Ohio Gov. John Kasich is proposing a new federal agency to spread Judeo-Christian values throughout the world as a way to combat the Islamic State.

“We need to beam messages around the world about what it means to have a Western ethic, to be a part of a Christian-Judeo society,” Kasich said in an interview Tuesday with NBC. “It means freedom, it means opportunity, it means respect for women, it means so many things.”

The GOP presidential contender laid out his proposal during a larger discussion of his plan to defeat the Islamic State. The agency would promote the Judeo-Christian beliefs to places such as China, Russia, and the Middle East, Kasich told NBC.

He defended the creation of the new agency, despite vows by some of his GOP rivals to shrink the federal government.

“There’s nobody who’s spent more time shrinking government and cutting budgets than I have,” Kasich said, according to NBC.

Here’s video of Kasich’s comments: