Mercule
Adventurer
Trying not to veer into verboten territory, let's look at design goals.
First, let's allow for at least one Good religion to be genuinely benevolent and honest at the highest ranks. That doesn't mean the Oracle has to gush forth full, detailed essays about every little nuance of life. Nor does it mean there can't be corruption within the ranks.
Second, and this is of personal importance to me as a Christian, there has to be some wiggle room for players who believe in a single, transcendent deity to not have their beliefs completely irreconcilable with the game universe. That doesn't mean God Himself must feature into things -- I'd actually say that'd be an exceedingly bad idea both in terms of playability and taste. It just means we leave some gray at the top of the heap.
So, how does one get gods without having gods?
Option 1 is to keep the truly outer realms hidden and remote. Eberron does this and I think it works quite well. You can throw in whatever creation/deific lore you want and it is explicitly unprovable, just like Earth. The only difference is magic, and clerical magic is somehow a combination of faith and training.
Option 2 might be to have the BECMI model where you don't really have gods, so much as ascended immortals who wield immense power. How those immortals ascend is a matter for the setting to determine. IMC, many/most of the immortals (often called gods) hail from the original celestial/angelic stock, but there are also some mortals who have risen. Ascension requires that the immortal-to-be both be invested with a "divine" spark and somehow associate themselves with some concept (war, love, art, etc.) so strongly that they practically embody it. Thenceforth, their power rises and falls with the cosmic prevalence and importance of their domains.
Other origins are, of course, possible and I think the OP's shadow halfling is a great example. The question is, is the halfling still just a halfling wielding vast power or is he something else? If he's something else, it may go against the OP's desire for churches, rather than gods.
I'm also sure there are more than two "options" to balance theism vs. atheism in a campaign cosmology. Those are just the two that I've given some thought to.
There's also the school of thought that says, "It's just a game. Lighten up." And I think that's a perfectly healthy and reasonable position. It just isn't sufficient for those of us who really enjoy some of the odder aspects of world-building.
No, but if the founder/high priest of pretty much every religion knows that one of the foundational teachings (the divinity of the god-figure) is false, it does have the unfortunate implication that all the adherents to religion have been duped.
