Secular America Desperately Needs ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’

“Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about???”

That question, asked by a young child, defined a television program three score years ago that has become a landmark of American popular culture. But as A Charlie Brown Christmas celebrates its 60th anniversary — the show premiered on CBS on Dec. 9, 1965 — the increasing secularization of American society means fewer people than ever truly understand the meaning of Christmas.

Holiday Classic

For an animated work that almost didn’t get made and featured numerous technical flaws due to its shoestring budget, A Charlie Brown Christmas became an instant holiday classic, not to mention an Emmy and Peabody Award winner. The script’s humorous asides (Christmas is “run by a big eastern syndicate”) and quirky characters — Lucy’s stand offering psychiatric help for 5 cents, Snoopy entering a holiday light contest — have endeared themselves to generations of Americans. The smooth jazz stylings of Vince Guaraldi’s “Christmas Time Is Here” complete the warm holiday vibe and have become legendary in their own right.

But the heart of the show, and Peanuts creator Charles Schulz’s prime motivation for doing the special, lay in its dramatic recitation of the Gospel of Luke. When Charlie Brown (voiced by Peter Robbins), upon receiving derision for his puny Christmas tree and after seeing myriad signs of holiday commercialization around him, asks for the true meaning of Christmas, Linus Van Pelt (voiced by Christopher Shea) rings forth like a bell in the night, recounting the annunciation of the Nativity to the shepherds: 

“That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”

Drop in Religiosity

But for millions of Americans, Linus’ words no longer ring true. Gallup recently reported a “17-point drop in the percentage of U.S. adults who say religion is an important part of their daily life,” from roughly two-thirds (66 percent) in 2015 to just under half (49 percent) today. That decline “ranks among the largest Gallup has recorded in any country over any 10-year period since 2007.” 

The trend comes after Covid-era lockdowns made church inaccessible to many Americans for portions of the pandemic, changing attendance habits that in some cases have persisted in the years since. Gallup also noted that levels of American religiosity have grown closer to more secularized OECD countries than the global median for all nations.

It also came as A Charlie Brown Christmas itself disappeared from the television airwaves. In late 2020, Apple TV acquired the rights to Peanuts media for its streaming platform. Public criticism of Apple’s rights purchase led to A Charlie Brown Christmas airing on most PBS stations in 2020 and 2021. But since 2022, the special has not aired on broadcast television after 56 straight years on CBS (which commissioned the special), ABC, and then PBS.

The Reason for the Season

Of course, the special’s move to Apple TV had much more to do with the economics of streaming and the desire of streaming services to acquire “must-watch” content than any religious sentiment. But taking the clear and unmistakable message of A Charlie Brown Christmas off the network airwaves reflects, and at the margins could increase, the removal of religion from the center of American life.

A popular phrase in some Christian communities at Christmastime recalls that “Jesus is the reason for the season.” In its entertaining, heartwarming way, A Charlie Brown Christmas delivered that same message to tens of millions of Americans each Yuletide. Its removal from network television leaves that landscape and American culture poorer by its absence.

A Charlie Brown Christmas is available via streaming on Apple TV+. Non-subscribers can find the film on DVD.