Churches in Europe are one of the biggest benefactors of tax free income, and also one of the biggest landowners in a lot of cities.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, my country chose not to give back land taken from religious organisations - as they would end up giving more than half the city center to the Catholic church.
Plus to be considered legally a "religious organisation" often has many hoops and strict criteria to go through (at least here in Europe). Due to migration there are many small religious groups, but they aren't officially classed as a "religion" so cannot use the same tax breaks. Existing churches have a strong moat.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, my country chose not to give back land taken from religious organisations - as they would end up giving more than half the city center to the Catholic church.
Plus to be considered legally a "religious organisation" often has many hoops and strict criteria to go through (at least here in Europe). Due to migration there are many small religious groups, but they aren't officially classed as a "religion" so cannot use the same tax breaks. Existing churches have a strong moat.