I think religions should be player run... but at this point, kingdoms might be better off as NPC ran. There's not really a -lot- of roleplay regarding one's kingdom. I think the most that occurs focused on their home kingdom is related to Sye, Tsythor, Daklore, and recently Armengarians.
Granted, at this point, RP in religions is pretty stale... heck, RP is pretty stale across the board. The problem with NPC ran, is the requirements to rank. Too high, no one wants to do them. Too low, everyone ranks up... which is of course the point of the system.... but there's -so many ranks- in kingdoms.
Think back to pre-wipe, there were only like, what, 10-12 ranks in total? With three of them being limited number slots. King/Quenn, Champion, and Royal Advisors.
There's just too many available ranks to climb, and all the lines make it even more bloated. Yeah, pre-wipe rulers would play favourites most of the time... but so would real-life rulers.