what you see as a flaw in religious thought is actually one of the major reasons for its survival throughout the ages. once you strip away all of the happy thoughts and mumbo jumbo you can see religion for what it really is, politics at its basest and most primitive. instead of nationalism and economics, it deals with absolute truth and immortality. with nothing concrete to offer its adherents, it bestows upon them the promise of heavenly favor and the knowledge that they are amongst the few and are therefore better than those who choose to follow another path. the clerics and hierarchs of the true faith need not justify their decisions, they need only point to the heavens and remind the faithful that they rule by divine right and that their words are the words of god (or gods or flying spaghetti monster or whatever).

simple, perfect, infallible. the creation of the cult of elitism based not on achievements or even intent, but on a simple choice of deity.