Earlier tonight, our friend and American Atheists President Dave Silverman appeared on The O’Reilly Factor to discuss — what else? — the War on Christmas.

The most amazing part of the conversation may have been O’Reilly’s retort to Silverman saying the government shouldn’t be promoting religion: “Christianity is not a religion; it is a philosophy.”

You know what the appropriate reaction to that has to be:

Later, O’Reilly claimed that a Christmas tree was a secular symbol, not recognizing the hypocrisy in that statement. (Silverman pounced on it, though.)

Then, there was this classic exchange, after Silverman argued against the idea of Christmas as a federal holiday:

O’Reilly: You and your merry band of fascists —

Silverman: Fascists?! Fascists.

O’Reilly: You get [Christmas] revoked!

Silverman: You called me a fascist!?

O’Reilly: Absolutely!

Silverman: I am a patriot, sir!

O’Reilly: You are a fascist.

Silverman: I am a patriot who is taking the crazy notion that everybody in this country is equal and that the government has to treat everybody fairly. That’s fascism?!

Silverman handled that brilliantly. O’Reilly had his arrogance thrown right back in his face by a supposed bogeyman who ended up looking like the only reasonable person in the conversation.