Mike Pence Blasts Joy Behar for Making 'Mental Illness' Joke About His Religious Beliefs

"I actually heard that ABC has a program that compared my Christianity to mental illness," Pence said on-stage during an interview with Axios on Wednesday. "And I'd like to laugh about it, but I really can't."

"I have to tell you, to have ABC maintain a broadcast forum that compared Christianity to mental illness is just wrong," he continued. "And it's an insult, not to me, but to the vast majority of the American people who, like me, cherish their faith. My Christianity is the most important thing in my life."

Pence added that Behar's comment "demonstrates how out of touch some in the mainstream media are with the faith and values of the American people." He added, "It's just simply wrong for ABC to have a television program that expresses that kind of religious intolerance. We're better than that."

Joy's contentious comment came earlier this week as the panel discussed Omarosa's "Big Brother" warning that Pence is an "extreme" Christian who believes "Jesus tells him to say things."

"It's one thing to talk to Jesus, it's another thing when Jesus talks to you," Behar said in response. "That's called mental illness if I'm not correct. Hearing voices."

Behar clarified her remarks later in the segment.

"Say what you will about Mike Pence and his religiosity, I don't think that he's mentally ill, even though he's hearing voices. I don't think he's that crazy, he has no charisma whatsoever," Behar said. "I don't think he would get reelected. I don't think he would destroy the environment. I don't think he'd make it his life's purpose to go against everything Obama did. I don't think he would antagonize Kim Jong-un. Trump is the worst we've ever had."