Monday on NBC’s “Today,” former President George W. Bush was asked to offer his thoughts on President Donald Trump’s executive order halting immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

Bush emphasized to host “Today” host Matt Lauer the importance to “worship freely.”

“I think it’s very important for all of us to recognize one of our great strengths is for people to be able to worship the way they want to or not worship at all,” Bush said. “The bedrock of our freedom, a bedrock of our freedom, is the right to worship freely. And I — you see, I understood right off the bat, Matt this, that is an ideological conflict. And people who murder the innocent are not religious people. They want to advance an ideology. And we’ve faced those in the past.”

Bush went on to say it was hard to fight the war on terror “in retreat,” referring to the United States’ decision to leave the Middle East during President Barack Obama’s term.

Later when pressed on whether or not he approved or disapproved of the policy, Bush refrained.

“I am for an immigration policy that’s welcoming and upholds the law,” he added.

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