Georgia’s Republican Gubernatorial candidate Kandiss Taylor’s recent comments about the separation of church and state in the US went viral over the weekend, days after the GOP candidate appeared to call for a theocracy in America.

Speaking at the Georgia Republican Assembly on April 2, Taylor said, “Don’t talk to me about separation of church and state. Church and state was written because the state has no business in our church. But we are the church.”

“We are the church, and we run the state,” she added emphatically.

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She went on to emphasize that Republican’s were running the “sovereign” state of Georgia “with Jesus Christ first,” and warned people of other faiths from trying to “silence” Christians.

“The good thing about the first amendment is that if you’re a Jew or you’re a Muslim or you’re a Buddhist, you still get to worship your god because you’re in America. But you don’t get to silence us,” Taylor warned.

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Understandably, the comments by Taylor, who, by her own admission, has a “Jesus, guns, and babies” approach to politics, drew sharp criticism from people of various faiths and political leanings.

Many on Twitter criticised Taylor’s comments as an attack on the US Constitution itself, and on the freedom of religion in the country.

However, Taylor hit back at her critics, tweeting, “The more I hear people say for me to take Jesus out of my campaign, the more I double down. Hello! He is why I’m running for governor. I don’t compromise.”

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She also called her critics “brainwashed” for not understanding her Jesus, guns, and babies brand of politics, writing, “The left are still FULLY TRIGGERED by Jesus, Guns, & Babies. I do not get it. Are they really that brainwashed to not understand?”

Whether it’s the only ‘left’ that’s triggered remains a question however: despite her views, which are bound to resonate with a certain section of conservative Americans, Taylor has not reaped political dividends yet.

Within the GOP primary, Taylor typically polls in single digits, and her 2020 attempt to get a Senate seat saw her win less than 1% of votes.