When asked about the show’s impact, Shea said, “It’s the words.  People kept coming up to me and saying, ‘Every time I watch that, I cry.’  But as I got older, I understood the words more, and I understood the power of what was going on.  Now I cry too.”

Charles Schulz was not an activist.  At the time the special was produced, he was more concerned about how the true meaning of Christmas had been lost in a sea of materialism.  He was a quiet man with a wry sense of humor who shunned the spotlight.  But he knew that the world was hungry to hear the real meaning of Christmas (even 40 years ago before Christmas cleansing began in earnest), the story of a little child born in a manger who would be God’s greatest gift to the world.

When the head of Americans United for Separation of Church and State or someone from the American Civil Liberties Union threatens to silence the public celebration of Christmas, they are silencing something – as voiced by a small boy – that millions of Americans hold near and dear to their hearts.

Charles Schulz left this earth five years ago, but his legacy of faith lives on through the words of an animated character who, with just a few words, proudly proclaimed what has been called “the reason for the season.”  They are a lasting testimony to Schulz’s faith and willingness to take a bold stand for the Gospel.

Merry Christmas.  It’s okay to say it, Charlie Brown.

Alan Sears, a former federal prosecutor who held various posts in the departments of Justice and Interior during the Reagan Administration, is president and CEO of the Alliance Defense Fund (www.telladf.org), a legal alliance defending America’s first liberty – religious freedom – through strategy, training, funding and litigation.  He is co-author with Craig Osten of the new book "The ACLU vs. America:  Exposing the Agenda to Redefine Moral Values" (www.acluvsamerica.com).  Learn more about ADF’s Christmas Project at www.saychristmas.org.

¹Bill Nichols, “The Christmas Classic That Almost Wasn’t” - USA Today, December 6, 2005.