Bill O’Reilly Battles It Out With Liberal Pastor Over ‘Holy War’ and the Islamic State

TV host Bill O'Reilly clashed with the Rev. Jim Wallis on Thursday night over O'Reilly's use of the term "holy war" to describe the West's battle against the Islamic State, with O'Reilly challenging the faith leader to outline a viable plan to stop the deadly threat.

The on-air debate began when O'Reilly asked Wallis — known in many circles for his more progressive viewpoints — how he would stop radical Islamic terrorism.

"Peacemaking, Bill, that's the right word. Peacemaking is different from peace loving, Peace making takes hard work," he said, going on to share biblical words from the Apostle Paul. "The Apostle Paul said this to your question, he said, 'Don't be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.'"

Wallis continued, "Naming evil is very important. How you overcome evil is the critical question."

When the pastor and founder of Sojourners added that "more military solutions will not solve this problem," O'Reilly pressed further, asking how Wallis would halt the threat.

From there, the pastor said that he believes the Christians must help Muslims battle extremism from within, taking particular aim at O'Reilly's characterization of the battle against Islamic State terrorism as a "holy war."

"I think they're going to take advantage of your narrative of a holy war," Wallis said. "I would never use that language and faith leaders are going to reject the narrative of a holy war … that gives them what they want."

He continued, "Faith leaders have to help our Muslim brothers and sisters defeat this extreme fundamentalism from within."

O'Reilly, though, said that Wallis was focused on his words instead of a real-life solution that would halt the Islamic State in its tracks.

"You have nothing!" O'Reilly responded. "You're wasting our time."

Wallis rebutted, "And you have more of the same, which would make it worse."

Watch the clash below:

O'Reilly went on to illustrate just how ineffective he believes Wallis' stance is.

"The ISIS people would behead you, your family and everybody you know and you'd be saying, 'You know, the Muslim people have got to deal with it from within,'" the host said.

(H/T: Mediaite)