'Tis the season for shopping-mall stampedes, open-fire chestnut roasting, awkward political discussions at family gatherings and, of course, the so-called War on Christmas.

If you're not familiar with the War on Christmas, it's the argument, advanced in recent years primarily by Bill O'Reilly and other Fox News commentators, that the forces of secular humanism are mobilizing to destroy the holiday or at least render it religiously insignificant. Every removal of a manger scene from city land, every utterance of "happy holidays" by a retail worker in lieu of "merry Christmas," every public school's gesture of acknowledgment toward a minority belief system is evidence that American society's very fabric has been fatally undermined.

This year, Fox's reporting on the subject is showing its usual robustness, however thin the material. Already, the outlet has decried the actions of a Florida elementary school that reportedly banned red and green decorations – a story that was later debunked.

Reporting on an art exhibit at the Smithsonian that features, among other provocative works, a video depiction of Jesus covered in ants, the station quoted furious GOP lawmakers, including one who called the display an "outrageous use of taxpayer money and an obvious attempt to offend Christians during the Christmas season." As a result, the work – described by the artist as a commentary on the AIDS epidemic – has been pulled.

So routine is the station's War on Christmas coverage that some of Fox's critics, of which there is no shortage, have taken to dubbing the annual media uproar the Fox News War on Atheists.

But, hark, what's this? It seems this year the nonbelievers have launched the opening salvo. An organization called American Atheists has posted a billboard outside the Lincoln Tunnel that connects New Jersey to New York City portraying the biblical Magi and containing the following text: "You KNOW it's a myth. This season, celebrate REASON!" The group's president, David Silverman, said, in effect, here's that Christmas war everyone keeps talking about.

In response, the Catholic League has put up a competing billboard nearby that reads: "You Know It's Real: This Season Celebrate Jesus."

So there you have it, an actual war – maybe not on Christmas, per se, but certainly about Christmas. Who's going to win? And has anybody crossed the line? Here's what others are saying about it.

Kathryn Jean Lopez, National Review:

Morning Gloria, Jezebel:

PZ Myers, ScienceBlogs:

Mary Elizabeth Williams, Salon:

Andrew Belonsky, Death and Taxes:

Email Troy Reimink at treimink@grpress.com or follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/troyreimink.

