Video: O'Reilly causes Gregoire's phone to ring off the hook

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OLYMPIA, Wash. - An anti-religion billboard on display in the Washington state Capitol has started a firestorm on national television.

Fox News' Bill O'Reilly had an 8-minute segment on his show Tuesday night decrying the inclusion of the atheistic billboard along with a holiday tree and a Christian nativity scene.

Conservative TV personality O'Reilly called the display "political correctness gone mad" and urged viewers to call Gov. Chris Gregoire's office to complain.

"She is a weak and confused leader who allows a fanatical group parody in Christmas displays. I mean how crazy is this?" he ranted. "Washington State is ground zero for every nutty secular cause on earth."

The state says the president of the Freedom from Religion Foundation who put up the display went through the submission process just like those who sponsored the nativity scene and the holiday tree.

A spokesperson for the governor's office told KING 5 the sign has prompted a flood of non-stop phone calls from people complaining that the state would allow the billboard to be put up.

And Gregoire spokesman Pearse Edwards says the office has been getting about 200 calls an hour, as well as e-mails.

The Capitol has had a holiday tree for 19 years. In 2006, it was joined by a menorah. A local real estate agent sued the state to allow the nativity display depicting the birth of Jesus.

The atheists' sign was installed by Washington members of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a national group based in Madison, Wis.

With a nod to the winter solstice - the year's shortest day occurring in late December - the placard reads: "At this season of the Winter Solstice may reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds."

The foundation's co-president, Dan Barker, said it was important for atheists to offer their viewpoint alongside the overtly religious Nativity scene and Christmas-style holiday tree.

Gov. Chris Gregoire and Attorney General Rob McKenna today issued a statement about holiday displays on view in Washington state's Legislative Building, saying: "The U.S. Supreme Court has been consistent and clear that, under the Constitution's First Amendment, once government admits one religious display or viewpoint onto public property, it may not discriminate against the content of other displays, including the viewpoints of non-believers."