Notable Skeptic #7 Charles Schulz

Charles Schulz

This time of year we can not escape Charles Schulz. Starting in October for Halloween there is “It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown”. If it happens to be election year the Peanuts gang is back in “You’re Not Elected, Charlie Brown”. Then there is the Thanksgiving special, “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” and then there are two Peanuts Christmas specials, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and “It’s Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown”. Let’s not forget we bring in the new year with Charlie and the gang with, “Happy New Year, Charlie Brown” and why stop there? Let’s keep going right through February with “A Charlie Brown Valentine” and yes a second valentine special called “Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown”. 

For at least five straight months we celebrate the holidays with Charles Schulz and depending on when Easter falls, March or April, we may have six straight months of Peanuts specials ending with “It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown”. 

When I think of Christmas, Charlie Brown pops into my head. And I have to admit, I get excited with anticipation of the holiday specials with Charlie, Snoopy, Lucy, Linus and the rest of the gang. I love them. I love the music. I love that damn dog and his bird.  

In an interview with David Templeton, for the December 30, 1999 - January 5, 2000 issue of Sonoma County Independent, Schulz said, “The term that best describes me now is secular humanist” he went on to explain, “his characters continued to quote biblical passages, occasionally musing about the darker inconsistencies of religion.” Templeton writes.

In the same interview Charles had this to say about other comic strips, "I despise those shallow religious comics," Schulz said. "Dennis the Menace, for instance, is the most shallow. When they show him praying--I just can't stand that sort of thing, talking to God about some cutesy thing that he'd done during the day. I don't think Hank Ketcham [Dennis' creator] has any deep knowledge of things like that." 

Then he had something to say about Family Circus.

Read the interview here




The Notable Skeptics series will range from celebrities, scientists, authors, etc. Some will be known on a smaller scale for the work they do for charities and their communities. All quotes or implications of skepticism will be referenced with a link. I use the word "skeptic" to imply one or more of these terms; atheist, agnostic, humanist, secularist or non-religious.