Here is the backtrace

churches don’t pay taxes –> churches get mega-rich –> republicans get donations from churches and pander to them –> churches donate more –>

churches have business people in them –> business  people also like to own politicians –> more and more money buys more and more politicians while people argue about pronouns and wars on holidays –> money finally buys us a supreme court (looking at the ethics violations from the judges that passed citizens united) –> churches, already part of a system of control, are enshrined in the laws of the land.