What makes you think that?

It was a religious excursion and it is almost a certainty that the group leaders were chosen for their religious qualities as opposed to their experience in organizing and running a group hike in the woods.

I see nothing wrong with being a religious leader but that gives you no special knowledge about anything else. Yet, the neophytes tend to see them as having that knowledge because of their religious leadership position.

It really would not even have to be a religious group. Many people tend to see leaders in general as having some special knowledge on just about everything they touch on, even though history has shown that leaders are often wrong about most everything.