It's a battle of beliefs and both sides are vying for your attention.

The

American Atheists

and the

Catholic League

of New York both have purchased advertising space on billboards on both sides of the Hudson with their own spin on how people should celebrate the holidays.

The American Atheists' billboard, just off Route 495 in

North Bergen,

features a silhouette of the Nativity scene with the words, "You KNOW it's a Myth. This Season, Celebrate REASON" looming above it. The Catholic League's billboard, in Manhattan just outside the Lincoln Tunnel, features a Nativity with the words "You Know it's Real. This Season Celebrate Jesus. Merry Christmas from the Catholic League."

"We are trying to coax atheists out of the closet," said David Silverman, president of American Atheists. "The holidays are a time when so many atheists go to church and pray to a god they don't believe in."

Silverman's billboard, in the shadow of a strip of stores that relies heavy in Christmas sales, appeared first. Its intention is to tell the millions of atheists in New Jersey and New York that they aren't alone.

Silverman said he's received a flood of phone calls about the billboard, some positive and some negative.

"I've gotten angry calls from angry Christians who don't like their religion to be challenged. But that's too bad, it's freedom of speech," Silverman said. "Christians go after us every day with billboards all over the country that say we're going to hell."

The Catholic League decided to put up their own billboard in response to the American Atheists' message after a league member saw the atheists' billboard and was upset.

"The timing of the American Atheists' billboard was calculated, it was put up just to take a shot at Christians during a holy time of the year," said Jeff Field, director of communications for the Catholic League.

Field also said that the Catholic League is promoting a positive message by wishing a "Merry Christmas" to the tons of Christians that pass through the Lincoln Tunnel every day.

"When people pass the American Atheists' billboard, they'll feel bad going into the tunnel," he said. "But they will feel joy after they cross into Manhattan and see ours. It's like the light at the end of the tunnel."