Do religions hold their followers to high enough standards?

Historically, religions have failed miserably at attempting to hold people to standards that were unrealistic, unreasonable and which the leaders themselves couldn't live up to.

Jesus was crucified because he called the religious leaders of the day on their hypocrisy. In the Book of Matthew 23:327 Jesus states to the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law: "You hypocrites! You are like white washed tombs which look fine on the outside but are full of decaying bones on the inside. In the same way on the outside you appear good to everybody, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and sins."

The same point could easily be made today. There are priests, rabbis and ministers in all religions who put forth dogmatic assertions and impositions that they themselves don't follow then shellac others with guilt, shame and threats of doom in the after life for not living up to their religious laws. Many of these "man-made" religious laws are of no significance when it comes to one's goodness and moral character, but rather are simply veiled attempts to maintain a sense of power over people and keep them in subservient positions.

Religion's purpose is to present a loving, peaceful, harmonious way to live, not harshly judge others and spew out potential penalties if they don't agree with another's actions.

There are literally thousands of religious laws, rules and regulations on the books but if one treats others the way he/she wants to be treated a good life is being lived.