What do you do with a man of arrogance and rebellion who inspires the hearts of countless young men and boys in a world deliberately set against them? What do you do with Andrew Tate?
When a friend asked me about Andrew, I didn’t know much about the man beyond his kickboxing, affluent lifestyle, and social media notoriety. As I began to look around for answers, another friend advised me not to touch the guy. He said writing about Tate was merely “playing clickbait.” One associate cautioned going too far down the Tate trail and that for young men, listening to Tate was like “smoking dope.”
Other unedited commentaries on Tate were much worse. As I tried to navigate my friend’s request and the voices of caution, I began to uncover layer upon layer of relevant issues facing young men in our day. Good and bad, Tate is a firebrand for sure. One British journal observed that a “fifth of Gen Z men have a ‘favorable view’ of the influencer.”[1] So, I have landed on the reality that if we are serious about reaching young men, we must address the question of Andrew Tate.
Who Is Andrew Tate?
Andrew was born in America and moved with his mother and younger siblings to England after his parents divorced in 1997. He grew up with a competitive mindset and began kickboxing in 2005, winning his first international title in 2011. From his fighting career and other media ventures, Tate began to influence young men through social media and online subscription platforms such as “Hustler University.” Though not convicted, in recent years he and his brother have faced criminal charges of rape and human trafficking.
While Tate has presented himself as a protector of women and children in recent times, the rest of his life is one of barbarism and survival of the fittest. Tate is a champion of pragmatism and stated in one interview that “What is useful is more important than what is true.”[2] Power is paramount for Tate, and we see this in what little theology he might hold.
As a boy, Tate grew up as a cultural Christian but recently converted to Islam, as he says that Christians are weak. For Tate, the religious question is not the validity of the Bible or Koran but which one calls out more strength in men. He believes in good and evil, but ultimately, he’s the final arbiter of those traits. On one hand, Tate speaks of protecting women, but on the other he rejects God’s design for sex as exclusively reserved for the marriage bed. Compassion is a word almost foreign to Tate’s verbiage, and the chief goal is conquering everything in his path and enjoying the spoils of victory.
“Compassion is a word almost foreign to Tate’s verbiage, and the chief goal is conquering everything in his path and enjoying the spoils of victory.”
In short, as one journal put it, “If you reversed every teaching of the Sermon on the Mount, you might end up with Andrew Tate’s lifestyle.”[3] Tate is boisterous and flaunts his wealth while inviting—no, calling—young men to join him in reaching for all that they can conquer, achieve, and enjoy in this life if they strive hard to accomplish their goals.
Responding to an Anti-Masculine Era
The profound absurdities in Tate’s worldview are apparent. So why is it so difficult to steer young men away from him? How do you tell a starving boy in Zambia to stop eating out of the garbage? Likewise, how can we tell boys to pass by Andrew Tate when our society ignores them and often punishes them for nothing more than being energetic and desiring to be strong and courageous?
“Systemic” is a catchword used over the past decade to describe evil practices that permeate society. If we look under the hood of our modern culture, we can see this regarding the belittlement and bashing of boys and males in general. Dramatically, Nancy Pearcey, in her book The Toxic War on Masculinity, notes that in 2018, the American Psychological Association “denounced traditional masculinity as psychologically harmful.”[4]
Taking such cues, many radical feminists no longer cheer for mere equality but an all-out war on men. We see this in movies and television, depicting men as fools or felons. Academically, we see obstacles in elementary school where systems favor girls who are not as hyperactive as boys. We see this wherever evil is affixed to males and to the traditional idea of muscular manhood. In the name of gender inclusion, the Boy Scouts of America, birthed over 100 years ago as a Christian program to help boys become men, now opens its hallowed halls to female membership. At the same time, the Girl Scouts remain staunchly girl-centric.
“Many radical feminists no longer cheer for mere equality but an all-out war on men.”
What Truths Does Andrew Tate Teach?
Yes, Andrew Tate is profoundly wrong in so many ways. Yet, he is proclaiming some truths with megaphonic blasts about masculinity that young men and boys need to hear. In pushing back on this anti-male narrative, Tate declares that a “traditionally masculine man does things he doesn’t feel like doing because it’s his duty to do them. They charge into the burning building because it’s his duty, not because he feels like it.”[5] Andrew rightly acknowledges that good masculinity stays on the Titanic while helping the women and children into lifeboats.
Tate also exudes more than mere physical strength. In our culture that gives feelings more credence than fact, Tate stands for objective realism and declares on his website, “Reality doesn’t care how you feel.” In an interview with Piers Morgan, Tate highlights that when you have males who live with feelings first, “you get school shooters and rapists. Men who do not control their emotions are dangerous.”[6]
We need strength under control. God has built strength into the bodies and hearts of boys and young men. Honoring male strength and teaching young men how to walk humbly with that strength is the answer. Strength must be harnessed and directed, not destroyed. In his foundational book on manhood, Wild at Heart, John Eldridge states, “You cannot teach a boy to use his strength by stripping him of it.”[7]
“Honoring male strength and teaching young men how to walk humbly with that strength is the answer.”
