Old man in funny hat blindly unaware of his own church's history

[nil desperandum]

2. Not satan

but certainly power hungry demagogues who were only too happy to use the ignorant masses to further their hold on power.

Control is always just about control. I'm not ever certain those old religious leaders believed half their own bullshit, much the same today without the mass murder on the christian side(a few singular acts of horror here and there notwithstanding), although there does seem to be some interest on the islamist side to step up their level of violence.