The Christmas hits just keep on coming: That's the subject of this evening's Talking Points Memo.

The secular-progressive movement has taken a major brusing over attempts to marginalize Christmas by objecting to displays on public property, and by some corporations refusing to say the word "Christmas" at all.

As you know, we have reported extensively on the controversy, and last week the House actually voted to respect the traditions of Christmas--a good thing. All this has angered the secular-progressive press, which has attacked me with glee--rhyme intended.

The latest is New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, who writes, "Let us all pray for Bill O'Reilly. Let us pray that Mr. O'Reilly will understand that the Christmas spirit isn't about hectoring people to say 'Merry Christmas,' rather than 'Happy Holidays,' but about helping the needy.

"Let's pray that Mr. O'Reilly and other money-changers in the temple will donate the funds they raise exploiting Christmas--covering the non-existent 'War on Christmas' rakes in viewers and advertisers--to feed the hungry and house the homeless."

While I always appreciate prayers, Mr. Kristof, you are sadly misguided in your descriptions. As everyone who watches this program knows, we donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to the poor each year through proceeds from BillOReilly.com.

In fact, the website was actually set up to help the needy, and I think it's safe to say that this year alone, I've donated more money to help the poor than you have in your entire life. What say you, sir?

As for the non-existent Christmas controversy, this proves, Mr. Kristof, that you are absolutely clueless--that you have no idea what is happening in the country--a trait you share with many at The New York Times. Perhaps you missed the Gallup Poll last week that said 62% of Americans believe saying Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas is not a good thing, and that only 3% feel the greeting "Merry Christmas" is offensive in any way.

I was also confused--sir--when you wrote that I have ignored the suffering in Darfur. Wrong again, Mr. Kristof.

In the spirit of Christmas, I'll let your mistake go. After all, I've already described you as a left-wing ideologue, and you have objected.

Well, here's more proof of my assertion. You write in your column that I want the Air America people arrested. You got that from a left-wing smear website. My riff on the Radio Factor was humorous, talk radio hyperbole, as anybody listening would know.

But you did not listen to the program. You took dishonest propaganda from a smear site and printed it as fact. You mislead your readers. That is what ideologues do, sir.

And if you're not an ideologue, please explain this absurd paragraph in your column:

"Perhaps I'm particularly sensitive to religious hypocrites because I've spent a chunk of time abroad watching Muslim versions of Mr. O'Reilly--demagogic table thumpers who exploit public religiosity as a cynical play to gain attention and money."

So I'm now Mullah Omar... right, Mr Kristof? And then you go on to compare me to Joseph McCarthy--the usual clichéd nonsense.

The shame is that Nicholas Kristof has done good work on Darfur and the trafficking in human beings around the globe. He is not usually a character assassin like some other Times columnists. But Mr. Kristof is a committed secularist who seems to not understand the culture war, or that his team is intent on diminishing the traditions of Christmas and other Judeo-Christian hallmarks, and that is deeply offensive to most Americans.

Kristof lives in The New York Times world--an isolated island of politically correct liberalism with little connection to everyday Americans. But in the spirit of Christmas, I've asked St. Nicholas to bring our pal Nicholas a special gift--the wisdom to see what is really going on and to do some honest analysis.

And that's the memo...

A Challenge for Bill O'Reilly
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: December 18, 2005

Let us all pray for Bill O'Reilly.

Let us pray that Mr. O'Reilly will understand that the Christmas spirit isn't about hectoring people to say "Merry Christmas," rather than "Happy Holidays," but about helping the needy.

Let us pray that Mr. O'Reilly will use his huge audience and considerable media savvy to save lives and fight genocide, instead of to vilify those he disagrees with. Let him find inspiration in Jesus, rather than in the Assyrians.

Finally, let's pray that Mr. O'Reilly and other money-changers in the temple will donate the funds they raise exploiting Christmas - covering the nonexistent "War on Christmas" rakes in viewers and advertising--to feed the hungry and house the homeless.

Amen.

Alas, not all prayers can be answered. Fox News Channel's crusade against infidels who prefer generic expressions like "Happy Holidays" included 58 separate segments in just a five-day period.

After I suggested in last Sunday's column that a better way to honor the season might be to stand up to genocide in Darfur (a calamity that Mr. O'Reilly has ignored), Mr. O'Reilly denounced me on his show as a "left-wing ideologue." Bless you, Mr. O'Reilly, and Merry Christmas to you, too!

Later in the show, Mr. O'Reilly described us print journalists in general as "a bunch of vicious S.O.B.'s." Bless you again, Mr. O'Reilly; I'll pray harder for the Christmas spirit to soften your pugnacious soul.

Look, I put up a "Christmas tree," rather than a "holiday tree," and I'm sure Mr. O'Reilly is right that political correctness leads to absurd contortions this time of year. But when you've seen what real war does, you don't lightly use the word to describe disagreements about Christmas greetings. And does it really make sense to offer 58 segments on political correctness and zero on genocide?

Perhaps I'm particularly sensitive to religious hypocrites because I've spent a chunk of time abroad watching Muslim versions of Mr. O'Reilly - demagogic table-thumpers who exploit public religiosity as a cynical ploy to gain attention and money. And I always tell moderate Muslims that they need to stand up to blustery blowhards - so today, I'm taking my own advice.

Like the fundamentalist Islamic preachers, Mr. O'Reilly is a talented showman, and my sense is that his ranting is a calculated performance. The couple of times I've been on his show, he was mild mannered and amiable until the camera light went on - and then he burst into aggrieved indignation, because he knew it made good theater.

If Mr. O'Reilly wants to find a Christmas cause, he should invite guests from Catholic Relief Services, World Vision or the National Association of Evangelicals - among the many faith-based organizations that are doing heroic work battling everything from river blindness to sex trafficking. Indeed, the real victims of Mr. O'Reilly are the authentic religious conservatives, because some viewers falsely assume that ill-informed bombast characterizes the entire religious right.

(I'm tempted to think that Mr. O'Reilly is actually a liberal plant, meant to discredit conservatives. Think about it. Who would be a better plant than a self-righteous bully in the style of Father Coughlin or Joe McCarthy? What better way to caricature the right than by having Mr. O'Reilly urge on air that the staff of Air America be imprisoned: "Dissent, fine; undermining, you're a traitor. Got it? So, all those clowns over at the liberal radio network, we could incarcerate them immediately. Will you have that done, please? Send over the F.B.I. and just put them in chains, because they, you know, they're undermining everything.")

Some authentic religious conservatives are embarrassed by television phonies. Cal Thomas, the conservative Christian columnist, warned: "The effort by some cable TV hosts and ministers to force commercial establishments into wishing everyone a 'Merry Christmas' might be more objectionable to the One who is the reason for the season than the 'Happy Holidays' mantra required by some store managers."

So I have a challenge for Mr. O'Reilly: If you really want to defend traditional values, then come with me on a trip to Darfur. I'll introduce you to mothers who have had their babies clubbed to death in front of them, to teenage girls who have been gang-raped and then mutilated - and to the government-armed thugs who do these things.

You'll have to leave your studio, Bill. You'll encounter pure evil. If you're like me, you'll be scared. If you try to bully some of the goons in Darfur, they'll just hack your head off. But you'll also meet some genuine conservative Christians - aid workers who live the Gospel instead of sputtering about it - and you'll finally be using your talents for an important cause.

So, Bill, what'll it be? Will you dare travel to a real war against Christmas values, in which the victims aren't offended shoppers but terrified children thrown on bonfires? I'm waiting to hear.