HOW THE CREATOR OF A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS GOT THE GOSPEL PAST CBS EXECS:

According to a recounting on MentalFloss.com, CBS executives also told Schulz: “You can’t read from the Bible on network television.”

Mental Floss writer Kara Kovalchik recounted what happened next:

But CBS had made a commitment to their sponsor, so they aired the special as scheduled on December 9, 1965. And, as often happens in the world of entertainment, the original gut reaction of the suits was completely wrong. A Charlie Brown Christmas drew in 15.4 million viewers, placing it second in the ratings that week after Bonanza. A few months later, Charles Schulz and Lee Mendelson found themselves onstage accepting an Emmy Award for Outstanding Children’s Program.

I don’t doubt that CBS executives became vaporish over quotes from the Bible appearing in a cartoon special, but given CBS’s core audience during the 1960s, they needn’t have worried much about complaints.