“It’s complicated” and “ you wouldn’t understand” are tied as “the favorite excuses narcissists use to gaslight the shit out of you.”

Tie mostly because they’re used frequently in the same sentence.

In this case there’s a few things going on.

Churches love the warm fuzzies (and let’s be honest, who doesn’t??)

Also, they love getting federal aid money that’s being passed around without too many questions getting asked.

They also love the positive news and reputation washing they can do. The photo ops.

But mostly, churches need to be the center of the aid because if you can get help from somebody outside the church, why the fuck would you sit through that sermon to get said aid?

And if you didn’t need to rely on the church for social support, you might stop tithing. And you might start letting your kids sleep in or do other things on sundays. And you might start getting funny ideas about following their annoying rules.

Maybe even come out of the closet or marry somebody who looks different than you. (But mostly it is about tithing…)