A tweet by Bill Maher in which he offered his perspective on quarterback Tim Tebow’s highly visible religious beliefs put the comedian in the middle of a Twitter war, Entertainment Weekly reports.

Maher tweeted about the pounding Tebow’s Denver Broncos took from the Buffalo Bills on Christmas Eve, writing: “Wow, Jesus just f—-d #TimTebow bad! And on Xmas Eve! Somewhere in hell Satan is tebowing, saying to Hitler ‘Hey, Buffalo’s killing them.’”

Maher is an outspoken atheist, while Tebow is demonstrative about his Christianity, including “tebowing” — striking a pose reminiscent of prayer — during football games.

Maher’s post, the story reports, “sparked a huge response from his Twitter followers and outraged many conservatives, including Fox News’ Eric Bolling, who responded: ‘Bill Maher is disgusting vile trash. I can’t even repeat what he just tweeted about Tebow..on Christmas Eve. #straighttohellBill’“

Tebow also posted about the game, but in a more upbeat tone, writing: “Tough game today but what’s most important is being able to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas everyone GB².” He did not respond to Maher’s post. He received a flood of “Merry Christmas” messages in return.

The story adds: “A search for Bill Maher on Twitter brings up calls for people to cancel their HBO subscriptions over the tweet (the network where his show ‘Real Time with Bill Maher’ airs) and suggestions that he play the role of Scrooge in ‘A Christmas Carol.’”