{"id":2524535,"date":"2025-12-24T07:55:01","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T12:55:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/secular-america-desperately-needs-a-charlie-brown-christmas\/"},"modified":"2025-12-24T07:58:57","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T12:58:57","slug":"secular-america-desperately-needs-a-charlie-brown-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/secular-america-desperately-needs-a-charlie-brown-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Secular America Desperately Needs &#8216;A Charlie Brown Christmas&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsecular-america-desperately-needs-a-charlie-brown-christmas%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2524535&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A Charlie Brown Christmas, which premiered on CBS in December 1965, remains a landmark of American pop culture as it marks it&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/caitlyn-jenner-files-initial-paperwork-in-bid-for-calif-governor\/\" title=\"Caitlyn Jenner files initial paperwork in bid for Calif. governor\">60th anniversary<\/a>. Despite limited budget and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/disturbing-find-made-on-voters-rolls-as-hundreds-of-non-citizens-removed-this-is-who-reportedly-put-them-there\/\" title=\"Non-citizens removed from voter rolls after disturbing discovery - Alleged culprits identified\">technical flaws<\/a>, the animated special won Emmy and Peabody awards and became beloved for its quirky Peanuts characters, Vince Guaraldi&#8217;s jazz score (notably &#8220;Christmas Time Is Here&#8221;), and its warm holiday tone. At the programme&#8217;s heart is Linus&#8217;s recitation of the Nativity from the Gospel of Luke, answering Charlie Brown&#8217;s question about the true meaning of Christmas. The article argues that growing secularization in the U.S.-illustrated by a Gallup-reported drop in adults who say religion is important, from about 66% in 2015 to 49% today-means fewer people resonate with that religious message. The piece also notes the special&#8217;s shift from free broadcast TV to Apple TV+ in 2020 (with limited PBS airings in 2020-21) and its absence from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/breaking-rep-matt-gaetz-says-doj-investigating-him-for-sexual-misconduct\/\" title=\"BREAKING: Rep. Matt Gaetz Says DOJ Investigating Him For Sexual Misconduct\">network television<\/a> since 2022, suggesting that removing the program from broad public access both reflects and may contribute to religion&#8217;s diminished public role. the special remains available on Apple TV+ and on DVD. The article is by Chris Jacobs, founder and CEO of Juniper Research Group.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><em>&ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about???&rdquo;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>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 <em>A Charlie Brown Christmas<\/em> celebrates its 60th anniversary &mdash; the show premiered on CBS on Dec. 9, 1965 &mdash; the increasing secularization of American society means fewer people than ever truly understand the meaning of Christmas.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Holiday Classic<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>For an animated work that <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/20140920012654\/http:\/www.enquirer.com\/editions\/2000\/12\/11\/tem_a_charlie_brown.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">almost didn&rsquo;t get made<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >featured numerous technical flaws due<\/a> to its shoestring budget, <em>A Charlie Brown Christmas<\/em> became an instant <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/a-christmas-story-sequel-will-drop-this-year-heres-when-to-expect-it\/\" title=\"\u2018A ... Story\u2019 Sequel Will Drop This Year. Here\u2019s When To Expect It\">holiday classic<\/a>, not to mention an Emmy and Peabody Award winner. The script&rsquo;s humorous asides (Christmas is &ldquo;run by a big eastern syndicate&rdquo;) and quirky characters &mdash; Lucy&rsquo;s stand offering <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2025\/12\/localimages\/Lucy-27s_psychiatry_booth.jpg\/revision\/latest?cb=20161102224003\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">psychiatric help for 5 cents<\/a>, Snoopy entering a holiday light contest &mdash; have endeared themselves to generations of Americans. The smooth jazz stylings of Vince Guaraldi&rsquo;s &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=H6LB0V7i5oI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Christmas Time Is Here<\/a>&rdquo; complete the warm holiday vibe and have become legendary in their own right.<\/p>\n<p>But the heart of the show, and <em>Peanuts<\/em> creator Charles Schulz&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/20140920012654\/http:\/www.enquirer.com\/editions\/2000\/12\/11\/tem_a_charlie_brown.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">prime motivation<\/a> 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:&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"A Charlie Brown Christmas: Linus Explains the True Meaning Of Christmas\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KXmGLJ0S1Bs?start=180&amp;enablejsapi=1#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Drop in Religiosity<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>But for millions of Americans, Linus&rsquo; words no longer ring true. Gallup recently <a href=\"https:\/\/news.gallup.com\/poll\/697676\/drop-religiosity-among-largest-world.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a> a &ldquo;17-point drop in the percentage of U.S. adults who say religion is an important part of their daily life,&rdquo; from roughly two-thirds (66 percent) in 2015 to just under half (49 percent) today. That decline &ldquo;ranks among the largest Gallup has recorded in any country over any 10-year period since 2007.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>It also came as <em>A Charlie Brown Christmas<\/em> itself disappeared from the television airwaves. In late 2020, Apple TV acquired the rights to <em>Peanuts<\/em> media for its streaming platform. Public criticism of Apple&rsquo;s rights purchase led to <em>A Charlie Brown Christmas<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<h2><strong>The Reason for the Season<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Of course, the special&rsquo;s move to Apple TV had much more to do with the economics of streaming and the desire of streaming services to acquire &ldquo;must-watch&rdquo; content than any religious sentiment. But taking the clear and unmistakable message of <em>A Charlie Brown Christmas<\/em> off the network airwaves reflects, and at the margins could increase, the removal of religion from the center of American life.<\/p>\n<p>A popular phrase in some Christian communities at Christmastime recalls that &ldquo;Jesus is the reason for the season.&rdquo; In its entertaining, heartwarming way, <em>A Charlie Brown Christmas<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n<p>A Charlie Brown Christmas <em>is available via streaming on Apple TV+. Non-subscribers can find the film on DVD.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr>\n<div>\n<p>      Chris Jacobs is founder and CEO of Juniper Research Group and author of the book &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/1645720020\">The Case Against Single Payer<\/a>.&#8221; He is on Twitter: <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/chrisjacobsHC\">@chrisjacobsHC<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Charlie Brown classic turns 60; who knows Christmas?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":2524536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-19-at-1.50.07-PM-1024x610.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[69367,6922,69368,13353,69366],"class_list":["post-2524535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-a-charlie-brown-christmas","tag-christmas","tag-holiday-specials","tag-nostalgia","tag-secular-america"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-19-at-1.50.07-PM-1024x610.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2524535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2524535"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2524535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2524539,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2524535\/revisions\/2524539"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2524536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2524535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2524535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2524535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}