A lot of people (well, a lot of non-Freepers) don't know this was more or less the same reason for the battle between (Saint) Thomas Becket and Henry II: The Church had declared that a church was place of refuge from civil authorities. The bad guys took full advantage of this. Small armies of them would lounge around there by day. At night they would head out in to the general population, do whatever bad guys do, and then come dawn it was back to the church. Once inside they knew the authorities couldn't touch them -- the Church would see to that.
This policy wasn't making the Church very popular, with government officials or the general population. Henry II was determined to end the Church-as-sancuary (a.k.a. secular trumps religious). An equally determined Archbishop Thomas Becket, declared Church lands, building, courts, etc. were inviolable (a.k.a. religious trumps secular).
And the rest, as they say, was history....
Though in all honesty, the more I know of the circumstances the more I side w/ the king. Lol! As if after 600+ years it matters.