Good one! Yes, the "religious leader" is a little forced. Listener clues sometimes do that: you have to re-parse the words in a way that's not usual. Some work better than others.
As for the grid fill, once I worked out what was going on round the sides that worked out nicely but I was filling in really slowly towards the middle -- all these jumbled clues, painfully figuring out what intersects where. What you need is what folks here call the "PDM" -- penny drop moment. Take a step back and look at your half-filled grid, and when the penny drops what the setter is doing (a) you'll be really awestruck, (b) the title will make sense, and (c) the rest of the fill will get much easier. You don't have to battle right to the end by pure deduction and elimination...!