Offering an Alternative?
Once asked why young men and boys listen to him, Andrew responded, “I say things that are true. They know intrinsically to be true. They listen to me, and it’s the first time they ever feel good.” Tate offers purpose for young men in our void of positive male influence. When questioned why someone might want to follow his example, Tate answered, “If a young man comes to me and says he’s depressed, I’m going to tell him how to become the type of man who’s proud of himself.”[8]
Hearing this rush of hope, is it any wonder that young men and boys gravitate to this Pied Piper of power? What young man doesn’t want to be proud of himself? Here’s the truth: unless we are deliberate about pointing them in the right direction, boys and young men will gladly follow Tate or anyone who gives them hope of a powerful manhood they know deep in their hearts can be a reality.
Society is finding it difficult to secure a healthy alternative to Tate. In my research for this study, I found very little hope among the volumes of cautionary material aimed against Andrew. One middle school teacher spoke of the problem saying that boys are “definitely at an age where they’re trying to figure out, what does it mean to be a man? What kind of man will I become? It seems like the whole Andrew Tate thing captures them.”[9] The educator’s assessment is correct, but she offered no answer to the searching quest in the hearts of these boys.
“Hearing this rush of hope, is it any wonder that young men and boys gravitate to this Pied Piper of power?”
One anti-Tate treatise unaffectedly encouraged teachers to listen to and empathize with the boys in their classrooms, but the article offered no positive alternative. It’s like being in the Emergency Room with a bone protruding out of my leg only to hear the doctor say, “Wow, tell me about that; it looks like it really must hurt,” and doing nothing to secure healing.
If we care about young men and boys, we must deliberately find and offer some real hope and direction. While responding to Tate and the more significant questions at play would fill an entire book, here are four challenges to prime the pump and begin some needed conversations and action plans.
1. We Must Capture their Imagination.
Watch boys playing, and you can see their imaginations on display. They may be slaying dragons or flying to Mars. Over time, the world’s wounds can thwart or darken those innocent hearts of male passion. We ought to help boys see a bright future in which they are key players.
I did that several years ago with a young boy in our neighborhood who was growing up without God in his home. Like many boys, he was interested in heroes. Knowing that of my young friend, I recounted the history of King David, who took down Goliath. As I finished with his full attention, I stated with prophetic potential, “You could also grow up to be a great man like King David someday.” It was small. But it’s those little images that can carry a boy forward.
Scripture is full of men who were brave, strong, and passionate about God. Boys and young men need to hear these historical narratives regularly. That reminds me of a song by Rich Mullins, “Boy Like Me, Man Like You,” which imagines, “They say stories like that make a boy grow bold. Stories like that make a man walk straight.”[10]
“Scripture is full of men who were brave, strong, and passionate about God.”
For ages, men would sit around fires with wide-eyed boys, recounting stories from their lives and the lives of other brave men who had gone before them. That beautiful and powerful drama can be a reality again if we deliberately paint the pictures of godly manhood before the boys and young men of our day and help them imagine what it would be like to join those halls of noble manhood.
2. We Must Creatively Invest in Them.
One of the downsides of the Industrial Revolution is that men spend less time working around their homes with their sons in tow. However, we can creatively find ways to take our sons with us on errands when off the clock and mentor young men around us during the working hours of our lives. We can manage our schedules and money to create opportunities for boys and young men to be with us.
The evangelist D.L. Moody once promised a group of boys new suits for Christmas if they attended Sunday School and stayed out of trouble over the summer and fall. Twelve boys took Moody up on the challenge and were awarded their new suits in late December. The real power was not in the suit but in the time the boys spent with Moody and the reality that he believed in them. Each of the twelve suited boys grew up to be a leader, and a follower of God.
A few years ago, I began paying a teenage boy to cut my grass. Investing in this young man provided me with short snippets of time before and after his yard work to ask about his week and speak promise into his life. This past Sunday, that same boy was on the stage with our worship team and loved every minute of it. The investment is working.
“We can creatively find ways to take our sons with us on errands when off the clock and mentor young men around us during the working hours of our lives.”
3. We Must Call Them Out to and Up to Manhood.
The term “teenager” is relatively new in world history. Until about seventy-five years ago, males were either boys or men. Boys desire to grow and be bold and honorable, and they need a man to call them to that end game. Andrew Tate is calling boys and young men to do exactly that. We must deliberately do this. As we move in that direction, boys and young men will respond.
I remember being at a family gathering when I was about twelve and sitting near the kitchen, bored out of my brain, listening to the women talk and looking through the window at the men in the backyard. Then it happened: my uncle yelled through the screen door, “Steve, come out here and sit with the men.” It wasn’t a huge thing. But why do I still remember it all these years later? Because a man I respected was calling me to sit with him. It’s in a boy’s DNA to long for manhood, and he needs a man to lead him there.
4. We Must Center on the Perfect Man: Jesus Christ.
Theologically, we are right to teach Christ’s divinity. We must also impart Jesus’ perfect manhood. In Jesus, we see both power and compassion. Yes, Jesus held the little children and pitied the low and outcasts. He also violently drove the money changers from the temple.
