Americans celebrate Christmas in many different ways but in Bakersfield, California, an apparent secular fanatic observed the holiday by dousing himself with flammable liquid and setting himself ablaze.

According to press reports, he meant to show his passionate objection to Thursday night’s decision by the Kern High School Board of Trustees to change the name of the winter break to “Christmas vacation” and the spring break to “Easter Vacation.” The protester (the headline proclaimed, “Name Change Sparks Protest”) first set fire to a Christmas tree and several flags, then lit himself to express his displeasure at the Board’s decision. Fire Department spokesman Garth Milam indicated he “suffered first degree burns on his shoulders and arms” and received treatment in a local hospital.

Many commentators have condemned the alleged hysteria and extremism by religious conservatives who complain about the “War on Christmas,” but none of the holiday’s defenders has tried to burn himself (or herself) to death to protest less attention to the season’s religious origins. It took a militant secularist (driven to suicidal rage by the designation of a school break as “Christmas vacation”?)to give macabre new meaning to the “season of light.”

Yes, it’s a sad story and the perpetrator is probably insane but the incident still illustrates a point I’ve made repeatedly on the radio show: in today’s battle between America’s religious majority and a beleaguered (and tiny) secularist minority, there’s far more extremism, intolerance, militancy, aggressiveness and even insanity on the secular side. The “separationists” and non-believers feel threatened by religiosity, and compelled to attack it, in a way that the faith community seldom feels menaced by atheism or secularism. The reason for the greater tolerance from religious believers is simple but profound: if we’re wrong about God’s existence, the long-term consequences are insignificant, but if atheists are wrong in their non-belief the impact on them could be substantial and, in fact, eternal.

In contrast to our Muslim counterparts, Christians and Jews don’t observe our holiday seasons by attempting to secure heaven through suicide or self-mutilation, but a secular-minded lunatic just lit himself ablaze in order to protest even the slightest, most subtle reminder that he might face even more painful flames in the future.