I don’t understand why tax exemption has to be an obstacle. Why don’t churches remain private entities unregistered with the government?
In the ideal world, yes. The Christians in the catacombs in ancient Rome didn’t need tax breaks.
But I fear the weak-kneed Christian church of today will cave in once its tax exemption is threatened. The modern church use any excuse to abandon its basic precepts, one by one, until the church is gone.