Dr. Phil tells Ed Young God wants him to speak out against 'woke mob,' talks church's role in society

By Leah MarieAnn Klett, Assistant Editor Tuesday, April 30, 2024

Phil McGraw recently spoke at Pastor Ed Young’s Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas, where he weighed in on the importance of the church’s role in society and revealed he believes God wants him to speak out against the “woke mob” attempting to re-write the truth. 

“The church brings something to the family unit that causes cohesion, that causes values to be thought of and talked about and prayerfully considered,” McGraw, a clinical psychologist and television personality, said.

“If you are married and you do have two parents in [the] family and you are going to church, that's your best shot of those children going into a lifestyle that will be drug-free, alcohol-free, abuse-free, divorce-free, that's your best shot,” he continued.  “Family in America is under attack. We need to fight back with the tools we have, and one of the tools that we have is our active relationship with God.”

The former “Dr. Phil” host appeared at Fellowship Church to promote his new book, We’ve Got Issues: How You Can Stand Strong for America’s Soul and Sanity and media network, Merit Street Media.

He’s passionate, he told Young, about speaking out against the “woke mob” trying to rewrite truth.

“We’ve got some strange ducks out there peddling all kinds of alternatives to God and religion,” he said. “As a result, I’ve seen things in our country that made me think, ‘Wow, I know some things I need to talk about.’ And people are less willing to speak out now than they have been in the last 75 years because of cancel culture. If you take a position, boy they're going to come after you, the hounds are going to be on you, and get you canceled … I don't care. I guess I've been around so long that somebody has to stand up and speak out. I just believe that's what God wants me to do.”

In his book, McGraw, who hosted “Dr. Phil” on CBS for over 20 years, lays out principles he believes are essential for societal survival, urging individuals to identify and pursue their purpose with prayerful consideration.

He also notes that from 1998 to 2023, the American public registered the following declines in these concepts being “very important to them”: “Patriotism” (70% to 38%) Religion” (62% to 39%), “Having Children” (59% to 30%) and “Community Involvement” (47% to 27%).

“This is a book of unification, but it's unifying [for] that 70 percent or 80 percent in the middle, who don't speak up most of the time,” he said. “They just kind of live and let live. And you can only do that until people start hijacking your narrative, until they start hijacking science or biology, history and common sense. At some point, you got to say, ‘Enough's enough and too much is too much,’ and this is too much. So I'm pushing back, and that's what this book is all about.”

McGraw, who has been married to his wife, Robin, since 1976, said he’s always attempted to model a praying life for the couple’s two sons. 

“It was important to me, as a father, to model to those children that they see their father in a prayerful relationship with the Heavenly Father, because I won't be here forever,” he said. “I know in my heart that when I'm gone, they won't be alone because they will have a well-practiced relationship with their Heavenly Father. 

I have the peace of mind knowing they will never be alone. They will never be without a father because when their worldly father is gone, their Heavenly Father will be there, and I will have shown them how to do that. And those are the kinds of things we need to fight back [against], this relativism that's being peddled, all this history is being rewritten, science is being rewritten, biology is being rewritten.” 

In his conversation with Young, McGraw also tackled issues like government control, income inequality and marriage, calling for a focus on healing "damaged personal truths" that deviate from God's vision. 

He addressed parental responsibility in managing children's smartphone use and warned of the dangers posed by predators online. He recommended that children avoid owning smartphones until at least 16 years old, and urged parents to get their kids involved in offline activities.

"We need to be parents, not co-parents with the government," he asserted. "Kids need to face challenges and learn resilience, not just get participation trophies.”

The TV personality also highlighted America's need to return to meritocracy and not reward "bad behavior." 

“This is not a socialist society. We're not a Marxist society. We are a capitalist society. We need to stop apologizing. You work hard, you do good, you reap the benefits. … Did anybody not read The Little Red Hen? … Apparently, Congress can't figure that out.”

He also underscored his new network's commitment to factual reporting, free from bias or agendas. "We aim to tell people what happened and let them decide," he emphasized.

In an op-ed for The Christian Post, Dr. Richard Land, who previously served as president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said McGraw “has done his fellow Americans a great service by writing” We’ve Got Issues.

He cited, in particular, McGraw’s focus on the impact of cultural decline on the younger generation, especially in terms of self-worth, socialization and educational attainment. 

“He has provided a ‘handbook,’ if you will, of how Americans can have meaningful discussions about very important cultural and moral issues and at the same time provided research material extremely relevant to the discussion,” Land wrote. 

“I cannot unpack all the issues discussed in this highly engrossing and challenging volume. Perhaps one example will suffice to whet your appetite to read it yourself. I really hope people will form ‘book clubs’ to read and discuss the critically important issues he raises in his written dialogue with his fellow Americans.”