Those are some interesting ideas. Yes, I'm sorry if I'm hard to please.

The reason I'm trying to avoid the religious vibe is that these people have a homebrew pantheon that they regard in the light of "Extremely Senior Officers that we'd really rather didn't get involved in things because when they turn up stuff gets broken." Their Clerics are people that have chosen to take a particular diety as an exemplar of behaviour, and chosen to study deserving.

They don't have a problem with classes like Druid, Spirit Shaman, Shugenja, because these classes are drawing from a power source that they can plainly see exists. Trees grow, people die, and fire burns. "Oh, you can get class features from celebrating that? Good for you."

A Favoured Soul, on the other hand, they'd look at sideways and hiss "You keep saying that name. You want him/her to turn up now?"

And a Paladin...is a paladin. It would seem alien to their mindset.