In the Gemara Yeruhalmi in the first chapter of Gitin [on the mishna that if a  kuti is one of the witnesses on the divorce doc. it is okay] is brought the reason why the Kutim [Samarians]were not Jewish--because they intermarried with the priests of the high places--[even though those priests themselves were born Jewish.

This comes from the law that any object that is brought as a gift to an idol, can not be nullified. 

Today that religious leaders are themselves worshiped a objects of adoration and praise, thus the people serving  and worshiping them lose their soul.