Published February 6, 2026
While speaking at a recent event, I was asked a question that I had never heard put so bluntly before—and its bluntness was the point.
A father raised his hand and asked: How do we keep our daughters from going woke? He wasn’t sneering. He wasn’t angry. He was worried and earnest. And he was perceptive enough to name what many parents and pollsters are quietly noticing: a cultural current that seems to be pulling young women, in particular, toward ideological extremes marked by grievance, emotionalism, and a commitment to progressivist social justice.
The answers I gave that night—and the ones I’ve refined after giving it deeper consideration—are not meant to be insulting or patronizing to young women. Some of them apply just as much to men as they do women. They are about paying attention to the hidden forces of formation, of the necessity for vigilance in the face of daunting emotional pressures, and the necessity of self-awareness to keep one’s perspective balanced.
That work begins where all Christian parenting must begin—unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. That means prayer is the foundation of the Christian parent. Parents are not sovereign over their children’s hearts. God is. Any attempt to shape moral reasoning without dependence on Him and His Word is doomed to either pride or despair.
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Andrew T. Walker, Ph.D., is a Fellow in the Evangelicals and Civic Life Program at The Ethics and Public Policy Center. He is also the Dean of the School of Theology and Professor of Christian Ethics and Public Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and the founding Managing Editor of WORLD Opinions. He co-hosts The Bully Pulpit, a weekly podcast exploring faith, culture, and politics from a conservative Christian perspective.
