I think the GB are not the ones pulling the strings. They put the face, but there are many other interests at stake. They have to trust in the people they have around, and some of them are possibly working against the organization, others probably want to impose their own view and are the ones responsible for some of the most extreme policies. There are also the share of incompetent ones that every organization has, possibly the ones involved in the Sparlockgate.
If they started as r&f it means they were believers at some point at least. They probably believe in what they do at some level without necessarily believing it is the truth. In any case power tends to corrupt and they have a lot of it.