Speaking to the conservative Turning Point USA Student Action Summit in Florida last Saturday, Greene argued that Christian nationalism is “a good thing.”

“That’s not a bad word,” the congresswoman said. “That’s actually a good thing. There’s nothing wrong with leading with your faith….If we do not live our lives and vote like we are nationalists—caring about our country, and putting our country first and wanting that to be the focus of our federal government—if we do not lead that way, then we will not be able to fix it.”

The GOP lawmaker has made similar remarks on social media and on her podcast as well. Greene began selling T-shirts that said “Proud Christian Nationalist” with an image of a cross, sharing a link to purchase them to her Truth Social account on Friday.

Faithful America, which describes itself as the largest online community of Christians working for social justice, launched a petition on Thursday rejecting the Republican representatives views. As of Saturday morning when this article was written, the petition had garnered more than 9,860 signatures with the goal of reaching 10,000. A few hours after publication, the number of signatures surpassed 10,800 and the goal was increased to 15,000.

“Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) just essentially declared that America has no place for Jews, Muslims, or the LGBTQ community when she explicitly stated ‘we should be Christian nationalists,’” the introduction to the petition said. “Now she’s even selling ‘Proud Christian Nationalist’ t-shirts with an ad that says ‘Stand Against the Godless Left’ and shows her fists violently raised. (So much for loving your neighbor or following the Prince of Peace.)”

Continuing, Faithful America contended that Christians “reject Christian nationalism as a betrayal of our faith—one that inspired the bloody failed coup of January 6, tries to overturn elections, props up white supremacy, repeals equal rights, demonizes its opponents, and intentionally divides the nation.”

The petition reads: “As her siblings in Christ, we condemn Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for her repeated abuse and misuse of our faith to seize power, we reject the Christian nationalist claim that America is a Christian nation, and we oppose all efforts to divide Americans and turn back the clock on equal rights.”

Reverend Nathan Empsall, executive director of Faithful America, said in a statement emailed to Newsweek: “Christian nationalism is unchristian and unpatriotic. It is an authoritarian ideology that unconstitutionally and unbiblically merges Christian and American identities, declaring that democracy does not matter because only conservative Christians count as true Americans.”

Reverend Dr. Andrew K. Barnett, a Faithful America member and Atlanta pastor, shared the same sentiments in a statement also emailed to Newsweek.

“Christian nationalism is perverse and dangerous, and it must be contested in all its forms. By contrast, the God we encounter in Scripture calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves,” Barnett said.

After her remarks at the Turning Point USA event were shared widely online and drew backlash, with many calling Greene a “Nazi,” the GOP congresswoman pushed back against the criticism in a statement emailed to Newsweek.

“I am being attacked by the godless left because I said I’m a proud Christian Nationalist,” Greene said in the statement, which she also shared on social media. “These evil people are even calling me a Nazi because I proudly love my country and my God. The left has shown us exactly who they are. They hate America, they hate God, and they hate us.”

Representative Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican, took aim at her remarks in a Friday Twitter post. The GOP lawmaker compared her views to the Taliban, a militant group that governs Afghanistan with an extremist interpretation of Islamic law.

“‘We need to prove to people we are the party of Christian Nationalism.’ Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene ‘We are the party of Islamic nationalism…’ Taliban. I oppose the American Taliban. @GOPLeader?” he wrote, tagging House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican.

When reached for comment, Greene’s press secretary Nick Dyer told Newsweek in a Friday email: “It’s our policy to ignore Kinzinger’s desperate attempts at relevancy.”

The framers of the Constitution were concerned about the imposition of a specific religion in their new nation, as well as the persecution of citizens for their religious beliefs. In an effort to protect against this, the First Amendment states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

Recent Pew Research Center data shows that about 70 percent of the U.S. population identifies as Christian, although that category is broken down into various denominations with differing beliefs. Nearly 6 percent of the population identifies as Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist or Hindu, while almost 23 percent have no religious affiliation.

Aligning the church and state as Christian nationalists is opposed by a large majority of Americans.

Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of Americans believe religion should be kept separate from government policies, according to a Pew Research survey from late April. Only a quarter of respondents said that government policies should support religious values and beliefs. Furthermore, 70 percent of Americans want churches and other religious places of worship to stay out of politics, according to 2021 Pew Research data.

Update 7/30/22, 12:46 p.m. ET: This article was updated to report that the petition achieved its goal and set a higher one.