On a lesser scale there are more humane examples. Consider a church with an elected board of deacons that hold a pastor accountable to his actions. One might easily distinguish between the church as a mere political body and Christianity as a religious system. As a value judgment I would suggest for numerous reasons that there should be a more clear-cut distinction between religion and politics. This is not, however, to abrogate the need for accountability within a structure such as the church.
Political science is the study of such distributions.
The above definition of 'politics' is much closer to 'society'. A religion is typically a political structure centered on the supernatural. This is not to say that I utterly reject exertion of power, but that I do so in the context of Christianity. What I'm wondering is how and why Christianity has repeatedly caved in to political structure.