07/04/2026
Happy 4th everyone!
If you’ve been disillusioned by what American Christianity has become, you might want to meet Thomas Merton and Richard Rohr.
A lot of people assume there are only two versions of Christianity: the angry culture-war version that dominates social media and politics, or no Christianity at all.
That simply isn’t true.
When much of the American church embraced political power, nationalism, conspiracy theories, prosperity gospel, and partisan identity as substitutes for spiritual formation, I found myself asking a simple question:
What does any of this have to do with Jesus?
That question led me to two men whose work has been a balm for countless people who love the teachings of Christ but no longer recognize much of what passes for Christianity in America.
Thomas Merton was a Trappist monk, writer, and contemplative who spent much of his life exploring prayer, humility, peace, and the dangers of ego. He warned against confusing religion with power and taught that spiritual growth begins when we stop pretending we are the center of the universe.
Merton wrote:
“Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real.”
And:
“The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves.”
He believed that deep contemplation should lead to greater compassion, greater justice, and greater love—not greater certainty that everyone else is wrong.
Richard Rohr, a Franciscan friar and one of the most influential Christian writers alive today, carries much of that tradition forward.
Rohr teaches that faith is not about tribalism, fear, or dominance. It is about transformation.
One of his most famous observations is:
“The ego does not want to be changed. The ego wants to be confirmed.”
Think about that for a moment.
How much of modern religion is actually about transformation—and how much is about having our existing beliefs, grievances, and identities affirmed?
Rohr argues that Jesus consistently invited people beyond us-versus-them thinking. Beyond tribalism. Beyond fear. Beyond the need to always be right.
He often says:
“We do not think ourselves into new ways of living. We live ourselves into new ways of thinking.”
The Franciscan tradition emphasizes humility, simplicity, compassion, care for the poor, care for creation, and seeing the image of God in every human being.
It asks different questions than modern political Christianity.
Not:
Who can we defeat?
But:
Who is suffering?
Not:
How do we gain power?
But:
How do we become more loving?
Not:
Who is excluded?
But:
Who is our neighbor?
For many people, discovering Merton and Rohr feels less like finding a new faith and more like rediscovering the one they thought they’d lost.
A Christianity rooted in contemplation rather than outrage.
Humility rather than certainty.
Love rather than fear.
Service rather than power.
Whether you’re a believer, former believer, or simply someone searching for wisdom, their work is a reminder that another Christian tradition exists—one that looks a lot more like the Sermon on the Mount and a lot less like a campaign rally.
