Fox News contributor Pastor Robert Jeffress insisted on Friday that he “prayed” for individual Muslims while denouncing their religion as a whole in an interview with host Bill O’Reilly.

“You have to tell the truth, Bill,” Jeffress said. “And the truth is, Islam is a false religion built on a false book written by a false prophet.”

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Jeffress told O’Reilly that recent attacks in Canada and New York made it impossible to deny “the relationship between Islam and terrorism.”

“Fact: Mohammed, the founder of Islam, was a man of violence who committed all kinds of atrocities, including ordering 600 Jews to be beheaded,” he argued. “When these terrorists engage in these acts, they are simply following the example of their spiritual leader.”

Conversely, Jeffress said, Christians “occasionally do goofy things and commit acts of violence.”

O’Reilly pointed out “with a sense of fairness” that the American Muslim community is “largely peaceful,” which Jeffress agreed with. But less than five minutes earlier, Jeffress blasted Muslim leaders for allegedly not speaking out against the attacks.

“When you have a Muslim act of terrorism, why, Muslim leaders for the most part run for cover,” Jeffress said. “You have to drag them kicking and screaming into denouncing these acts. Facts are stubborn things, but those are the facts.”

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Jeffress did not mention the fact that the National Council of Canadian Muslims, the Kanata Muslim Association and local imams in Ottawa, Canada have already condemned the attacks by Michael Zehaf-Bibeau on Wednesday.

Watch the discussion, as posted online on Friday, below.