海角大神

The culture war over Christmas is an emerging annual tradition 鈥� like stockings and fruitcake.聽

This year, one of the first salvos came courtesy of the , a group which is sponsoring controversial billboards in several American cities in the South.

The billboards show a child wearing a Santa hat with pen hand, writing a letter to Santa that reads, "Dear Santa, all I want for Christmas is to skip church. I'm too old for fairy tales."

Yes, that's an anti-Christmas billboard in the American Bible Belt.聽

The billboards are aimed at "in-the-closet atheists who are pressured to observe religious traditions during the holidays," the .

鈥淲e want all of the atheists in Memphis to know that you're not alone,鈥� . 鈥淭he girl on the billboard is a real person, she's actually the daughter of one of our members.鈥�

鈥淚t's just drawing the conclusion by looking at the parallels. We can all stop pretending, we can stop dragging ourselves to church every year,鈥� Muscato added.

The group's billboards add fuel to the fire of a so-called "war on Christmas," a phrase often used to denote efforts in the US to separate the holiday from 海角大神ity in an effort to be politically correct and multiculturally sensitive. Conservatives in particular have slammed the media and businesses for removing religious references from the holiday. 鈥淎 Happy Holiday IS a Merry Christmas,鈥� Sarah Palin's 2013 book, is a sort of conservative manifesto on the subject.

Not surprisingly, the billboard is attracting plenty of attention 鈥� and not just for what it says.

Observers have complained about the use of a child in the billboard.

"My one objection to this billboard is the use of a child. That if we're going to have an adult conversation, it's almost inappropriate to bring children in as the visual message,鈥� .

"... why use the image of a little child? Why are adults spoiling Christmas for kids?" .

鈥淓ven children know churches spew absurdity, which is why they don鈥檛 want to attend services," American Atheists President David Silverman said in a statement. 鈥淭oday鈥檚 adults have no obligation to pretend to believe the lies their parents believed. It鈥檚 OK to admit that your parents were wrong about God, and it鈥檚 definitely OK to tell your children the truth.鈥�

Others have complained about the location of the billboards.

While previous billboards had been posted in places like Times Square in New York, this year's billboards were put in Bible Belt cities where religious affiliation is high: Memphis, Nashville, Milwaukee, St. Louis, and Fort Smith, Ark., What's more, they've been put in more residential areas, often near schools and churches.

"Why place these in 鈥淏ible Belt鈥� cities?" West asked in his essay. "[It] seems this group is purposefully targeting..."

鈥淸T]he location is designed to start a conversation," explained the American Atheist's Muscato. 鈥淲e understand that this a controversial subject in this part of the country. But, it really shouldn't be a controversial subject because atheism is everywhere, it's very strong and this is something that we would like for people to talk about."

Actually, many of the Bible Belt cities targeted by the American Atheists have high levels of religious affiliation 鈥� and few atheists. According to a , many of the states targeted by the campaign have a smaller-than-average percentage聽of people who responded that they do not believe in God, .

In Tennessee, for example, just 2 percent of respondents said they do not believe in God; 12 percent of respondents stated that they were religiously unaffiliated. By contrast, the national averages are 5 percent and 16 percent, respectively.

Generally speaking, Americans don't look very kindly on atheists. One poll showed that a majority of Americans said that a . Another, a temperature-based rating system from Pew that measured how Americans felt about different faith groups found that 鈥� by a wide margin.

In other words, it's no wonder the billboards are so controversial.

In recent years, atheist groups have gone to lengths to promote atheism, often drawing plenty of controversy along the way.

A group in Florida attempted to distribute sexually explicit pamphlets invoking the Bible in area schools. 鈥�An X-Rated Book: Sex and Obscenity in the Bible," featured a cartoon illustration of a humanized Bible with a face, arms, and legs, reaching under the dress of a screaming woman who is trying to escape.

Do atheist promotions like the pamphlet and the "skip church" billboards fall under free speech rights?

For former Florida Rep. West, it's not clear.

"I truly believe in freedom of speech and I do not try to define what that freedom is (unlike those who define free speech as only speech they agree with)," he said in his essay. "However, it鈥檚 just perplexing to me that atheists go to such lengths to attack something they don鈥檛 believe exists...I also thought there was another First Amendment right of freedom of religion and its free exercise."

鈥淲e live in a pluralistic society and I'm grateful that we have freedom of expression,鈥� added Ms. Aviles, of the the Catholic Diocese of Memphis. "I think the discussion is wonderful."

For those on the other side of the "Christmas wars," there's a billboard they can get behind.

, leaders of Grace Church in Alma, Ark., said they plan on putting up a billboard near the atheist one, saying, 鈥淨uestions, Doubts and Curiosity鈥�All Welcome At Grace Church.鈥�

Let the Christmas billboard wars begin.