MB Herald Editor Quotes Interspiritualist
Why is Laura Kalmar, editor of the MB Herald, quoting Thomas Merton in her article called “Don’t Be Afraid”? (See page 3, November 2007, Mennonite Brethren Herald, here.) When someone quotes a source, that denotes respect or admiration for the author and the quote. By nonchalantly and favorably including a quote, isn’t the MB Herald endorsing that quote? So, does this mean that Laura Kalmar has been reading the writings of Thomas Merton? He may have said some nice things, but if she knew the following facts, would she still be reading and quoting him?
“Thomas Merton has perhaps done more than any other twentieth-century figure to make the life of prayer widely known and understood… His interest in contemplation led him to investigate prayer forms in Eastern religion. Zen masters from Asia regarded him as the preeminent authority on their kind of prayer in the United States.” –Can Right be Wrong? (www.understandthetimes.org/commentary/c70.shtml)
“It is a glorious destiny to be a member of the human race, … now I realize what we all are …. If only they [people] could all see themselves as they really are …I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other … At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusions, a point of pure truth … This little point …is the pure glory of God in us. It is in everybody.”
FROM A TIME OF DEPARTING BY RAY YUNGEN (quoting Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander (1989 edition, 157-15 
Catholic lay monk Wayne Teasdale says this of Thomas Merton:
“Thomas Merton was perhaps the greatest popularizer of interspirituality. He opened the door for Christians to explore other traditions, notably Taoism (Chinese witchcraft), Hinduism and Buddhism.”
(Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World’s Religions - Wayne Teasdale)
‘I’m deeply impregnated with Sufism.‘” Thomas Merton, from The Springs of Contemplation, p. 266
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