{"id":2856,"date":"2012-11-20T12:50:09","date_gmt":"2012-11-20T17:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/faithmediaandculture\/?p=2856"},"modified":"2012-11-28T17:10:03","modified_gmt":"2012-11-28T22:10:03","slug":"its-a-war-on-christmas-charlie-brown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2012\/11\/its-a-war-on-christmas-charlie-brown.html","title":{"rendered":"“It’s a War on Christmas, Charlie Brown”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s today’s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture.<\/p>\n

Lighten up, already!<\/strong> From Fox News Radio<\/a>: A stage version of the beloved holiday classic \u201cA Charlie Brown Christmas\u201d has sparked a constitutional controversy at a Little Rock, Ark. grade school. Students at Terry Elementary School had been invited to attend an upcoming performance of the show at Agape Church<\/a>. Teachers sent home letters informing parents that a school bus would shuttle children to and from the school-day show…However,\u00a0at least one parent\u00a0objected to the field trip and contacted the Arkansas Society of Freethinkers, a self-described community of atheists, agnostics and humanists. \u201cThe problem is that it\u2019s got religious content and it\u2019s being performed in a religious venue and that doesn\u2019t just blur the line between church and state \u2014 it oversteps it entirely,\u201d attorney Anne Orsi told Arkansas Matters. \u201cWe\u2019re not saying anything bad about Charlie Brown.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

This, BTW, is the scene the group apparently has a problem with:<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=DKk9rv2hUfA<\/a>\n

Comment:<\/strong> I remember when I was a kid (way back in 1965 when the now-controversial TV special first aired), the general line against the celebration of Christmas was its commercialization.\u00a0 Back then,\u00a0 the criticism was that the holiday had become too commercial and that Christians, in particular, should get back to remembering its true meaning (namely, the birth of Christ).\u00a0 That idea was profoundly expressed in the above scene, quoting from the Christmas account of the Gospel of Luke.<\/p>\n

Today’s criticism is almost exactly the reverse.\u00a0 We are told that the public celebration of the holiday should be all about its commercial side.\u00a0 Go out, buy — but don’t mention the “C” word. \u00a0 That’s exclusionary — and, apparently, offensive. So, no, no one is saying anything bad about Charlie Brown. It’s just the idea that anyone should have the gall to bring up the true meaning of Christmas that’s so galling.<\/p>\n

BTW, try getting that original special\u00a0 made today.\u00a0 I’m guessing it would be a very tough sell. Though “A Charlie Brown Christmas” is repeating\u00a0 on ABC next Wednesday<\/a>, you can thank its consistently-strong ratings (even after nearly half a century) for that.<\/p>\n

So, yeah, if any kid doesn’t want to go see the play, he or she shouldn’t be forced to. But, if no one’s being coerced, maybe busybody adults could lighten up and let the kids enjoy a gentle show that either peacefully portrays their own cultural and religious heritage (without demeaning anyone) or, alternatively, gives them the opportunity learn about another student’s\u00a0 faith.<\/p>\n

That, to me, is what tolerance is all about, Charlie Brown.<\/p>\n

Encourage one another and build each other up \u2013 <\/em>1 Thessalonians 5:11<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s today’s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture. Lighten up, already! From Fox News Radio: A stage version of the beloved holiday classic \u201cA Charlie Brown Christmas\u201d has sparked a constitutional controversy at a Little Rock, Ark. grade school. Students at Terry Elementary School had been invited to attend an upcoming performance…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,9,3632,17,31,32],"tags":[35,1858,3654,3657,3655,3656,3659,3651,3658,3653,3650,3652],"class_list":["post-2856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-atheism","category-christianity","category-christmas","category-interfaith-dialogue","category-television","category-theater","tag-1-thessalonians-511","tag-abc","tag-agape-church","tag-arkansas-matters","tag-arkansas-society-of-freethinkers","tag-attorney-anne-orsi","tag-birth-of-christ","tag-fox-news-radio","tag-gospel-of-luke","tag-terry-elementary-school","tag-war-on-christmas","tag-a-charlie-brown-christmas"],"yoast_head":"\n"It's a War on Christmas, Charlie Brown"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2012\/11\/its-a-war-on-christmas-charlie-brown.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""It's a War on Christmas, Charlie Brown"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here\u2019s today’s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture. 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He has written over 100 children's novels based on episodes of the Cartoon Network series \"Ben 10\", \"Ben 10: Alien Force\", \"Ben 10: Ultimate Alien\", \"Ben 10: Omniverse\" and \"Generator Rex\" among others. He also writes Beliefnet\u2019s \"Faith, Media & Culture\" blog. Previously, he has produced successful news and talk programming for CNN, Fox News, Pax TV and SiriusXM. Specialties: Script Writing, Movie\/TV Novelizations & Adaptations, TV Content Creation and Development, Creative Consultation, Producing and Booking News and Talk shows. 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