You can always tell a bad religion from it's complexity.

God -- if you acknowledge He exists -- doesn't need to us to systematize Him. Just search for Him earnestly and in good faith and the rest will follow.

Catholicism was the previous political and religious establishment of the western world. The Catholic establishment took something very simple -- the gospel of Jesus Christ -- and layered on all sorts of rules and regulations and practices to create a system that they could manipulate for political and personal gain.

Prior to this, these same people were persecuting Christians because the Christians were stubborn and refused to worship and obey the establishment. When killing Christians failed, they infiltrated them and corrupted them from within, setting up the new church establishment and ruled over people in a different way.

What is happening today is nothing new. The establishment is nothing if not predictable. The challenge is getting people to acknowledge they exist in the first place.