Religion: History's very first panopticon.

[husserl49]

8. Organizations organize

Organized religion is simply not ancient government. I assume you reference the Middle East early “governments” such as Sumerians, Assyrians, Egyptians, and Hittites. Roman religion was hardly organized. Greeks had faith in the “Gods”.
Organized social groups like Veterans Association, the AARP, Teamsters Union, the Democratic Party, the Sierra Club espouse rules that advocate ways of behavior and discourages other types of behavior. Organized groups are just that – organized. If one belongs to a group then one comports to the group’s rules of membership and in that way they are “manipulated”. The concept of manipulation implies something sinister in that the act of manipulating induces one to behave in a way that he otherwise would not engage in.