It was rhetorical threat. The gloves come off if a legitimate church is threatened. For example Catholic Church is huge and we probably don’t want them actively involved in government. RE the first amendment. How about if churches continue with tax exemption?
Churches are exempt. The don’t need to file anything. Any church that files for some type of tax status is getting in bed contractually with the government and agreeing to their terms and conditions.
Why not?
Nothing went wrong for 1600 years or so; did it?