OPEN POST: Sunday Comics! Share Your Favorites!
On October 20th, 1963, Charles Schulz published the strip above in Sunday papers worldwide, creating a now infamous controversy. It's one of my favorite Peanuts strips. But in 1963, it was no joke, since the issue of prayer in school was again rearing its ugly head in America, a perennial battle between the so-called "faithful" and those seeking to maintain the separation of church and State.
The strip is very much open to interpretation, deliciously so, and though Schulz was a devoted churchgoer through at least middle-age, he was on record as opposing prayer in schools and acknowledged the importance of respecting different beliefs. Much later in life, he modified his personal faith and described himself as a "secular humanist."
The strip is very much open to interpretation, deliciously so, and though Schulz was a devoted churchgoer through at least middle-age, he was on record as opposing prayer in schools and acknowledged the importance of respecting different beliefs. Much later in life, he modified his personal faith and described himself as a "secular humanist."
The firestorm generated by the Sunday strip caused Evangelicals to claim it for themselves. Here, they insisted, was an example of the abject terror children endured just by daring to pray, while atheist groups saw Sally's disclosure and Charlie Brown's reaction as one of equal terror that prayer had been allowed in a public establishment. Schulz' office was bombarded by reprint requests from both sides for almost a year. Wisely, he chose to refuse them all, allowing the most controversial comic strip of its time to speak for itself.
Art Credit: United Features Syndicate/Charles Schulz Enterprises
Peckerwood's Weekly Lunocracy Post is RIGHT HERE.
Comments
Post a Comment