http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20041129&s=ehrenreich
Ehrenreich makes the point that not only have the Religious Right churches branched out into politics, but they also are running their churches like corporations, and they have an answer for the ills and woes of the poor. If anything, religious belief is subservient to the political and economic message and service provided by these Evangelical churches.
Welfare money is the nicotine that keeps the addict coming back, religion is the advertising message that makes it all seem so cool and wholesome, and politics is the end game: the church's reason for being in the first place.