Jesus walked with purpose and stood his ground to the point of death. He never took the bait of those who strove to entrap him. I think of Jesus before Herod and Pilate, who were the power czars of his day, and Jesus never cracked. He was not impressed by their might and he let Pilate know that his power was granted to him only by God and that if Jesus wanted to, he could call legions of angels to his side. I wonder if Jesus yawned when Herod tried to goad him into performing a miracle. Ok, probably not. But either way, Jesus stood before the politically powerful of his day and did not budge.
Jesus not only lived boldly but also made radically bold statements such as “I AM the Way and the Truth and Life, and no one comes to the Father except by me.”[11] Those aren’t the words of timidity. Yes, we know the theology of redemption through the cross. But do we also see that in his perfect manhood, Jesus rose to the occasion instead of backing down? What shows the idea of “traditional manhood” more than the perfect man laying down his life and calling us to follow in his footsteps? Boys and young men need to see this.
“What shows the idea of ‘traditional manhood’ more than the perfect man laying down his life and calling us to follow in his footsteps?”
That’s the Jesus we must present to boys and young men today. For the men who know Jesus, the challenge is to call up your sons and other boys and young men following in your path to see and grow into the men God designed them to be. Ladies, you can help by honoring the men in your lives and refusing to engage in male-bashing. You can encourage the boys and young men in your lives to aspire to noble manhood and work to ensure there are godly role models in their lives.
Men, women, and church families can all be deliberate about taking the hands of boys and young men and letting them know that they are not a problem but rather powerful men-in-the-making and that the world desperately needs them to be all that God created them to be.
What to Do with Andrew Tate?
So, what do you do with Andrew Tate? For some, the verdict is still out. While I was in the dentist’s office the other day, a female hygienist asked me what I was writing about. I told her the project was on Andrew Tate and asked if she knew who he was. She told me she did and wondered out loud if the article would be a good or bad commentary on the man in question. “Exactly,” I replied. I told her I agreed with all the issues people have with Tate, but there are so many lost and beaten down young men looking for answers in their quest for manhood. They need help, and if they don’t find it in someone good, they’ll turn to Tate and others like him, and we’ll all suffer the consequences.
“They need help, and if they don’t find it in someone good, they’ll turn to Tate and others like him, and we’ll all suffer the consequences.”
Thinking back to John Eldridge, he rightly identifies that boys and young men without a godly role model will “either overcompensate for their wounds and become driven (violent men), or they will shrink back and go passive (retreating men).”[12] It’s clear that the former accurately describes Andrew Tate. We don’t want that. It is also clear that the latter in Eldridge’s statement depicts legions of young men in our world today. We don’t want that either. But unless we deliberately point them to Christ, one of those two is exactly what we will find ourselves with.
[1] Betsy Reed, “Gen Z boys and men more likely than baby boomers to believe feminism harmful, says poll,” The Guardian, February 1 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/news/2024/feb/01/gen-z-boys-and-men-more-likely-than-baby-boomers-to-believe-feminism-harmful-says-poll.
[2] David Sutcliffe, “Andrew Tate vs Psychologist (Round 1),” YouTube, August 28, 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x460Rg999aI.
[3] Tony Wilson, “Andrew Tate’s behavior is abhorrent. But when I prayed for him, God did something surprising,” Premier Christianity, January 5, 2023, https://www.premierchristianity.com/opinion/andrew-tates-behaviour-is-abhorrent-but-when-i-prayed-for-him-god-did-something-surprising/14642.article?adredir=1.
[4] Nancy Pearcey, The Toxic War on Masculinity (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2023).
[5] Andrew Tate, “Motivation, Man Up! Andrew Tate’s Guide to Embracing Masculinity,” YouTube, May 6, 2024, https://youtu.be/lBO9pMU5phY?si=BQ2MiHPCtLoTaDgb.
[6] Piers Morgan, “ Andrew Tate On The Problems Of Modern Men And The Need For Masculinity,” YouTube, December 29, 2022, https://youtu.be/QxbZ3l4qNWc?si=lg6zx9V2ygUXUPBH.
[7] John Eldredge, Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man’s Soul (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2001).
[8] Andrew Tate and Tucker Carlson, “The BELIEVE – Andrew Tate,” YouTube, August 26, 2023, https://youtu.be/IEfLqEDRacQ?si=frmwqzgbtLCE-25f.
[9] Madeline Will, “Misogynist Influencer Andrew Tate Has Captured Boys’ Attention. What Teachers Need to Know,” Education Week, February 2, 2023, https://www.edweek.org/leadership/misogynist-influencer-andrew-tate-has-captured-boys-attention-what-teachers-need-to-know/2023/02.
[10] Rich Mullins, “Boy Like Me / Man Like You,” Universal Music Brentwood Benson Publishing, 1991 https://open.spotify.com/track/4HjBgsjqNDuvXMqJNyUxnG.
[11] Paraphrase of John 14:6, emphasis added.
[12] John Eldredge, Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man’s Soul (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson 2001).
