I shall paste what I wrote to FB in response to scout26's mention of the esteemed Claire Wolfe, with a few edits for clarity and to correct my abbreviation of Maryland to MA(as if Massachusetts is any less a statist hell...):
Big government loves big religion, because organized churches can be co-opted, bought(501C3?), threatened, defamed as cults etc. Any big church with a central authority can be used or destroyed by undermining said central authority.
Remember hearing about clergy receiving DHS disaster training focused around preaching obedience to civil authorities(based on a twisted interpretation of Romans 13), or churches in MD getting tax breaks in exchange for preaching "green" sermons? That's easy to explain away as encouraging clergy to look after the best interests of their charges. No coercion there, no "because we said so". When things come down to the individual level, "the gun in the room" becomes more apparent. When I start offering services, calling my house a parsonage and opting out of property taxes, some suit with a clipboard will come by and say I'm not a "real" church. When I tell him to get lost, the next guy will have dark glasses and a gun. Suddenly, it's obvious that government absolutely considers itself the authority on religion, whatever the establishment clause says. Acting on or through groups softens the appearance of the fist of State.
Big government prefers its slaves to be "cataloged, organized, and easily referenced"(hat tip to The X-Files), and if "private" entities like churches do that for them, well all the better.
The feds aren't keeping records of your internet habits, your ISP is(and they will be only too happy to release said content on request). The feds aren't maintaining a registry of gun purchases, your LGS is, or may be(and if they want to stay in business, they'll play ball). And so on.
Big loves to deal with big. That's all this is about.
