The hosts of Fox & Friends on Tuesday set up an interview with Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) by noting that he was a follower of the “law of the Bible” and by claiming that “liberal bullies” had falsely accused him of signing a law that allowed discrimination against the LGBT community.

“Gov. Mike Pence, not backing down, saying the new religious freedom law is not about discrimination,” Fox News host Clayton Morris noted prior to an interview with the governor. “That hasn’t stopped businesses from saying they are going to pull out of Indiana and other states saying we don’t want anyone traveling to Indiana from our state.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck reported that Pence had vowed to walk out of restaurants that refused to serve gay and lesbian couples.

“He also said, ‘I try to abide by the law of the Bible, saying do unto others as you would have them do unto you,'” she explained. “But it hasn’t stopped so many people from coming out and slamming the state and slamming the governor, calling them bigots.”

“Exactly,” co-host Steve Doocy agreed. “The political left is in a frenzy over this right now. But they’re missing the point. This is not a bill that discriminates against gays or anybody. It’s all about religious freedom.”

“It can’t be used by somebody who says, ‘Okay, we’re a same-sex couple, we’re going to a baker, we’re asking them to bake the cake.’ And then the baker can’t use this law to say there’s that law on the book that says I don’t have to make you one because it’s against what I believe in,” he added. “It has never been used — to the best of the knowledge of the stuff we’ve read — in Indianapolis and Indiana, the state itself. But nonetheless, the political left is in hysterics, saying it’s anti-gay. It is not anti-gay.”

Minutes before Pence’s interview was set to begin, Morris teased the segment: “Well, you heard the liberal bullies slamming Indiana’s religious freedom law. Next, Indiana’s Gov. Mike Pence fires back.”

ADVERTISEMENT

For his part, Pence agreed that it might be necessary “to clarify this law through legislation” because he said that “some on the left and, frankly, some in the national media” had mischaracterized the law.

Doocy asked Pence to respond to liberals who were interpreting his “good intentions” as bigoted.

“My wife, my three children and I walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge with [Congressman] John Lewis when I co-chaired the pilgrimage to mark the 45th anniversary of Bloody Sunday,” Pence declared. “I abhor discrimination.”

ADVERTISEMENT

“Indiana is standing here for religious liberty, but there was never any intention in this law to create a license to discriminate, and we’ll clarify that in the days ahead. And we’ll fix this and move forward.”

Watch the video below from Fox News’ Fox & Friends, broadcast March 31, 2015.