the chosen family

11:00 — What does it mean to go “no contact”?

13:05 — What is behind the rise of family estrangement over ideology?

18:40 — How to respond to the rise of a mentality of victimhood on both the left and the right

22:45 — For many politics has become a new religion

26:55 — How to engage with people who hold disdain for you and your beliefs

30:00 — The importance of high differentiation (unity is not uniformity)

33:00 — How can we commit to disagreeing well with one another?

36:45— What is the practice of gray rocking?

40:00 — Why we should be more inauthentic in a culture of expressive individualism

43:40 — Does everyone need therapy?

47:00 — Contempt is a sign of divorce—does this mean our civilization is heading for a split?

50:50 — Critical theory does not value truth as highly as it values power—in direct conflict with making a commitment to reality

56:15 — When can a fidelity to the truth cost you?

59:45 — The little things are never little—a fidelity to truth takes place on a random Tuesday

1:03:00 — Why is it important to have photos of your ancestors in your home?

1:10:30 — Practical steps to rebuild our culture

1:17:45 — Why our private lives are so much more important than our public persona

We are living through one of the most disorienting periods in human history—leaving many to wonder: What is reality? As artificial intelligence accelerates and institutional trust erodes, our shared sense of what is real continues to crumble.

A commitment to reality is a dedication to discerning what is true and developing the discipline to live in alignment with that truth—with reality. This podcast is an apologetic for reality—each episode serving as an intentional act of grounding our existence together as we commit to what is beautiful, good, and true.

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