It's always been a little frustrating to me having to register www.web-church.com in directories under the classification "Society, Religion..." It promotes a backwards understanding of Christianity in a number of ways.
First, it's backwards and upside-down to think of Christianity as "Society." As strange as it may sound, Christianity has nothing to do with society, government, business, education or philosophy. Ever seen someone with a cross on their business card, suggesting they have a "Christian" business? There is no such thing! Christianity isn't a function of society or government. Why? Because Christianity is one human who believes, living in Christ and having Christ spiritually live in him. It is personal, not organizational, societal or governmental. Anything that implies one can "learn" Christianity misses the point because Christianity is spiritual, not mental. This "Society" classification is just a simple misunderstanding, unlike the "Religion" classification.
When you believe Christianity is a religion you remove everything that makes it Christianity. It's bad enough to have to list Christianity with all the world's religions, as if there were any meaningful commonality between, say, Buddhism and Christianity, but that's not the worst of it.
The worst thing is, the chief characteristic of every religion is the belief that one can earn a position in the presence of God for eternity by sacrificing and complying with a set of standards. The god of religion does not love us...he just enforces the law. If we obey, we get in...if we fail, we're doomed, with no intervention by the god. Even those who believe in reincarnation, burden us with the additional load of overcoming the failures of past lives to reach the blessed state...it's all up to us. This is not just unlike Christianity, it negates Christianity and it's an insult to the real God.
The chief characteristic of Christianity is the belief that God is so holy there is nothing that we can do to earn eternity in His presence. God loves us so much He became man (Jesus) and gave His life as a sacrifice so we can be with Him and like Him forever. He knows us so intimately, He has made provision for our inevitable failure to live up to His standard. All we must do is believe in Him to spend eternity in His loving presence.
"Lord, please forgive all those who have unwittingly turned Christianity into a religion." Amen!