I think you can learn behaviorism or evolutionary psychology. Behaviorism doesn’t even care whether humans can think or not.
So in a sense Mike and John is right. John is right the issue is indeed resources. If we judge by what people choose, the issue is resources. Here resources include prestige, pride, etc.
However, Mike is right too. Many religious leader do believe that they really are doing their sky God’s will. However, that God’s will always coincide with the interest of the religious leader.