Zach Dasher, a Republican candidate running in the 5th Congressional District race who is also the nephew of “Duck Dynasty” star Phil Robertson, is hitting back at an atheist critic who accused him of “Christian intolerance.”

Richard Dawkins, who wrote an op-ed in TIME Magazine, portrayed Dasher and Mike Huckabee as Christians who are intolerant of other religions and non-religions after Dasher made a comment about the Sandy Hook shootings saying “When we reject God in society, moral decay follows … at every turn we see this [in] culture.”

After receiving tons of flack from the mainstream media, Dasher said his comments were “put in a way to give the impression that I was blaming Sandy Hook on atheists.”

Dawkins latched onto the comments and based his op-ed off the Duck Dynasty relatives’ view. But, Dasher has some strong words for Dawkins. On Wednesday, he did not back away from his first remarks, rather doubled down on them, saying Sandy Hook “points to a much larger societal problem of moral decay.”

Here’s Dasher’s full statement:

“I stand by my original statement.  The tragedy at Sandy Hook points to a much larger societal problem of moral decay. In the absence of God man becomes the determiner of all things, including the value and meaning of life.  I’m a Christian who believes that man is made in the image of God and is therefore incredibly precious. These most recent attacks are just another glaring example of the war on traditional Christian values.  I refuse to accept that, as Dawkins says, “life has no higher purpose than to perpetuate the survival of DNA” and that “life has no design, no purpose, and no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference.”  Our society is suffering from mass moral decay because we have removed God from the halls of Congress, our Universities, and as the foundation of liberty. It’s time that Washington and the academic cultural elitists respect Christians and our Faith.”

Dasher’s original statements about Sandy Hook also noted that blaming massacres solely on mental illnesses was to be close-minded on the issue. Dasher said the issue remains as a much larger, societal issue more than anything.

“These children that were killed in Connecticut were made for a purpose and to be honest with you even the killer himself was made for a purpose – he was made in the image of God. But somewhere along the way he believed what the atheist says,” Dasher said. “He reduced humanity to nothing more than a collection of atoms to be discarded like an old banana peel.”

He continued, “He planned a way for himself to rise above the status of mere chemical. He found a way to matter even if it was for the most disgusting unimaginable act.”