You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown
By Chip McLean
One of the annual Christmas traditions in my childhood days
was watching the animated special A
Charlie Brown Christmas. Based on cartoonist Charles M. Schultz’s beloved
characters, the show found Charlie Brown searching for the true meaning of
Christmas.
As all of you who have seen this timeless program know,
Charlie Brown, after becoming disillusioned with the season’s commercialism,
discovers the real meaning of Christmas when Linus recites from the Gospel of
Luke (2: 8-14 KJV) concerning the birth of Jesus Christ:
8 And there were in the same
country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by
night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the
Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10 And the angel said unto
them, Fear not; for, behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be
to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,
which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find
the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there
was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and goodwill towards men.
Linus then concludes by saying, “And that's what Christmas
is all about, Charlie Brown”. It’s an eye-opening, inspiring moment for Charlie
Brown, just as it has been for millions of others since the Emmy award winning
show’s first televised airing in 1965.
Now fast-forward to the present…
Each passing year has seen attacks on Christmas increase and
every year the attacks become ever more ludicrous in their scope. This season
has already seen numerous instances of efforts to secularize all aspects of
public life by removing any references to Christmas. The federal
court removal of a nativity scene that had been a sixty year tradition in a
Santa Monica park, the banning of Christmas trees from a seniors apartment
complex in Newhall, Ca, and the
cancellation of a Christmas charity concert in Hawaii have all been in
recent news. One bit of good news is that the seniors at the apartment complex fought back and the management
relented, blaming the whole thing on “miscommunication”.
Even good ‘ol Charlie Brown is not immune from this
relentless attack on any and all things Christmas or Christian. A Little Rock,
Arkansas church was forced into cancelling
their theatrical performance of “Merry Christmas Charlie Brown” (based on
“A Charlie Brown Christmas”), planned for a school field trip for first and
second graders, because of the complaint of one parent about the “religious content”. An Arkansas atheist group
took up the complaint and the church backed down.
Despite all the protests to the contrary, this nation was
founded on Christian principles. A reading of our founding documents and indeed
the founders’ personal writings will reveal numerous references to God.
Obviously the founders believed God to be an integral part of the nation’s
fabric. Yet - somehow through the years this great myth has evolved regarding
“separation of church and state”. Let us first quote directly from the first
amendment to the US constitution:
First Amendment
Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof; or abridging the freedom
of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble,
and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. (emphasis mine)
Plain and simple, Congress is prohibited from establishing a
state religion and they are also prohibited from preventing the exercising of
religion. Nowhere does it say “separation of church and state” (more on that in
a moment).
These very straightforward words from the constitution have
been twisted by those who are truly ignorant – or choosing to be so willingly –
into meaning freedom from religion.
Obviously freedom of religion is very different from the agenda of the
anti-Christian zealots who wish to be free from seeing any public expression of
religion. Unfortunately for them, that isn’t what the first amendment
guarantees. Unfortunately for the rest of us however, is that activist judges
are doing their best to codify “freedom from
religion” into law.
Going back to the Hawaii story, it is easy to see how this
whole notion of “freedom from religion” has been bought into by far too many
mindless robots, who have apparently been dumbed down by a socialist driven educational
system. Take this quote from one Mitch Kahle, who is mentioned as the founder of
something called the “Hawaii Citizens for the Separation of State and Church”:
"The issue here is an
entanglement between a public school and a Christian church, and one of the
things about the constitution is that it prohibits the involvement of public
schools and churches."
Mr. Kahle needs to re-read the first amendment (assuming he
ever actually read it in the first place). As I have already pointed out, there
is no such phrase in the first amendment, nor anywhere else in the constitution
as “Separation of State and Church”, nor is it implied or inferred. In fact the
only reference by one of the
founders regarding a “separation of church and state” comes from a letter
written by Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association of Connecticut
in 1802. The
letter, upon proper reading and context, plainly shows that Jefferson was offering an assurance to that
particular church that the “wall of separation between church and State” would not allow the government to impose a
state religion on the church. Jefferson concludes the letter with his own
prayers for the church.
The views of the clueless Mr. Kahle and others of his ilk
notwithstanding, it certainly doesn’t sound like Jefferson wanted to remove
religion from the public square does it?
Our republic is being eroded daily, and one of the chief
reasons is due to the efforts of folks like Mr. Kahle who would really like to
see Jesus Christ vanish from public. For those of us who are believers in
Christ and for those who are not, but at least clearly
see the ongoing destruction of our constitutional republic by “progressive
thought”, it is time to fight back – much as those seniors at the apartment
complex did. Charlie Brown was indeed a good man – it’s time to stand with him.
© Copyright by Chip McLean, 2012. All rights reserved.
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