With a new book set to release on September 8, 2026, Catholic author and Ethics and Public Policy Center fellow Noelle Mering is putting a spotlight on the growing phenomenon of adult children severing ties with parents over political and ideological differences. The forthcoming title, No Contact: How a Seductive Ideology Broke Families and Friendships and How We Can Repair Them, argues that a distinct, culturally driven “no contact” movement is reshaping family life in ways many Christian readers are only beginning to understand.
Mering’s book is being published by Forum Books, an imprint in the Penguin Random House group, and runs 288 pages in its initial hardcover edition. The publisher’s description notes that she combines interviews and historical research to trace five major forces behind the movement: identity politics, demythologization of the family, therapeutic culture, infallibility of victimhood, and cultural narcissism alongside spiritual decline. Mering, already known in Christian and conservative circles for her earlier book Awake, Not Woke, approaches the subject as both a cultural critic and a mother of six, situating estrangement within wider debates about the meaning of the family.
In a sneak-peek of the book released by the publisher, Mering stresses that her focus is not on those who have cut off contact to escape genuine abuse, but on what she calls ideologically driven estrangements rooted in conflicts over matters such as COVID-19 policies, voting for Donald Trump, and gender ideology. In an interview with the National Catholic Register, she compares the trend to an autoimmune disorder, arguing that some adult children now struggle to distinguish between ordinary family friction and severe harm, with routine disagreements being reinterpreted as trauma. Mering contends that the redefinition of “trauma,” together with a therapeutic culture that elevates subjective “lived experience” as unquestionable, encourages young adults to treat parents and siblings as toxic if they fail to affirm their political or personal choices.
Although precise national figures on “no contact” cases are difficult to establish, several recent surveys suggest that political estrangement is increasingly common in American families. A 2024 survey Joshua Coleman conducted with The Harris Poll, which he later summarized in a public essay, found that nearly half of American adults reported being estranged from a close relative, with about one in five explicitly citing political differences as the reason. Coleman’s analysis also noted that younger adults and those who identify as “very liberal” or “very conservative” are more likely to report cutting off relatives over politics, indicating that ideological intensity may be a significant driver of these ruptures.
Data from the Public Religion Research Institute provide another window into how politics is affecting family relationships. In a January 2024 post-election survey, PRRI reported that 12 percent of American voters anticipated spending less time with certain family members over the holidays because of political disagreements. The same study found that 23 percent of Democrats, compared with 5 percent of Republicans, said they would reduce time with relatives due to political views, a disparity later highlighted in a year-end analysis published by Axios. While these numbers do not necessarily equate to permanent estrangement, they point to a willingness among some Americans to limit family contact as partisan divides deepen.
Researchers and therapists have been tracking parallel trends for several years, noting that political polarization interacts with a growing public awareness of how difficult relationships can affect mental health. A 2022 feature from the BBC’s Worklife section, drawing on clinical psychologists and survey data, reported that family estrangement appears to have risen since the 2016 US election, with some experts linking this to sharper party-line conflicts and differing views on race and social justice. In another outlet, Coleman urged those seeking reconciliation to focus less on proving relatives wrong and more on understanding how their loved ones came to hold particular political convictions, arguing that validation and shared values can help de-escalate family disputes.
The debate over when, if ever, going “no contact” is justified has also surfaced in secular commentary that illuminates the fault lines Mering is engaging. A 2025 essay in New York Magazine’s Intelligencer vertical defended cutting off “MAGA relatives,” citing Coleman and Harris Poll findings and framing political estrangement as a legitimate response to perceived threats to democracy and social equality. Meanwhile, a 2024 opinion piece in USA Today, drawing on similar polling, reported that roughly half of adults felt distanced from a close relative and that around 40 percent of those rifts were directly tied to political disagreements, underscoring how public life is bleeding into private relationships.
Mering is making the Christian case against this trend in a variety of media as her publication date approaches. In an essay titled “The ‘No Contact’ Epidemic” on her Substack newsletter, she described the book as an exploration of “politics of estrangement” and discussed how identity-based frameworks cast some family members as expendable when they fail to align with progressive orthodoxies. A long-form interview on the podcast Maiden Mother Matriarch introduced her argument to a broader audience, with the host describing her thesis as a challenge to the idea that cutting off relatives is simply an extension of healthy boundary-setting. Mering also developed aspects of the project in a January 2026 essay for The Federalist, where she linked the newer forms of family estrangement to the logic of contemporary identity politics.
For Christian readers trying to make sense of painful ruptures in their own families, the book emerges at a moment when pastoral leaders and lay counselors are increasingly encountering questions about political conscience, generational change, and loyalty to parents. Reviews and interviews in Catholic and Christian media have highlighted Mering’s insistence that genuine abuse requires protection and distance, even as she warns that ideological narratives can push adult children to treat ordinary disagreement as intolerable harm. As No Contact reaches bookstores and church reading groups in the coming months, its analysis—combined with ongoing social science research—seems poised to shape continuing conversations in Christian communities about how to hold together conviction, care for mental health, and enduring family bonds amid a polarized culture.