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The backlash to the ‘no contact’ movement has begun

“After a decade of aggressive boundary setting pushed many families apart, some are beginning to share their regrets,”

A growing backlash is emerging against the “no contact” movement—the increasingly common practice of responding to painful or difficult family relationships by completely cutting off parents, siblings or other relatives. After years in which strict boundary-setting and family estrangement were often presented online as acts of self-protection, some people who embraced that approach are now reconsidering what was lost. Therapists and families are also beginning to distinguish between situations involving genuine abuse or danger, where separation may be necessary, and the far more ordinary wounds, disappointments, personality differences and unresolved conflicts that inevitably occur within imperfect families.

There is something deeply unfortunate about becoming a culture in which severing a family relationship can be presented as a solution rather than a last resort. Families have always hurt one another because families are made of imperfect people. Certainly no one should be asked to remain in an abusive or dangerous situation, but there is an enormous territory between enduring abuse and permanently removing someone from your life. In that territory lie forgiveness, repentance, difficult conversations, changed expectations, patience and sometimes years of trying again. A culture that too readily says “walk away” may eventually discover that it has discarded not only painful relationships, but some relationships that—with grace, maturity and time—might have been healed.

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Lovely dirty sodas

Apparently, Latter-day Saints are now wholeheartedly linked to dirty sodas, due to The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. There may be other aspects of our culture we’d rather see bound to popularity, but here it is:

“This summer, there’s been something clouding up the sodas in Bay Area fast food chains. Short answer: It’s dairy. Long answer: It’s Mormonism.

“In an April 2026 post, McDonald’s announced on its official site that it was bringing in six new drinks, including Dirty Dr. Pepper. Fans of the Hulu show Secret Lives of Mormon Wives would instantly recognize this as a classic dirty soda drink name. On both reality TV and menus, the culture around the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints (also called Mormonism, or abbreviated to LDS) is dripping into popular culture.

“But what exactly makes the soda “dirty?” Basically, the addition of half and half or coconut cream, plus flavored syrups, to standard soda.”

Many chains are hopping on to the trend.

Three

Fairview Texas Temple site vandalized twice in recent weeks, officials say

We hope the brouhaha in Fairview Texas over the temple can calm.

The construction site of the Fairview Texas Temple was vandalized twice in recent weeks, according to Fairview officials. Vandals spray-painted construction equipment and damaged signs at the property, including signs belonging to both the town and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Fairview police are investigating the incidents, and no suspect had been publicly identified when the story was reported. 

The vandalism comes after the temple spent more than a year at the center of a contentious local debate over its size and spire height. After negotiations and significant revisions to the original design, the Fairview Town Council approved plans in April 2025 for a smaller temple with a 120-foot spire. Construction is now underway on the long-awaited house of the Lord.